TAKE THE AMTRAK - JTA JACKSONVILLE SURVEY NOW!

[Ocklawaha]

I don't know the trains you've been riding MTRAININJAX but I think I'd rate the train roughly equal with the cruise ship. The Airlines have become the flying cattle cars of the 21st century. Buses? Depends on Motor Coach or Bus, and even then the TYPE of motor coach. There is a world of difference between an MCI on a JTA commute and a SILVER EAGLE, PREVOST CAR, VAN HOOL, SETRA, or VOLVO.

That picture was NOT OF AN AMTRAK DINING/CLUB CAR. You can't BS a BS'er.

Your right MTrain, it's a USED - Former Amtrak car running on the cross border Chihuahua Pacifico in Mexico.

Guess you don't know how the game is played? For example here is the bar car ROYAL STREET, from the old Jacksonville-Cincinnati ROYAL PALM.



It is private but frequents a number of Amtrak Trains, all one has to do is call their number and set a date. There is also "the Mojave", "Golden Sand", "Golden Shore", "Silver Quail" and a host of others.
In fact Amtrak has inked one deal with a PV owner to provide a first class section and more deals are on the way.


Amtrak introduced 'Keystone Classic Club' service in 1991 on the Pennsylvanian. The private car 'J. Pinckney Henderson' was leased for this service. The ex MKT coach was converted to a luxury private car. One could ride the car from Pittsburgh to Lancaster, Pa.


This is the pub on the regular Amtrak Club Car, "Cascade."


Where is this Norfolk Southern Jacksonville by-pass your talking about? There WAS a line from Valdosta to Palatka, and still a line from Sparks, GA to Perry FL. The Perry line was the old South Georgia Railroad, which was merged with the Live Oak, Perry and Gulf (The Loafin' Gopher), and spun off to a shortline operator. It has NEVER had a through train on it. The Valdosta Palatka line did indeed bypass Jacksonville and for many years fielded through trains from Atlanta to Hampton (near Starke) where the Seaboard took them on to Tampa and Miami. This stopped in the 1940's and the track came up 20 years ago south of Lake City.

OCKLAWAHA

[Ocklawaha]

Hey: RiversideLoki, stephendare, Sigma, Traveller, second_pancake, Dapperdan, Southbanker, David, thelakelander, rvrsdediva, Cliffs_Daughter, 5 Points Theatre, copperfiend, Lunican, JoeMerchant, Captain Zissou, BridgeTroll, movedsouth, stephElf, ChriswUfGator, jaxnative, stjr, triclops i, AlexS, Gonzo, blizz01, iluvolives, Deuce, JaxByDefault, fsujax, 02roadking, Clem1029, Lucasjj, happical

Have you filled out the Amtrak Survey?

Remember, "WE" know where you live! Hee Hee

OCKLAWAHA

[Shwaz]

I voted Monday.

[JeffreyS]

I voted day 1

[Ocklawaha]

Skwaz, Jeffrey, I guess you figured by now that I have no way of knowing who voted and who didn't... YOU GUYS ARE THE HERO'S HERE. So I'm just messing with everyone trying (in vain?) to get this over 50, though I wish we could hit 100 votes. Y'all know someone who would do this at work, home or play, PLEASE have it happen.


OCKLAWAHA
Just a few seats short of a full streetcar!

[stjr]

Ock and Lake, I didn't see anyone mention this article today from the Florida Times Union.  Did you pick up on it?

Amtrak's Sunset Limited may rise again
Support builds for return of Jacksonville-New Orleans route

    * By Larry Hannan
    * Story updated at 6:31 AM on Thursday, Apr. 9, 2009

The Sunset Limited Amtrak Route from Orlando to New Orleans has been gone since Hurricane Katrina damaged the CSX train tracks in 2005.

But after almost four years of inaction, politicians and various community groups in at least three states have begun advocating for the return of the train route, which runs through Jacksonville.

Supporters of the Sunset say they are optimistic that the new administration will mean Washington is more open. Both Barack Obama and Joe Biden were vocal Amtrak supporters in the Senate.

“The political climate seems to be turning in our favor,” said Barbara Tucker,  a resident of Hurley, Miss.
Tucker is a member of the Sunset Marketing and Revitalization Team, or SMART, a group that formed to advocate for the route’s return. SMART, the Florida Coalition of Rail Passengers and the National Association of Rail Passengers are all advocating for the Sunset’s return at the same time as Amtrak has begun conducting a feasibility study.

The damaged tracks have been repaired, and CSX says it has no objections. But low ridership before Katrina hit has Amtrak hesitating. About 81,000 people rode the line in 2005, down from 96,246 in 2004.
U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown, D-Fla., who chairs a rail subcommittee, has insisted that Amtrak look into re-establishing the route. She inserted a requirement into recent Amtrak legislation that mandated the rail agency do at least that by the summer.

Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari  said the study into feasibility and cost is under way and will be submitted to Congress by July. A process is also being developed that will seek public feedback, but he couldn’t comment on what that process would be.

Ross Capon,  spokesman for the National Association of Rail Passengers, said the Southeast is the only part of the continental United States that lacks an east-west Amtrak line. Several routes run through Florida, but they all go in a north-south direction.

Jacksonville Mayor John Peyton sent a letter to Amtrak asking that the route, which still runs from Los Angeles to New Orleans, be re-extended to help with area tourism.

Stephen Sayles,  president of the Florida Coalition of Rail Passengers, said his group is trying to let people know about the practical impact of having an east-west Amtrak route in the Southeast.

Such a route could keep cars off the road, and give people an alternative when they travel along the Gulf Coast, Sayles said.

larry.hannan@jacksonville.com,

From: http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2009-04-08/story/amtraks_sunset_limited_may_rise_again

[JaguarReign]

I made sure to place my vote. I definitely believe J-ville should be a rail hub.

[Ocklawaha]

Thanks for the heads up stjr, both Lake and I we're consulted on the article. We knew it was coming out, but frankly I hadn't seen it yet.

Actually I am VERY against bringing the train back like it was operated pre Katrina.

WHY?

A tri-Weekly train is not a service and barely an accommodation, it can't hope to carry any part of it's own cost recovery. Building stations for service 3 times a week is like building a Walmart only open on Mon-Thu-Sat.

Daily or NOTHING!

Next to that, The Sunset has to run through Jax to New Orleans in the wee hours of the morning, in an area of such light population density, IE: Chipley, Madison, Lake City, Crestview etc... This is insane. Night trains do well only in dense area's or routes where mobility is sometimes challenged such as Twin Cities-Seattle.

The GULF WIND, the train that ran that route before Amtrak's Sunset Limited was extended, should be put back on this route on an ALL DAY schedule. Leave Jax and New Orleans in the AM and arrive at the other end in the PM. I would take a serious look at building some of this into a daylight corridor service with 3+ trains daily before I would add the Night Train back into the mix.

As the Gulf Wind would arrive in New Orleans in the Evening, and the Sunset would pull out in the Mornings, the through Sleeping Cars and a Coach would be spotted at New Orleans Union Terminal and serve as the HOTEL for passengers bound for LA, 3 days a week those cars would be switched into the Sunset. Benefit, (and this WAS done very successfully before) Passengers tour the Big Easy for one whole evening, and don't worry about the hotel, breakfast, etc...

At the Jacksonville end these bone heads need to THINK RAILROAD 101. Damn people it's a train, as in: TRAIN - TO ENTRAIN into a line. So the Gulf Wind early edition arrives in Jax about 4 pm, the Sunset cars are in it 3 days a week, by 11:45 PM, they are rolling into Tampa/Miami on one of our NEW YORK-FLORIDA trains.

So bottom line is, equip the route with a dedicated branded "GULF WIND" series of cars owned by FL, AL, MS, LA... Specialty menus, meals, lounge. Make this the fun train of Florida and make Damn sure some of those cars from New York are headed west on it each day. Operating this train South of Jacksonville makes no sense when you could take advantage of a trains ability to pick up or drop off through cars.

OCKLAWAHA

[Ocklawaha]

This is the PV (Private Varnish) "SILVER SOLARIUM", it frequents Amtrak trains in the Pacific Northwest on special occasions.

Just a quickie note to anyone confused by my use of train car "names". Back in the days of private flagship trains, they were the pride of the railroad. God help the employee that was responsible for delaying the "Orange Blossom Special," "Champion," or other famous "NAME TRAINS."

Here is lesson one: A "NAME TRAIN" is a flagship service, note the Northeast Corridor has lots of trains, but most only have a number - no name. When you travel by train, to max out the experience look for the name.

Car Names: Also back in the day, railroads ordered most equipment from BUDD Company or PULLMAN Standard. Most railroads with very few exceptions named the cars in series. For example "all 32 seat dining cars on our railroad will be named for local rivers". Likewise, lounge cars, observation cars, bars, clubs, coaches (remember there could be variation of these cars within the railroad) etc... So sometimes the 70 seat coaches might be "State Parks" and the 40 seat long distance coaches "National Parks" - of course only ones on or near the owner railroad.

Private cars had names that as a rule bordered "New Age Thought"... Sure their were several with a former employee's name or a simple number, but more often they had romantic wild names. "The Wanderer", "Intrepid", "Mountain Queen" etc...

Amtrak has continued the tradition, so as you become a rail traveler and train savvy, watch out for your favorites. A few of mine? "The Mountain Queen" (but then I once owned it!), "Ortega River", "St Lucie Sound", "Silver Slipper", "Dell Rapids", "Bunnell",  etc...

OCKLAWAHA

[Ocklawaha]

If y'all want Jacksonville to rebuild our grand old train station into the rail facility that God intended, you need to VOTE in our poll. Please do it today.

OCKLAWAHA

[Ocklawaha]

Okay y'all we still need some folks to get us past the big 5 - 0 in this poll. So if you haven't done it -- DO IT! So far your answers have been VERY valuable. Don't forget those comments count too!

OCKLAWAHA

[mtraininjax]

that God intended

Blasphemy so close to Easter? Perhaps a better choice of words would be in order?

Guess you don't know how the game is played? For example here is the bar car ROYAL STREET, from the old Jacksonville-Cincinnati ROYAL PALM.

Listen - You can BS all these people and tell them the train cars that are in use by Amtrak feature the same mahogany and china found on the CSX business cars along McDuff, but you and I both know that is a LIE. No Amtrak maintained rail care coming in and out of Jacksonville looks anything like what you show above.

You may get better equipment, yes on the Acela, but hey, its used by a LOT more people than who ride the Meteor or Star or Palmetto. You would not see the airlines fly a 777 when its only 25% full, would you?

Stop selling the upscale life, its like pushing an elephant up a hill. If Jax had the equipment to go with the people, do you really think Amtrak would funnel people on and off from the current terminal off of US1/23?

Common sense would say no.

[Ocklawaha]

Cascades Lounge Car - AMTRAK


"Oh Ock, This surely can't be Amtrak!" "Well it is Amtrak's Starlight Lounge and don't call me Shirley!"

Parlour Car: This vintage hang-out for the sleeping-car crowd (shown in photo) has been retrofitted with new air-conditioning. Very welcome, I imagine, in summer when you’re stuck behind a freight train. Also new: The upstairs lounge serves lunch and dinner. Meal seating is limited to 24, so reserve early or go to the regular Dining Car. In the downstairs theater, you’ll find a 50-inch, flat-screen monitor and an updated sound system. Some bad news: Daily wine-tastings are no longer free. It costs $5 to sample four regional wines, paired with four cheeses.

Arcade Room: Once known as the Kiddie Car, it’s now open to everyone and outfitted with video games. Warning: It’s a tight fit.



Interesting, because the Bar car above (THE CASCADE) is a regular part of the Amtrak fleet. The J.P. Henderson, was leased for PA service and ANYONE holding a first class ticket could ride it on the AMTRAK Pennsylvanian.



First Class Seats on a train? No, just another coach seat on AMTRAK'S Sunset Limited.


AMTRAK superliner parlor car.

The Amfleet, Viewliners, Talgos, Surfliners, Accelas, Superliners and Heritage Fleet are all still light years ahead of any flying cattle car I've ever been packed into. First class air? You've got to be kidding, Amtrak's coach seats are better. Perhaps I shall post a whole string of Amtrak Photos.

Oh and those ridership percentages? Just 25% full? Where? Talk about BS, you can't get a ticket on the trains to and from Florida about 1/2 the year unless you get in line.

OCKLAWAHA

[Ocklawaha]

Another of those hideously ugly Amtrak Cars... NOT! This is an Amtrak Superliner Lounge Car of the same class that will be on the new Gulf Wind-Sunset Limited expansion. Try sticking this in your 737. But if you want to ride this train EVER - Please fill out the poll.

OCKLAWAHA

[stjr]

Here is riding the rails of a different sort from the New York Times:

April 11, 2009
Secaucus Journal
For Circus Workers, Home Is Where the Train Is
By ANNE BARNARD

SECAUCUS, N.J. — Jonathon and Karlene Griggs’s cozy apartment has an eat-in kitchen, mesmerizing views, two flat-screen televisions and room for their son, Bryce, 5, to ride his skateboard up and down the hall.

Leah Christiana Gonzalez’s place is more modest, with a cubiclelike bedroom, no living room and a shower she shares with seven roommates who keep odd hours. Still, not bad for a 26-year-old’s first apartment away from home.

What the two apartments have in common is an extremely exclusive address: on board the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus train.

“We’re basically a city without a ZIP code,” Mr. Griggs, a circus manager, said Thursday at his home, which sat in a railyard in Secaucus, N.J, the sun gleaming off its silver paint. The train’s 33 coach cars, he said, are like a 33-story apartment building, only horizontal, with onboard electricians and mechanics in place of a super.

About 250 people — performers, train crew members, porters, cooks, stagehands — live year round on the train, one of two that crisscross the country carrying elephants, sequined costumes, stage equipment and the cast and crew of the Greatest Show on Earth.

Most train denizens, like Ms. Gonzalez, a gymnast and former Oakland Raiders cheerleader who rides an elephant in the show, live in rooms not much bigger than standard sleeping compartments, eight to a car. But the Griggses’ dwelling, which takes up half a coach, is larger than some New York City apartments.

With a dinette, beige kitchen cabinets, a full-size refrigerator covered with family photos and a bathroom sink where Bryce keeps his Spider-Man toothbrush, it looks like it could be anywhere in Middle America. And it has been.

In a nation where long-distance train travel has almost died out, the Griggses and their neighbors get to see places that cross-country drivers never glimpse: remnants of wooden water channels built by gold rush prospectors in California hills; tracks that run along Washington State beaches where sea lions lounge; mountain passes through the Rockies with no highway signs to clutter the view.

When the train stops, spending about a week at most destinations, its residents can take a circus bus to town to explore and do errands; a few have cars and motorcycles that are hauled on the train’s flatbed freight cars. Between shows at Madison Square Garden this week, the Griggses have been to the Central Park Zoo and the Times Square Toys “R” Us.

In Secaucus, home is a gravel-lined track bed just off the New Jersey Turnpike, hidden away down a dirt road behind a stand of yellow reeds and a warehouse parking lot full of Goya food delivery trucks. Two strings of coach cars, with the name of the circus painted on their sides, stood with their doors open to the spring morning, wooden footstools placed beneath each car’s stepladder. As Bryce snapped together a jigsaw puzzle of jungle animals, a train whistle hooted in the distance.

“I don’t want to use the word ‘stigma,’ ” Mr. Griggs said. “But people think, ‘Circus people, they’re gypsies.’ We’re normal people with normal lives.”

“We’re not carnies,” he added, pronouncing the word with a distaste bound to rile fans of Coney Island’s freak shows. “This is a business.”

Still, a few romantically nomadic touches evoke a time when the line between traveling entertainers and hobos was fuzzier. A charcoal grill on the tracks hinted at a barbecue under the stars the night before. A few nights earlier, some acrobats had a cooking fire that ignited the brush, forcing the appearance of local firefighters. Kodak, a 6-year-old Labrador mix that lives with Mike Hickey, the trainmaster, in an apartment with an electric fireplace, trotted up and down the train, then headed to its dinerlike restaurant, the Pie Car, where the cooks give her bacon.

Alex Ramon Gonzalez, 23 — Ms. Gonzalez’s brother and the illusionist star of the circus’s current Zing Zang Zoom show — said life on the train was far more civilized than hopping from hotel to hotel. No packing and unpacking, and he can keep some of his doves in his apartment.

“The train kind of rocks you to sleep,” his sister said.

Most of the performers, who come from 18 countries, are between 18 and 26. But some are older, with their own families, including 15 children, who have their own teacher and day care on board.

The Lopez family of trapeze artists — two brothers and their wives — between them have five children, whose grandmother rides along to watch them. The Rodriguez family, who perform on steel contraptions that resemble huge hamster wheels, include an 11-year-old acrobat.

Ms. Griggs, once a trapeze artist herself, now freelances as a massage therapist for the performers. Like many of them, she grew up in circuses, where her grandfather walked a tightrope above pacing lions. She met her husband when he joined her and her brother’s trapeze troupe, the Flying Rodleighs.

Mr. Griggs, who has the brush cut and triangular torso of a cartoon muscleman, went into management after he caught his brother-in-law midair at a performance in Germany and felt his kneecap pop out. Still, the couple’s walls are lined with photographs of their old life: husband and wife in sparkling leotards.

Mr. Griggs has a GPS unit mounted in a window so he can learn the names of the places he sees outside. Sometimes, the family takes folding chairs out through their screen door onto the vestibule between cars — which, unlike those on Amtrak, can be opened to the air — to watch the scenery. Sometimes people wave.

“This is really part of American history,” Mr. Griggs said. “It’s one of the last trains where you can lean out and feel the fresh air go by.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/11/nyregion/11metjournal.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1239505221-WbXdKPOd6Bp5gnbawxeOiA