From: neal@endor.uucp (Lisa Neal)
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: scanner and train questions
Date: 31 Jul 92 13:41:37 GMT
Article-I.D.: das.1992Jul31.134137.5114
Organization: Aiken Computation Lab, Harvard University


Hello all....... I have loved trains for a long time, and I
have chosen Amtrak time and time again for my traveling needs instead of
flying.  For a while now, I have been curious about some things on
Amtrak and railroading in general, and from what I can see, there are
many experts here to ask.  Forgive me if people have asked these
questions before, but I am new to this bulletin board.  Here goes.......
_______________________________________________________________

*      Why are there no double deck Amtrak trains in the eastern part of
the U.S.?  I have heard only two theories about this:  1) The east coast
lines have low tunnels and underpasses that would be impossible for
double deck trains to fit through, and  2) The east coast lines are
generally of shorter length than the western routes, thus it is wiser to
have only the more comfortable double deckers for the western long
distance travel.

*       On every western train, about two-thirds of AmtrakUs coach cars
are the modern, comfortable Superliners.  However, the remaining one
third are the unpleasant, ugly, and very uncomfortable older cars.  Why
doesn't Amtrak convert its entire fleet to the Superliners?  It seems
unfair that two passengers that pay the same price could be given two
very different cars to spend their journey on.

*      (Probably the most important question)  I am going on a cross-
country Amtrak trip in two weeks, and I have purchased a scanner,
primarily so I will be able to listen to the engineer and the rest of
the crew, such as people have discribed in messages past, so I will be
able to know "what the hell is going on", a frustrating thing when the
crew won't give me a straight answer as to why we have been on a siding
for 3 hours in a row at  night!  I would be indebted to any of you if
you could give me the best frequencies to hear the crew on each of these
four routes:

Northeast Corridor[Night Owl]   (Boston- D.C.)
Capitol Limited    (D.C.- Chicago)
Empire Builder     (Chicago - Seattle)
Coast Starlight    (Seattle - L.A.)

If not, please tell me if there is a railroad
scanner book I could buy, and where.

*      Aside from the proposed extension of the Sunset Limited to Miami,
are there any other route changes planned for Amtrak?

*      I was on the Southwest Chief last summer, and the conductor was
showing off a hardcover, 200 page, full color book on Amtrak and each of
its routes.  For some reason, I didn't ask him about it.  Have any of
you heard of it, and if so, what is it called, and where can I order it?

*      When I was passing through the Albany station several weeks ago,
I saw the Turboliner fleet maintenence station.  I was impressed, but a
fellow passenger told me they were just cosmetically different from the
other Amtrak trains.  Can it really achieve "turbo" speeds, or is it
just a sleeker, more modern-looking train with no different performance?

(Now, on to some railroad trivia)
*      How is the position of railroad switches changed? Do people have
to go out and switch them by hand, or are they thrown electrically from
a central dispatch station?

*      How does the dispatch station know where the trains are? Is it
just by the engineer notifying them, or is it done by some computerized
system in the track?


Much thanks in advance to anyone who answers, especially with
info about the frequencies!
					  Jonathan Neal