Pere Marquette golf clubs and bicycles

[TSS]

The Amtrak reservation system shows a capacity of 10 golf bags and 15 bicycles on the Pere Marquette. Where would they put all that stuff?

When they launched the bike service, they had bike-rack-equipped cab cars on the train. The cab cars are gone and I have no idea where to stash that much equipment on the current train. On the Superliners, I can see shoehorning one or two golf bags into the lower luggage rack on each car, for a total capacity of 3-6 bags. On the summer Horizon/Amfleet consist, I don’t know where you would put golf bags at all. Maybe one or two per train. The luggage space is smaller all around. As for bicycles, on either consist, the only places I can imagine are the vestibule or the wheelchair zone. For safety and legal reasons, neither of those are seen workable.

So...???

[Jetlink]

I've seen them stored in the vestibule on the rear and sometimes in the open space along the wall in the seating areas front/rear of the coaches. I've also seen them stored on the bike racks on the trains that are equipped with them.

[kd_1014]

Did they store them in the NPCU when they ran with that?

[TSS]

Yes. They put out a press release noting that bike racks were installed in the NPCUs. Interestingly, it says 15 racks were installed and that is the number of bike reservations they still offer. I wonder if it just never got updated after the NPCUs were removed. Want to make a reservation for 15 bikes to see what they do?

Amtrak press release from 2016

[Jetlink]

Did they store them in the NPCU when they ran with that?

I'll have to defer to someone else for that. I have never personally witnessed anything ever being loaded into the cargo space of an NPCU. I've only ridden an NPCU equipped train less than a handfull of times. I'm sure someone reading this could elaborate a little more.

[TSS]

I have never personally witnessed anything ever being loaded into the cargo space of an NPCU.

I know it was done at least once on the PM: August 2, 2018. On the scanner, I heard the crew talking about opening up the cabbage for a bicycle at St. Joe. Then the train proceeded to have a fatal grade crossing incident at Michigan City. After the victim and the crew, my first thought was for the poor guy with the bike and when he would ever get it back.

[NS3322]

Why did the NPCUs stop running on the PM?

[TSS]

I’m trying to remember... I think they added them around 2012 or so. The NS was very congested and the train would sometimes arrive in GR so late that it would have to leave late in the morning so the crew could get their rest. So they added the NPCUs to speed things up by eliminating the need to wye the train. Since then, the NS has gotten somewhat better, but the biggest change is that they have made GR the crew base instead of Chicago. So if the train arrives very late, they can call the other crew for an on-time departure in the morning. So I think all of those things meant that the NPCUs were not really necessary anymore and were probably just there due to inertia. I heard some people say that the final straw was that the NPCUs didn’t play nicely with the Chargers. But I’m not sure that was true (or they fixed the incompatibility) because I’ve seen a lot of photos of Chargers with NPCUs on the Hiawathas. I’m guessing it was probably just the cost savings in maintenance and fuel from no longer dragging around an unnecessary piece of equipment.

[hoborich]

In Florida, the Tri Rail and Brightline trains have bike racks in the vestibules.

[Saturnalia]

I heard some people say that the final straw was that the NPCUs didn’t play nicely with the Chargers. But I’m not sure that was true (or they fixed the incompatibility) because I’ve seen a lot of photos of Chargers with NPCUs on the Hiawathas. I’m guessing it was probably just the cost savings in maintenance and fuel from no longer dragging around an unnecessary piece of equipment.

At any rate, the crew time is no longer an issue, and the turning of equipment no longer actually delays the train. The old practice was to turn before arriving, now they unload, then pull back out to turn the train. This means turning the train doesn't hurt on-time performance and shortens the trip.