Forgotten Railway Stories Ep. 5 - Amtrak's Leased Arrow EMUs; the Chesapeake

[@vinniezcenzo]

Wild, I've passed Elkton's dead station so many times and assumed service there ended in the 50s or 60s. MARC really needs that extension to Newark.

[@KidGaming-ug8xi]

100% on this

[@qjtvaddict]

MARC needs to go to Newark full time SEPTA needs to go there full time and Amtrak should skip Newark,DE fully only serve stations with island platforms bypass most of these minor stations and NJT should get out of the way express service is for intercity service

[@vinniezcenzo]

@@qjtvaddict 100%. Newark and Aberdeen should be MARC/SEPTA stops only with improved service.

[@Pensyfan19]

Great video! Nice to see some more attention given to these lesser known northeast railroad oddities. Now I'm wondering if Amtrak ever did end up using an MP54 for a Keystone or Chesapeake run at least once during their existence...

[@westofhudsonstudios4726]

They never wanted to use the MP54s to begin with. At the time the Chesapeake began service, the units were well over 60 years old and lacked anything modern in them, and modernism was what Amtrak wanted to achieve to get the most riders.

[@maciekkra539]

Cool, i knew Amtrak used some Silverliners for the initial Keystone runs, but didn't know about Jersey Arrows.

[@centredoorplugsthornton4112]

Last I saw Silverliners on the Keystone trains to Harrisburg was on or around July 4th in 1986 or 1987 when they used a 4 car consist of ex Reading RR Silverliner ll MU cars. Mostly they were running Metroliner MU cars during the 1980s. They did use Arrow lls til NJDOT or NJ Transit wanted em back.

[@maciekkra539]

​@@centredoorplugsthornton4112 I'm not 100 percent sure, but something i heard about Jersey Arrows having bathrooms was the reason for Amtraks preference for using them on Keystone runs over Silverliners.

[@centredoorplugsthornton4112]

@@maciekkra539 a number of older Silverliners had restrooms but SEPTA let em fall into disuse.

[@maciekkra539]

​@@centredoorplugsthornton4112 Thanks, the last time i rode on Silverliner II and III, was in the nineties, so my memory is cloudy...and i really never tried to use the bathrooms on one.

[@HotShotDesigns3D]

2:32 that knock scared me as I had headphones in. Haha

[@kevinb8881]

I never knew Amtrak and MARC had Arrow II's on the NEC, very interesting!!

[@kevinwong6588]

Up until 2017 or 2018 Arrows were also leased out for Thanksgiving.

[@wayneantoniazzi2706]

Well done! Every time you post a "Forgotten Railway Story" I learn something new! Thanks for your efforts!

[@fhwolthuis]

Nice video 👍🏼😃

[@centredoorplugsthornton4112]

MARC wasn't created til almost the mid 1980s. Til then it was Maryland DOT which sponsored the Chesapeake under section 403B of the Amtrak law, which allowed shared cost agreements between Amtrak and states that sought such trains. The Chesapeake lasted 5 years. Some other 403B state sponsored trains have lasted far less.

[@raymondturro9853]

The sad part is that NJT still uses those (and older) equipment.

[@westofhudsonstudios4726]

they no longer use Arrow IIs but i know what you mean. the arrow IIIs have been in service since the 1980s directly following the Arrow II's retirement.

[@maciekkra539]

Nothing wrong with it. You don't throw away good equipment just because it's falsely considered "outdated". In my country electric locomotives built in the 1960s are still in front line service. Properly maintained electric locomotives can run for a long, long time. Amtrak AEM7s were introduced a little after first Jersey Arrow III MUs, and because they were literally run into the ground, they were retired already.