It's Friday!!!!

For me..but not before they took the last bit of energy out of me for the week. I spent the day hauling all of the major players for Amtrak and Caltrans and every major agency that handles anything Amtrak up here for a joyride on this, our newest toy. Am I impressed? The stuff runs well enough, but lak the visual impression our California cars make...but they will do for a few years to add capacity to our fleet while we wait for our new order of cars to show up....

712 at Modesto, I get on a bit south, at Merced....

Attachment 20530

Close up of the cars, they are rebuilt, refurbished comet cars from the east coast....

Attachment 20531

Out of curiosity, what do those beasts use for power. Diesel-electric correct? GM, GE, Alco, or? Traction motor driven with dynamic brakes? Shit like that fascinates me.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Hotboat

Out of curiosity, what do those beasts use for power. Diesel-electric correct? GM, GE, Alco, or? Traction motor driven with dynamic brakes? Shit like that fascinates me.

---

Diesel electric. The ones we use are either 3000, 3200, or 4200HP....now, the electrics on the NEC are beasts. Electric units have always outperformed d-e's...but the infrastructure for them is a massive expenditure, thus cost prohibitive. Not anything like the stuff that runs the trolley cars around LA...

The units we use have traction motors geared to the axles, with available dynamics to use, or, the more preffered way to stop at least with me, is blended brakes, a combo of the antilock brakes on the cars and the dynamic brakes on the engine....on the long distance trains I use both, on the San Jac's I stick with blended only....

I also use the method known as stretch braking, which is keeping the engine in power and using the train brakes to either control speed, or reduce it in small amounts...say 10-20mph....but for 80-0 I use blended....;)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Tishimself

Diesel electric. The ones we use are either 3000, 3200, or 4200HP....now, the electrics on the NEC are beasts. Electric units have always outperformed d-e's...but the infrastructure for them is a massive expenditure, thus cost prohibitive. Not anything like the stuff that runs the trolley cars around LA...

The units we use have traction motors geared to the axles, with available dynamics to use, or, the more preffered way to stop at least with me, is blended brakes, a combo of the antilock brakes on the cars and the dynamic brakes on the engine....on the long distance trains I use both, on the San Jac's I stick with blended only....

I also use the method known as stretch braking, which is keeping the engine in power and using the train brakes to either control speed, or reduce it in small amounts...say 10-20mph....but for 80-0 I use blended....;)

---

Very cool. Two drivers correct? one in the front and one at the rear? Are they 4 or 6 axle? And how much fuel does a monster like that burn? pounds per hour or gallons?

Hey Tis, do you hear anything of proposed light rail between LA and Vegas?


Carbon aka Stainless

See now I have even more questions. Are these things direct coupled? I'm guessing alternators, but probably back in the early days, DC correct? So are they using VFD's for the motors? and how do they excite the generators? PMG or? Diesels are usually fairly low rpm. So are they using a gearbox and 2 pole or direct and say a 4 pole generator? Or are they using something other than 60hz?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Carbon

Hey Tis, do you hear anything of proposed light rail between LA and Vegas?


Carbon aka Stainless

---

I heard it's dead. At least, god I hope it is. They had a bad idea at best, and got people on board with it, even the UP. But I don't think the BNSF ever really came their way too much, and I'm pretty sure the idea has been scrapped. Now watch, next week they will announce they are starting service in January.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Hotboat

See now I have even more questions. Are these things direct coupled? I'm guessing alternators, but probably back in the early days, DC correct? So are they using VFD's for the motors? and how do they excite the generators? PMG or? Diesels are usually fairly low rpm. So are they using a gearbox and 2 pole or direct and say a 4 pole generator? Or are they using something other than 60hz?

---

Those are questions that are above my pay grade. I do know that the engine can generate anything from 0-1600 volts at 480 amps. It's a lot of power. There is an ability to hook up the engine to a substation and use it as a generator in case of a power outage. The way it works is this. Engine turns a generator, generator creates juice. Juice is sent to the traction motors via cables from a power grid in the bowels of the engine. The traction motor is geared to the axles, and the gear ratio depends on the type of engine that it is. Much the same as the size of the drivers on a steam engine determines the type of engine it is.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Tishimself

I heard it's dead. At least, god I hope it is. They had a bad idea at best, and got people on board with it, even the UP. But I don't think the BNSF ever really came their way too much, and I'm pretty sure the idea has been scrapped. Now watch, next week they will announce they are starting service in January.

---

Amtrak discontinued the desert wind in 97. It served vegas till amtrak went on a cost cutting rampage. The track is still there but inundated with freight trains that have priority. Id imagine the amtrak ride being long due to them having zero priority on both UP and BNSF's lines

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by McRib

Amtrak discontinued the desert wind in 97. It served vegas till amtrak went on a cost cutting rampage. The track is still there but inundated with freight trains that have priority. Id imagine the amtrak ride being long due to them having zero priority on both UP and BNSF's lines

---

As far as the venture you are referring to, the UP agreed to it, but wanted a huge amount of money for the upgrades needed to the track to handle 80+ mph trains. I thought it had gotten that, but the BNSF was a different story. Originally, the idea was YOU(the passenger) drive to Victorville, pick up the train, and go to Vegas. Problem was, who wants to drive halfway to VV and get on a train? turns out, not a lot. So they decided to try and extend it to Fullerton, interesting idea, but now you have to get BNSF and UP to give up a slot on Cajon pass. That slot is worth millions, literally. BNSF wanted a bucketload of money, and the UP wanted that and the first born son of everyone on the board of directors. I had heard that's where it fell apart, and came to a halt. And on top of that, do you guys see all those ratty looking Metrolink cars going back and forth, alongside the newer ones Metrolink bought from the Koreans after thy freaked out after Chatsworth? The ones they are getting rid of are sitting in sidings everywhere awaiting whatever disposal Metrolink can find to get them gone. Our Vegas friends were going to buy a bunch and refit them to be luxury cars. Color me unimpressed, color you in wait and see mode. The real story on the Chatsworth incident merits a string all on it's own, so I wont go into it here. But needless to say, Fullerton might have been a bridge too far. Last I heard they were going in a different direction. As for the desert wind, let s be clear here. BNSF LOVES Amtrak money, Amtrak is the second largest customer to BNSF, just slightly behind UPS at 30+million per year. In startling contrast, UP HATES Amtrak and all things Amtrak, and just barely tolerates our presence, I remember when I worked for the UP and heard over and over how Amtrak sucked and no one wanted them around on our tracks blah blah blah. So I feel we might see the Desert Wind again some day, Amtrak has enough skin in the Game UP will play ball, and they can get BNSF to do anything they want at 30+ million a year. But not until Amtrak gets a little more streamlined first.....