Passenger Trains > First P42 cab car conversion

Heritage phase IV P42 AMTK 184 has been depowered and converted to P42C AMTK 9700.

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This would be easy to photoshop,,,,but if it is true , just more amtrak stupidity...when they are short of operating power.

According to On-track-on-line, Amtrak still has a lot of stored P42s and I'm sure there are at least some that could be brought back to work.  With all the units that are being damaged in grade crossing collisions right now and the problems Amtrak is having with Chargers, I'd like to see Amtrak suspend P42 retirements temporarily.  Interesting that they're calling this first P42 cab car conversion not a "P42DC" but just a "P40C."  The unit obviously lost it's "D."  It'll be interesting to see where they put it to work.

Unit says Rensselaer on it for assignment. Probably for Ethan Allen North of Albany. Lacking operating 3rd rail shoes, it cannot lead a train on 3rd rail power into NYPS.

Posted from Android

Class 1's are having GE do full re-builds on old hulks.  GE is happy to do it.  Why can't AMTRAK do the same with their more reliable GENESIS units, as the CHARGERS continue to get worse?

Don't believe me?  I'll post about my recent AMTRAK trip this week where I heard plenty about the new CHARGERS, and how hated they are by the crews that use them.

coach Wrote:
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> Class 1's are having GE do full re-builds on old
> hulks.  GE is happy to do it.  Why can't AMTRAK
> do the same with their more reliable GENESIS
> units, as the CHARGERS continue to get worse?
>
> Don't believe me?  I'll post about my recent
> AMTRAK trip this week where I heard plenty about
> the new CHARGERS, and how hated they are by the
> crews that use them.
I do believe you and again, please remember who is in charge of Amtrak.  As long as the wrong people are running Amtrak, things will never get better.
John in White Marsh, Maryland

joemvcnj Wrote:
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 Lacking
> operating 3rd rail shoes, it cannot lead a train
> on 3rd rail power into NYPS.
>
> Posted from Android

Why would a non-powered unit need to get power from the 3rd rail

 

joemvcnj Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Unit says Rensselaer on it for assignment.
> Probably for Ethan Allen North of Albany. Lacking
> operating 3rd rail shoes, it cannot lead a train
> on 3rd rail power into NYPS.
>
> Posted from Android

I doubt it will go to the Ethan Allen. My suspicion is the Cabbages are going to be retired and these will go to the Downeaster. It is the only train anywhere around that uses Cabbages.

pdt Wrote:
>
> Why would a non-powered unit need to get power from the 3rd rail

Amtrak regs for themselves and the LIRR are that the engineer must be in a 3rd rail shoe equipped vehicle so as not to stop at a 3rd rail gap. All LIRR trains (all of 5 rush hour trains out of hundreds of EMU's) are topped and tailed regardless of train length. Since there is no such thing as a 750v DC train line, that vehicle must be powered.  LIRR EMU train under 6 cars are also prohibited, not that they run any anyway. 



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 10/07/24 05:52 by joemvcnj.

ST214 Wrote:
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> I doubt it will go to the Ethan Allen. My
> suspicion is the Cabbages are going to be retired
> and these will go to the Downeaster. It is the
> only train anywhere around that uses Cabbages.

Then why does it say "RENSSEALAER" on it ? 

ClubCar Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> coach Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Class 1's are having GE do full re-builds on
> old
> > hulks.  GE is happy to do it.  Why can't
> AMTRAK
> > do the same with their more reliable GENESIS
> > units, as the CHARGERS continue to get worse?
> >
> > Don't believe me?  I'll post about my recent
> > AMTRAK trip this week where I heard plenty
> about
> > the new CHARGERS, and how hated they are by the
> > crews that use them.
> I do believe you and again, please remember who is
> in charge of Amtrak.  As long as the wrong people
> are running Amtrak, things will never get better.
> John in White Marsh, Maryland

Who would be the right people to run Amtrak?

joemvcnj Wrote:
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> Then why does it say "RENSSEALAER" on it ? 

How do the current Empire Service trains reverse direction at NY Penn Station?

ts1457 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> joemvcnj Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Then why does it say "RENSSEALAER" on it ? 
>
> How do the current Empire Service trains reverse
> direction at NY Penn Station?

They don't unless topped-and tailed by a P32DM, which is rare if ever. There are no such thing as cab cars on the Empire Corridor .  
In one direction or the other, the engineer would be in the vehicle not equipped with 3rd rail shoes. They go to Sunnyside Yard around the Loop and back. Keystone train don't have to, run by catenary. We'll see how Empire train are configued afer Nov 10th with East River Tunne slots cut. Track 5 thru 9 only can access the west side Empire Tunnel, but cannot access East River tunnel 3 & 4. 



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 10/07/24 05:57 by joemvcnj.

joemvcnj Wrote:
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> They don't unless topped-and tailed by a P32DM,
> which is rare if ever. There are no such thing as
> cab cars on the Empire Corridor .  
> In one direction or the other, the engineer would
> be in the vehicle not equipped with 3rd rail
> shoes. 

Thanks. I don't understand the point about the engineer. Why can't the engineer be in a piece of equipment that does not have the 3rd rail shoes?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/07/24 05:49 by ts1457.

coach Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Class 1's are having GE do full re-builds on old
> hulks.  GE is happy to do it.  Why can't AMTRAK
> do the same with their more reliable GENESIS
> units, as the CHARGERS continue to get worse?

GE isn't rebuilding anything.  


 

ts1457 Wrote:

> Thanks. I don't understand the point about the
> engineer. Why can't the engineer be in a piece of
> equipment that does not have the 3rd rail shoes?

So that he doesn't stop the train in 3rd rail gap, some of which greatly exceed the length of the loco's truck base. They literally coast through, carefully, so that they don't get a ATC (or PTC) penalty stop on a long crossover. The HEP goes out in the coaches over these gaps like a subway train. 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/07/24 06:52 by joemvcnj.

joemvcnj Wrote:
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> So that he doesn't stop the train in 3rd rail gap,
> some of which greatly exceed the length of the
> loco's truck base.

OK. Appreciate it.

Say,  if they figured out a method to detect gaps remotely, maybe Amtrak could use a cab car and avoid the East River Tunnels.

This seems kind of silly, but to get around the third-rail-equipped-leading-vehicle requirement for NYPS, Amtrak could add a P32DM to the P42C end of the train at Rensselaer on southbound runs, and remove it northbound. Using the P42C as a cab car north of Rensselaer might provide better equipment utilization than sending two P32DMs all the way up to Burlington and back the next day.

Posted from iPhone

njfrn Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> This seems kind of silly, but to get around the
> third-rail-equipped-leading-vehicle requirement
> for NYPS, Amtrak could add a P32DM to the P42C end
> of the train at Rensselaer on southbound runs, and
> remove it northbound. Using the P42C as a cab car
> north of Rensselaer might provide better equipment
> utilization than sending two P32DMs all the way up
> to Burlington and back the next day.
>
> Posted from iPhone

Amtrak has been wanting to just have one locomotive (P42 or P42DM, etc.) and one cab car (book ended) for the Ethan Allen Express since the train was launched. They don't want to send two locomotives north of Albany to Burlington. 

The HHP conversion thing must have been shelved for whatever reason.  Too bad. It would have been convenient to have it be bi-directional for use. 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/07/24 06:44 by joemvcnj.