Passenger Trains > Second Turbo Set moved from Bear, DE Today

The KP701 crew grabbed the second Rohr turboliner set from Bear, DE today for delivery to Adams MW Base in New Brunswick, NJ. Two views of the rare move taken in the Newark, DE area are attached.

Enjoy !



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/25/18 14:17 by cr2581.

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To bad you cant make the power cars into Cabbages. and just put a P42 with it.
Amtrak could use the Cars somewhere

Jerry Martin
Los Angeles, CA
Central Coast Railroad Festival

There are so many things wrong with these, it would not be worth it.
Nick

Posted from iPhone

I'm intrigued by the fact that the equipment seems to have been repainted into something close to the current (Acela???) paint scheme. I thought the Turbos have been out of service for many many years. Why would they be repainted?

Can someone clarify the paint job and when it was done.

WP17

I wish a set could be saved and it's too bad there isn't a national Amtrak Museum or maybe a secondary purpose like cabeese are used for these days.

RailThunder Wrote:
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> I wish a set could be saved and it's too bad there isn't a national Amtrak Museum or maybe a
> secondary purpose like cabeese are used for these days.

Park 'em in Boardman's backyard in upstate NY....

They should stick one of the cars next to the Buffalo Exchange Street depot and rig it up like a FEMA trailer.
It would be an improvement over that station building.

WP17 Wrote:
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> I'm intrigued by the fact that the equipment seems
> to have been repainted into something close to the
> current (Acela???) paint scheme. I thought the
> Turbos have been out of service for many many
> years. Why would they be repainted?
>
> Can someone clarify the paint job and when it was
> done.
>
> WP17
Looks like what they came out of Super Steel with. Probably was Acela inspired, the rebuild was roughly concurrent with Acela's introduction.

Would be better looking than the Talgo cabs in Washington and Oregon.

I only rode these once but I liked them, especially the big windows.

So what is the "so much wrong with them? it sure looks like they could be used for something better than scrap.

Limited and fixed capacity
No dinette section
Fuel hogs
Terrible reliability in snow
Best to have a traveling technician every trip
Bathrooms in the vestibule. Not pleasant in January in upstate NY
Corrosive steel skin and they are over 40 years old.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/26/18 06:42 by joemvcnj.

pdt Wrote:
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> So what is the "so much wrong with them? it sure looks like they could be used for something better than scrap.

Trainsets are incompatible with other Amtrak equipment, both coaches and power cars. Due to trainsets age and rarity, parts are difficult to obtain, and require long lead times(owners of antique cars will recognize this problem) . The turbines were fuel hogs, and their operation was problematic -- usually had a tech riding aboard to keep them running. Lastly, their crash-worthiness was questionable; I think they had an FRA waiver to operate in US. At a grade crossing collision, the head end crew would probably not have fared well...

They are slated to be converted into training centers for the Amtrak Police.

I rode them several times when they were relatively new between Hudson, NY and Grand Central. They gave a very nice, comfortable ride . . . . large windows with a nice view of the Hudson River.

The BrightLine coaches have rest rooms in the vestibules, sort of. Right at the point of entry between the coupled sets.

OK, maybe an obvious answer to this for those in the know, but why is it
that gas turbine engines using shaft output (rather than thrust) are so notoriously fuel inefficient?

I read that turbines can’t really be throttled down for various speed ranges and also that they are notoriously
unreliable, yet jet planes and helicopter turbine engines (which use shaft drive) are both run at various speeds...idle on up...
are in all kinds of weather extremes and are both in wide use and reliable.

So what happens with turbines in land based vehicles that
has essentially made them useless in that situation?
George Andrassy

NGotwalt Wrote:
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> There are so many things wrong with these, it
> would not be worth it.
> Nick
>
> Posted from iPhone


Be nice if HSR_Fan understood that, I can imagine how many breakdowns they would've had if they did come back, be nice to now the exact reason Amtrak pulled the plug!

In January 1977, I took a steam-heat Lake Shore Ltd to Buf Central Terminal during a snow storm, late, but among the few upstate trains not encountering mechanical problems. On another track there was a Turboliner that had ingested snow in its turbine and was stranded there for 2 weeks.

Exactly one year later, my trip started off from GCT with a Turboliner. It was pulled out of service at Croton-Harmon with mechanical issues. One coming south had just gotten there, and was flipped back to be our train. Its passengers were sent to GCT on a chartered set of Conrail 1100-series MU's. The snack bar on this replacement Turboliner was half broken down with no hot food or drink. They could not use the microwave nor make coffee.

They were nothing but trouble from the beginning. I swore I would never ride one again in winter. Arriving Buffalo at night in January, without anything hot to ingest all day, was the last straw.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/26/18 16:05 by joemvcnj.

Typical GP-40 burns about 5 gal/hr at idle.

Typical JT15D turbine burns about 150 gal/hr at idle. And if u have 2 turbines.......

Also compressor temps get up to 1300 degrees or so....so shutdown and startup creates a lot of metal stress. There are more engine changouts on airliners than u think. (they dont get done at the gate, so u never see)

The PT-6 was probably the most reliable turbine engine ever built. I think the turboliners used Garrett/aireasearch turbines, which were never reliable in airplanes. Dont know for sure....just guessing.