Passenger Trains > Metra F40PHs - 8 hours apart + Charger issues

Yesterday on the fourth I got word of a CP 686 with a solid CSX YN2 duo so I shot up to A20 to get photos of it. Number 7 met his tail end at the Northbrook Station. After 686 and 7 I picked my way home back to Evanston "the long way". I knew an outbound Metra was to arrive in Glenview at 3:11pm so I figured what the heck I'll get some shots of it. Sure enough I was greeted by not one but two F40PHs. Number 8 arrived into Glenview shortly after the metra departed. After the Metra I went home for the family's annual 4th of July dinner/grill out. I then happened to be back in the Glenview area around the time Amtrak 342 shows up. Status said on-time then became overdue. I went back to the car to get my scanner and overheard the engineer toning up the dispatcher on the A20 tower saying they were stopped near Chestnut ave in Glen view with air issues. They temporally got the air restored and crept into Glenview. After 20 minutes of hard work and troubleshooting by the engineer and conductor the train departed Glenview 30 or so minutes late. Turns out there was an air leak between the two Chargers. Charger 4617 (inmost to the train) was causing problems earlier in the day so they tacked 4602 on the point. Last week I got a lot of footage of P32-8BWH number 500 which stuck around for a few days after a charger died, I wonder if they will bring out the ever so trustworthy P32-8BWH to replace the two bad chargers 4617 and 4602 for today's trips? After 342 I came back and shot the same doubleheader set seen 8 hours earlier. A little while after that went to Morton Grove to "light up" the WSOR train T-001. Even thought this is the passenger board I'll throw in the WSOR photo for the point of the story. All in all on the 4th I got a CSX YN2 duo, Amtrak 7, Metra F400 doubleheader twice, solo CP SD60 on train 2-286, Amtrak 8, Amtrak 342, and a trio of SD40's on WSOR T-001. That's a fourth to remember!

Thanks for reading my novel!

Seth- 

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WSOR train T-001 in Morton Grove, IL 

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Those night shots are pretty amazing!  More than just car headlights at play there!

sethamtrak Wrote:
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> Turns out there was an air leak between the two
> Chargers. Charger 4617 (inmost to the train) was
> causing problems earlier in the day so they tacked
> 4602 on the point. Last week I got a lot of
> footage of P32-8BWH number 500 which stuck around
> for a few days after a charger died, I wonder if
> they will bring out the ever so trustworthy
> P32-8BWH to replace the two bad chargers 4617 and
> 4602 for today's trips? 

Interesting, so there is some sort of air leak or air pressure problem on one Charger and you declare that there are 2 bad Charger locomotives?

jst3751 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> sethamtrak Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Turns out there was an air leak between the two
> > Chargers. Charger 4617 (inmost to the train)
> was
> > causing problems earlier in the day so they
> tacked
> > 4602 on the point. Last week I got a lot of
> > footage of P32-8BWH number 500 which stuck
> around
> > for a few days after a charger died, I wonder
> if
> > they will bring out the ever so trustworthy
> > P32-8BWH to replace the two bad chargers 4617
> and
> > 4602 for today's trips? 
>
> Interesting, so there is some sort of air leak or
> air pressure problem on one Charger and you
> declare that there are 2 bad Charger locomotives?

Yes, that’s why there we’re two in the first place. One threw a fit and they added another so the train doesn’t die somewhere in the fields of Wisconsin. Yesterday train 337 and 338 both left Chicago and Milwaukee late because of mechanical issues.

This is not the first time and probably not the last a charger gave up. I’m sure if you go back on the board you can find instances where chargers caused issues.

sethamtrak Wrote:
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> jst3751 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > sethamtrak Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > > Turns out there was an air leak between the
> two
> > > Chargers. Charger 4617 (inmost to the train)
> > was
> > > causing problems earlier in the day so they
> > tacked
> > > 4602 on the point. Last week I got a lot of
> > > footage of P32-8BWH number 500 which stuck
> > around
> > > for a few days after a charger died, I wonder
> > if
> > > they will bring out the ever so trustworthy
> > > P32-8BWH to replace the two bad chargers 4617
> > and
> > > 4602 for today's trips? 
> >
> > Interesting, so there is some sort of air leak
> or
> > air pressure problem on one Charger and you
> > declare that there are 2 bad Charger
> locomotives?
>
> Yes, that’s why there we’re two in the first
> place. One threw a fit and they added another so
> the train doesn’t die somewhere in the fields of
> Wisconsin.

Maybe I just do not understand new math, for as I see it one does not equal 2, as you are claiming it does.

Is there one Charger (4617) that is bad as you state, or 2 Chargers (4617 and 4602) that are bad as you state?

Maybe go back and reread exactly what you posted and just maybe you will realize you are posting contradictory and/or confusing statements.

Seth; Is the WSOR daily or tri-weekly Janesville to Clearing? Thanks!

sethamtrak Wrote:
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> WSOR train T-001 in Morton Grove, IL 

brc600 Wrote:
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> Seth; Is the WSOR daily or tri-weekly Janesville
> to Clearing? Thanks!
>
> sethamtrak Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > WSOR train T-001 in Morton Grove, IL 

I believe it's a daily train. T001 and T004 come through Morton Grove around midnight-2am. 

mp51w Wrote:
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> Those night shots are pretty amazing!  More than
> just car headlights at play there!

Thank you very much. Those flashes are the best 200 dollars i've spent in a long time.