Passenger Trains > Two Talgo 6 train sets headed south to Los Angles

#  1  amtrak Train  #  865  with  Units  # 129  and # 172 headed south thru Tacoma WA at Mc Carver St.  with 2 Talgo 6 Train sets headed for Los Angeles CA
     at  10:22  am Date. Feb. 28 , 2021
# 2  center of both Talgo  6 train sets .
# 3  End of train 
 photos by Chris Marshall

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Great trio of photos!  A friend of mine and his son were hoping to catch it through Salem, OR this afternoon.  Any updates on its progress on this thread or the one on the Western board would be appreciated.

Rich

Why are they headed to L.A. ?

Some one down there bought them. don't know if they are going to be scrapped or used some where else.  Chris

Good luck it should still be good light then. Chris

Super-C Wrote:
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> Some one down there bought them. don't know if
> they are going to be scrapped or used some where
> else.  Chris
There is a rumor that most will be scrapped but also that one car will be going to a museum.  Who really knows?
John in White Marsh, Maryland

What a shame. Those cars were so superior to what replaced them.  How is it the cars fault that accident occurred. The engineer was responsible for excessive speed...not the equipment. 

Thru Salem, OR 3:26pm.

Sure glad you got to see it. Thanks for looking and commenting. Chris

Train29 Wrote:
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> What a shame. Those cars were so superior to what
> replaced them.  How is it the cars fault that
> accident occurred. The engineer was responsible
> for excessive speed...not the equipment. 

Do not blame the engineer for the faulty training he received that was during the night when you don't have the ability to see any landmarks to tell you where you are on the railroad..   I have been a locomotive engineer.   Do not go there!!!!


SP8100

Train29 Wrote:
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> What a shame. Those cars were so superior to what
> replaced them.  How is it the cars fault that
> accident occurred. The engineer was responsible
> for excessive speed...not the equipment. 

I seem to recall that it was some of the failings in the derailment that led to their removel.

Robert

Train29 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> What a shame. Those cars were so superior to what
> replaced them.  How is it the cars fault that
> accident occurred. The engineer was responsible
> for excessive speed...not the equipment. 

That's rather a simplistic view of what happened.  As someone else mentioned, training was a signficant factor.NTSB discussed in length what led up to the accident.“The probable cause of the Amtrak 501 derailment was the Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority’s [Sound Transit] failure to provide an effective mitigation for the hazardous curve without Positive Train Control in place, which allowed the Amtrak engineer to enter the 30-mile-per-hour curve at too high of a speed, due to his inadequate training on the territory and inadequate training on the newer equipment,” said a statement read by Chairman Robert Sumwalt.

The issue of the Series 6 trainsets, can be laid at the feet of the NTSB, which deemed them as adding to the severity of the accident.     Thus, WSDOT and ODOT decided to remove them from service. You can call that decision whatever you like from smoke screen to legimate and practical response.    But as has been pointed out by someone who survied the crash,  WSDOT would have been in a real bad place if there was a second fatal accident involving the Series 6 trainsets.    Of course Talgo was not pleased and made a valiant if not futile attempt defend their product and keep this from happening.    Here's some not-light reading on the subject: https://www.railwayage.com/news/ntsb-amtrak-501-report-errors-and-unsupported-statements/


 

Steve Carter
Gig Harbor, WA
My Photography

An NEC Amfleet train going 102 MPH derailed on a 30MPH curve in North Philly. The lead Amfleet car smacked a Pennsy catenary pole, which resulted like inserting a credit card in a shredder. Not many people were in that car, but others died up to several cars back. 6 of the 7 cars were totalled. 

How would have Amfleet, a sturdy stainless Budd car, held up in the Cascadia wreck compared to Talgo 6, or for that matter aluminum-alloy sided Horizon car, of circa 1970 Pullman-Standard design ? 

joemvcnj Wrote:
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>
> How would have Amfleet, a sturdy stainless Budd
> car, held up in the Cascadia wreck compared to
> Talgo 6, or for that matter aluminum-alloy sided
> Horizon car, of circa 1970 Pullman-Standard design
> ? 

That was related during the investigation process, but the mission was to get rid of the Talgo trains...to replace them with standard American design equipment (or thus it aplainly appears).

TAW

Departed Sacramento 7:56 a.m. March 1st.

Guess I should blame my father for my bad driving habits! I never could understand what those MPH signs meant.  Lol

Valleyman

Valleyman

SP8100 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Train29 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > What a shame. Those cars were so superior to
> what
> > replaced them.  How is it the cars fault that
> > accident occurred. The engineer was responsible
> > for excessive speed...not the equipment. 
>
> Do not blame the engineer for the faulty training
> he received that was during the night when you
> don't have the ability to see any landmarks to
> tell you where you are on the railroad..   I
> have been a locomotive engineer.   Do not go
> there!!!!
>
>
> SP8100

TAW Wrote:

> the mission was to get rid of the Talgo
> trains...to replace them with standard American
> design equipment (or thus it
plainlyy appears).

There were plenty of enemies of Talgo when they first appeared. Some claimed that they were not safe. Others pointed out a "Not Invented Here" attitude on the part of Amtrak, which also lost lease revenues from the states that acquired their own equipment.

The Talgo series 6 were the premiere trainsets, very comfortable seats, less noise and very enjoyable.

We all sadly, have been lead down the pathway of “big brother “ knows better no matter the cause of any of these unfortunate situations.

I wish that I would have made the move I thought about over 40 years ago and left all this crap!

Posted from iPhone

Posted from iPhone



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/04/21 08:41 by highballer1.