Passenger Trains > Cascades Meet like no other....

With a little preparation, good intel, and modicum of luck, I caught an interesting meet this morning. Cascades 500 and the Amtrak 865. 865? Yes, 865 is the symbol the Talgo series 6 funeral move is running under. Lead unit is AMTK 129 with 172 trailing.This meet is at a curve just south of Titlow (Tacoma), maybe mp 11.5 or so, in University Place.
 865's conductor offered to swap consists, while the 500's conductor hummed Chopin's Funeral March.

Farewell Tail Fins!

Sorry for the poor quality images, the meet was about a mile and half away from my photo location.

Steve Carter
Gig Harbor, WA
My Photography

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Great catch, Steve!

When will they order Siemens car replacements ? 

joemvcnj Wrote:
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> When will they order Siemens car replacements ? 

That's the story. The propaganda is that the Siemens cars can perform the same as the Talgo cars. It's propaganda.

TAW

Southbound funeral train at Eugene around 4:30PM

Saw them through Milwaukie at Mike's Drive In about 2PM... End of an era.

Replacements? Thats a fine joke. Any replacements will more than likely come at the states expense. Amtrak is more than likely enjoying the extra money they can charge for replacement/lease equipment if the contract permits. 

As for siemens equipment. There is a reason they do not dominate the market in the US. What works in Europe doesn't work to here. 

Last qulity siemens product was the Aem-7.

YoungOldHead Wrote:
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> What works
> in Europe doesn't work to here. 

Oh, that's why the Talgo 6s are leaving, then.  After two decades of service.

YoungOldHead Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Replacements? Thats a fine joke. Any replacements
> will more than likely come at the states expense.
> Amtrak is more than likely enjoying the extra
> money they can charge for replacement/lease
> equipment if the contract permits. 
>
> As for siemens equipment. There is a reason they
> do not dominate the market in the US. What works
> in Europe doesn't work to here. 
>
> Last qulity siemens product was the Aem-7.

The issues with the Chargers will be resolved, like the initial issues of the AEM's, the issues with the P-42's, F59's, etc, etc. Typical new locomotive, limited testing issues. 

The passenger cars (Siemens Venture/Viaggio) have worked very well in Florida and will be a fine addition for the rest of the US. There is no difference in operations between the United States and European trains. They run in the snow, cold(er), hot, grades, curves, AND at higher speeds (140mph with OBB RailJet), so please spare me your USA is so different nonsense.

It comes down to piss poor maintenance and lack of training on the equipment to fix the issues. Florida and WA seem to be doing decent with them, with WA issues being wheelslip related.

 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/01/21 09:09 by Macster.

YoungOldHead Wrote:
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> Replacements? Thats a fine joke. Any replacements
> will more than likely come at the states expense.


It seems that the state owns the trains that are being scrapped, so....

> Amtrak is more than likely enjoying the extra
> money they can charge for replacement/lease
> equipment if the contract permits. 

Since the states are required to pay for the service and provide the equipment, this is lacking in some points of fact.


>
> As for siemens equipment. There is a reason they
> do not dominate the market in the US. What works
> in Europe doesn't work to here. 


I have been told this repeatedly from 'experts' about stuff I used to do every day that we originated in the US, GIs taught to folks in Europe during WWII, then we quit doing to maximize profit bey increasing chaos and associated costs. That story gets old.
>

TAW

Yeah, don’t you just love the bureaucrats in government that think they have all the right answers and the rest of us stand up and serve just to make them all look good!

If I had it to do all over again,? I would have went to Canada and the bureaucrats could screw then selves

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Great luck Steve!

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