Passenger Trains > Dead Train Walking...

As many know, Amtrak and Washington State Department Of Transportation have decided to dispose of all the Series 6 Talgo Pendular equipment, after the NTSB chided their preformance in the 2017 DuPont, WA derailment. The Talgos were comfortable, and seemed to fit the corridor service in the Pacific Nortwest perfectly. In addtion they were someething "different" in an otherwise homogenic world of North American passenger rail. I was lucky enough to ride on them several years back, and thought they would be around for many, many years to come. However, the only constant is change...

Video and Photos: Train 865, and it's condemed equipment walk slowly past me at the Anaheim Canyon Metrolink station. The slow cadance of Amtrak 510's bell seems appropriate (510 was added to the train at 8th Street). This is their last moment on the "high iron", as the switch to the scrapyard (and destiny) is only a few yards away. All salvagable equipment has already been pulled out, and the beautiful Bistro cars (with their fantastic interior roofs) have served their last meal...

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Earlier in the evening, I was able to catch the Talgos at Fullerton, CA making track speed, for the last time. The train headed to Atwood, and changed ends onto the Olive Subdivision...

 

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After depositiong the cars at Coast Rail Services (about a mile down the SCAX Olive Sub), the light Amtrak power came back up to the junction with the BNSF at Atwood. Where they changed ends, and headed back to 8th Street, Los Angeles...

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Dang!  I never got to ride those cars!  Seems to me, they would be a good fit for another country!

Were the sets already end of life or did the State cave into a valid yet ultimately not very consequential safety concern? I don't really see the Series 8 sets doing much better.

mp51w Wrote:
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> Dang!  I never got to ride those cars!  Seems to
> me, they would be a good fit for another country!

The prototype X2000, ICE and I think Talgo went back to Europe. I suppose these Type 6 ones are too customized for anyone there to want them, and not at 20 years of age.

mp51w Wrote:
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> Dang!  I never got to ride those cars!  Seems to
> me, they would be a good fit for another country!

All Talgo maintenance worldwide is carried out by Talgo itself, which builds a specialized mainenance facility as part of their Design Build Maintain contract with the purchaser. Since the ROI of the maintenance facility can only be achieved through the sale of new equipment including a long service life, it wouldn't be profitable to build one for 20-year-old equipment. Therefore, the potential buyers are limited to those who already have a Talgo facility in their region, i.e. the U.S. (Pacific Northwest and Wisconsin), Spain, Germany, Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia, and (soon) Egypt. 

Thanks for getting these.  Really good coverage here on TO of the sad move - from departing Seattle to the cars arriving a few feet from their final destination.

Rich

Our family of three rode SEA to VAN in summer 2012.  Fantastic ride:  train itself, crew, service and scenery.   The only odd thing was all the checked baggage sitting between the fence and the train at Vancouver.  Had to find ours and carry it through customs and all that.   But not an issue at all,  I'd rate the entire experience AAA.

masterphots Wrote:
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> Our family of three rode SEA to VAN in summer
> 2012.  Fantastic ride:  train itself, crew,
> service and scenery.   The only odd thing was
> all the checked baggage sitting between the fence
> and the train at Vancouver.  Had to find ours and
> carry it through customs and all that.   But not
> an issue at all,  I'd rate the entire experience
> AAA.
I never rode this train set but with only a single set of wheels on each end of each car I cannot help but wonder about the quality of the ride.  I have heard from a friend that they don't ride the way the old 6 wheel truck cars used to ride, but then that was a long time ago.
John in White Marsh, Maryland

I didn't like them, sorry.

On terminal switch work and on crappy jointed rail, such as in British Columbia, they rock side to side like a boat. There was also a constant sound of what sounded like flange hissing (whatever it was), which I found annoying, all the worse on jointed rail. 
 

I rode them numerous times between Seattle and Portland or Seattle and Vancouver.  The ride was superior to anything Amtrak has, Superliners, Amfleet and Horizon.  The whistling and wheezing that was heard was the tilt mechanism adjusting the cars to keep them level on turns.  As for the side rocking, WSDOT funded the track upgrades from Vancouver, WA to Blaine.  Once across the border, that became the responsibility of British Columbia.  While they liked the train service, they weren't willing to put up the money for track improvements. But they sure have money for Sky Train.  I think it took a couple of years before the Province put up the money to make the adjustments at Colebrook. Between the delays to the second Cascades as well as CNR and CPR freights operating over the only remaining BC Rail segment to Roberts Bank is what finally got the Province to make the necessary improvements.  Then, Canadian Customs and Border Patrol threw fits because they were having to divert staff from the airport to cover the train. IIRC, they wanted to charge for each passenger that came thru Customs and have the State of Washington pay for it. It darn near sabotaged the whole operation. Now that CNR owns the tracks between White Rock and Pacific Central Station (the former CNR station), I expect the ride will become even worse.  In fact CNR has been known to hold up both train's departures from Pacific Central Station for one of their local several hundred car switch jobs travelling at 10 MPH.  

Similarly the CN Rouses Point Sub north of the border is 49 MPH where there is welded rail and 30 MPH is most places that still have jointed rail. 

I wish Amtrak could use the CP to Lucien-L'Allier, but that would be terrible station for intercity travel, and could never get the pre-clearance facility whenever they decide to build it. 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/02/21 14:31 by joemvcnj.

agent1522 Wrote:
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>  I think it took a couple of years before
> the Province put up the money to make the
> adjustments at Colebrook.

They agreed to loan Amtrak the money and tax the passengers to pay it back. BC contributed nothing.

TAW

ats90mph Wrote:
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> All salvagable equipment has already been pulled
> out

Like what?

Aka..."The Midnight Special"