Passenger Trains > Chargers on the Autotrain

Talking to the station agent yesterday in Sanford there is an indication that the Autotrain will start on some days next week in using the new Chargers

The 800 series P40’s used on the Autotrain were delivered in 1993, 31 years ago!

Hopefully the Chargers will be worthy replacements for these proud old units

Posted from iPhone



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/24/24 06:36 by amtrakbill.

The P40s deserve their retirement. I hope that the ALC-42 units can perform reliably on the Auto Train. Overall, it sounds like their reliability is improving.

amtrakbill Wrote:
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> Talking to the station agent yesterday in Sanford
> there is an indication that the Autotrain will
> start on some days next week in using the new
> Chargers
>
> The 800 series P40’s used on the Autotrain were
> delivered in 1993, 31 years ago!
>
> Hopefully the Chargers will be worthy replacements
> for these proud old units
>
> Posted from iPhone

Allegedly AMTK 346+347 are ready to pounce.

Can the Chargers actually handle pulling that much weight?

 

Jerry Martin
Los Angeles, CA
Central Coast Railroad Festival

GP25 Wrote:
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> Can the Chargers actually handle pulling that much
> weight?
>
>  
Shouldn't be a problem. The Chargers have about the same HP and a slightly higher starting tractive effort, and anecdotally they load fastewr than the Genesis. More importantly for the Auto Train they provide more HEP wattage (1Mw vs, 800kW) allowing additions of a few more passenger cars than currently possible.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/24/24 12:08 by Jishnu.

P30s 1983-1991 ,  F40/GP40/F40 1991-1993  ,  P40/P42s 1993-2024   with the ALCs ready to step up to the plate. The GP40s used between the F40s were the 650-664 units that had pass-through 480v HEP ,  they provided the oomph that was needed on the horsepower side as the F40s HEP came from the main powerplant reducing it to about  2250hp- the other F40 and the GP40 would provide 3000hp each in addition to the power from the unit providing the HEP.  The HEP could only come off one unit and has been a limiting factor on how many cars can be handled for HEP.   

I would doubt that the HEP units can handle a car charger load on top of the passenger cars. Also What happens if something shorts out in the cars within the auto racks. Rolling fire train? i don't want to think of the bad things that could happen. Or come up with a Aux power car in front of the auto racks..... Just a idea

Hopefully they keep the P40s on standby for a while to pinch hit for ailing Chargers.

Amtrak should NOT retire any P-42s.  Between winter wether and Summer heat, they need extra power on standby at many western points, to be used when necessary.  Such as today's #5 which lost one P-42 at Grand Junction.  

LaJunta, El Paso, San Antonio, Albuquerque, Salt Lake City, Havre, Minneapolis-St. Paul, and Denver would certainly good places in the western U.S. for spare locomotive power.  

In addition Amtrak sends out LD trains such as the Eagle and the City of NO with only one unit.  BIG mistake, and here is their chance to correct it.  

Passfanatic Wrote:
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> The P40s deserve their retirement. I hope that the
> ALC-42 units can perform reliably on the Auto
> Train. Overall, it sounds like their reliability
> is improving.

Until they can run them on 7 and 8 daily even when temps get very cold during the winter and not do an 11 day suspension like they did this year, the jury's still out!

The SB autotrain departed at 1115pm - 6 hours late

The Chargers were not placed on this soundbound train.  They can make up 2 hours along the way to Florida which may not require that Amtrak cancel tomorrows runs to catch up.

Posted from iPhone



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/25/24 03:33 by amtrakbill.

Auto racks do not have 480v cables.

mvrr10 Wrote:
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> Auto racks do not have 480v cables.

Please read carefully and be mindful of WHICH thread you are responding to. 

It appears that you are confused and are responding to the wrong thread.

austin Wrote:
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> I would doubt that the HEP units can handle a car
> charger load on top of the passenger cars. Also
> What happens if something shorts out in the cars
> within the auto racks. Rolling fire train? i don't
> want to think of the bad things that could happen.
> Or come up with a Aux power car in front of the
> auto racks..... Just a idea

Please read carefully and be mindful of WHICH thread you are responding to. 

​It appears that you are confused and are responding to the wrong thread.

Something is being lost too, according to a retired Amtrak engineer:

"P40s survived in this service account piped brakes.. (non-electronic) I guess this is the end of the road as I don't see anything ever being offered again as "old school"... You will never again have that type of precision offered by a manual brake pipe.. No bumping the handle to grab less than a pound at time.. We dummy down so much this country, why not this on the longest Amtrak train with the most slack... Mediocrity rules!"

The auto carriers /.auto racks do not have 480v cables so they don't take 480 off the traimline ; the cars are loaded and do require horsepower to handle them in the consist.

mvrr10 Wrote:
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> The auto carriers /.auto racks do not have 480v
> cables so they don't take 480 off the traimline ;
> the cars are loaded and do require horsepower to
> handle them in the consist.

Right. That's why Amtrak would provide a single auto carrier with the cables for charging Teslas etc in sequence. Likely right behind the last passenger car.