Train Spotting

[Admiral Beez]

Just thought I'd share some pics I took of CN servicing our plant in near Paris, ON earlier this week.

It was interesting to see the crew climb out, manually slide the switch or turnout, reverse the train, pick up the bulk cars and head back out to the main line.

 

[Haljackey]

Stalker

 

[SaugeenJunction]

I like the idea of this thread! Allows us to nerd out without disrupting other threads.

 

[Streety McCarface]

I like the idea of this thread! Allows us to nerd out without disrupting other threads.

Does it have to be fully GTA related?

 

[Admiral Beez]

I’m back at the plant this week, I’ll see if I can get some pics of the train through the switches.

 

[drum118]

A good place is at the back of No Frills in Oshawa as well from the walkway at VIA Oshawa station and the Pickering walkway

 

[crs1026]

^A Jarus! Always love seeing those.

- Paul

 

[SaugeenJunction]

Cool video of ION LRV delivery in Waterloo. Found on Youtube, video not mine.

 

[Haljackey]

I like trains

 

[SaugeenJunction]

I like trains

 

[Streety McCarface]

Not my video, but SEPTA recently just had its inaugural run of its first ACS-64 locomotive. These are the only operating electric locomotives outside of the Acela Express in Amtrak's fleet.

MARC, the commuter rail service of Maryland, is now phasing out their electric service and replacing HHP-8s (Damn Alstom lemons) with Siemens chargers. With this change, it will be the first and most recent conversion of a passenger rail service to diesel, contrary to what Metrolinx and other agencies are trying to do. Thoughts?

 

[Admiral Beez]

I once saw a train hauling a huge storage tank along Unwin Ave in the dock lands. I wish I’d had my camera.

 

[muller877]

MARC, the commuter rail service of Maryland, is now phasing out their electric service and replacing HHP-8s (Damn Alstom lemons) with Siemens chargers. With this change, it will be the first and most recent conversion of a passenger rail service to diesel, contrary to what Metrolinx and other agencies are trying to do. Thoughts?

The Penn Line is more of a long haul line (vs commuter line). About a dozen stops over 80 miles with hourly service mid-day (Baltimore to DC only). Its top speed needs to be as fast as Amtrak or else there are scheduling conflicts. Which lead them to this engine.

I wonder how often a train has to run before it makes sense to convert to electricity (pure $$'s only). Any studies out there?

 

[Streety McCarface]

The Penn Line is more of a long haul line (vs commuter line). About a dozen stops over 80 miles with hourly service mid-day (Baltimore to DC only). Its top speed needs to be as fast as Amtrak or else there are scheduling conflicts. Which lead them to this engine.

I wonder how often a train has to run before it makes sense to convert to electricity (pure $$'s only). Any studies out there?

It still seems that with an extra trip time of 5-10 minutes with the diesels due to slower accelerations, valuable slot time away from Amtrak every day (at least 3 hours worth, assuming there are 12 trains in each direction each day).

 

[M636RF]

MARC, the commuter rail service of Maryland, is now phasing out their electric service and replacing HHP-8s (Damn Alstom lemons) with Siemens chargers. With this change, it will be the first and most recent conversion of a passenger rail service to diesel, contrary to what Metrolinx and other agencies are trying to do. Thoughts?

MARC has not retired its HHP-8s (despite the fact that all of the new diesels are in service), and they apparently has no intention of doing so right now. Bombardier has been upgrading/replacing the electrical systems (like inverters) on the six units over the past year, with the goal of making the locos more reliable. I'm not sure who's paying for this, but they are clearly giving the hippos another chance (and they may need the extra power).

The big problem for MARC is that it doesn't own the corridor. Apparently they thought Amtrak was charging too much to use the catenary, and Amtrak was also performing a lot of the maintenance on MARC's electrics (although this practice is changing from what I understand). On top of that, Penn Line services are only pulled by electrics during peak periods (mid day services are run with shorter diesel sets from the other two lines). So for MARC, buying locomotives that would only be used during peak periods on one of the three lines didn't make sense. Hence, the switch to only buying diesels as new power.

I can't see this sort of scenario playing out with any other operator. SEPTA runs an all electric revenue fleet, and NJT runs on a large amount of electrified tracks. MBTA has apparently thought about electrics in the past, but they would likely have run into the same problems as MARC.