interesting consist

[Michael061282]

A friend of mine is/was bumming around Galesburg, IL today and sent me a pic of a really strange Amtrak consist that is "sitting just short of the Galesburg station" It's a front facing P42 (#823), Horizon cafe car and a rear facing engine, probably also a P42. And thats it. I don't really know what that could be, Its way too small to be subbing for one of the Quincy trains, or would seem to be, plus it seems to just be parked. Anybody have any ideas?

 

[looshi]

That's the PTC test train. Per Trainorders it's testing the Mendota Sub.

 

[Michael061282]

thanks.. info relayed

 

[Cole737]

Man that is weird. Kind of reminds me of once I was near union station in Portland and there was 2 P42s and an F59PHI with 2 superliners sitting on track 1.

 

[Acela150]

823 is a P40. Not a P42.

 

[Michael061282]

mea culpa I'm not a Engine Geek I just repeated what Google came up with. And honestly does it REALLY matter?

 

[MattW]

Does this PTC test train run nationwide, or just on routes Amtrak operates over?

 

[jis]

It is for testing the operation of PTC equipment installed on Amtrak engines, which normally operate trains on Amtrak routes.

 

[MattW]

Ok, thanks Jis!

 

[Acela150]

mea culpa I'm not a Engine Geek I just repeated what Google came up with. And honestly does it REALLY matter?

In technical terms of engine functions yes. P40's have mechanical air brakes and P42's have electronic air brakes. The P42 is a big computer. P40 less of one.

Sent from my iPhone using Amtrak Forum

 

[battalion51]

It also matters in the sense that AFAIK only a small number of engines were setup for Illinois PTC. It seems like most engines numbered 51-66 were setup with the equipment for Illinois PTC. If the 823 is out there that means that they're starting to test other engines that have PTC equipment installed.