My travels

[battalion51]

I've been pretty busy over the past few weeks, let me give you an update. I've traveled over 1800 miles with my rail pass. I've gone to WTH once, KIS once, and SFD twice. While in SFD I've seen and heard quite a few things. First off 506 has been swapped with JAX switcher 514, 514 is in the shop for service. 556 has been filling in as the Auto Train switcher. I've spoken with a few of the crews up there and here are their feelings on Auto Train. One employee told me "I hate these P-42 engines. These [explitive] engines can't haul a train like this. What they need to do is this, either put DASH 8 engines on here, or gear down these P-42's to 80 [MPH]. I guarantee you two of those DASH 8's could walk away from AT with two P-42's, even with 2,000 fewer HP."

My journeys have also taken me to Hialeah, home of the Amtrak Miami station. Let me tell you one thing, I don't plan on being a frequent visitor there. There is nothing to do there, the yard is too spread out, and you really have to look like an employee. I was able to photograph 6 GP-49's that Tri-Rail just bought from NS. The units could be viewed for a limited time on Track 3 at the Miami Amtrak station, before they are sent to Boise to be rebuilt.

As for photos I have taken a few, among them the Tri-Rail GP-49's, a Phase VI amfleet car (I think Viewliner requested it), and I got a Conductor to take photos of the cab of 514 for me. If anyone would like copies email me at [email protected]

 

[Viewliner]

Nice, I'll send you an e-mail. Thanks for taking the pics.

 

[battalion51]

I forgot to mention one other thing. Auto Train is recieving the first of the P-40's that are being rebuilt (hard to believe they need to be rebuilt already isn't it?). The first unit they recieved was the 832, it came in on the Sunset Ltd. on the 21st. The unit is now in Phase 5 (UGLY!!!) and can be seen in regular service on AT. Look for more units to come.

 

[Viewliner]

Why not Phase VI? After all, it would match the Amfleet (II's) on some of these consists, and/or closely resemble the Phase IV Equipment (More so than Phase V)

 

[EmpireBuilderFan]

I forgot to mention one other thing. Auto Train is recieving the first of the P-40's that are being rebuilt (hard to believe they need to be rebuilt already isn't it?). The first unit they recieved was the 832, it came in on the Sunset Ltd. on the 21st. The unit is now in Phase 5 (UGLY!!!) and can be seen in regular service on AT. Look for more units to come.

You wouldn't happen to know if the P-40s are being upgraded to P-42s (more HP)?

 

[Amtrak Watcher]

battalion51:

Please excuse my ignorance, but do today's engines have mechanical gears? I thought they used some kind of electric switching of motor windings to get the "gearing" effect we see in mechanical things. My understanding is that the enormous weight of trains together with the wide range of speeds makes mechanical gears impossible. Could you explain, or point me somewhere to learn about this?

 

[AlanB]

Amtrak Watcher,

You are largely correct; trains use electrical current settings to control speed. Plus the weight of modern engines would make normal mechanical gears impractical. However to answer your question, technically today’s modern diesel engines do still use a gear to help drive the train. That gear though is not one that you can shift, nor is the gear connected to the actual diesel engine.

A diesel engine, when the train is in motion, runs at one constant speed its maximum horsepower. In the case of the P42’s they produce 4,250 HP. The diesel does not directly turn the wheels like the motor in your car does, as it is not connected to a drive shaft. The diesel engine is used to turn a generator to produce electricity.

That electricity is then used to turn a traction (electric) motor that is mounted on the truck (wheel assembly) of the engine. Each axle on the truck gets it’s own traction motor. Its here that a gear does get used to some extent, the traction motor has a small gear. That meshes with a larger gear on the axle of the engine. Unlike a car though, there is only one gear. You cannot shift gears up and down like you would in car.

An engineer varies the speed of the train when he moves the throttle, by controlling how much electricity runs through the traction motor. The more electricity, the faster the traction motor turns and therefore the faster the train moves.

This is obviously an oversimplification of the entire process, but it should give you some idea on the how and why. If you would like to know more, then I would suggest starting with this page from the How Stuff Works website.

I hope this helps some. If you have more specific questions, don't hesitate to ask.

 

[EmpireBuilderFan]

This is obviously an oversimplification of the entire process, but it should give you some idea on the how and why. If you would like to know more, then I would suggest starting with this page from the How Stuff Works website.

Alan,

Thanks for posting that site. Like Amtrak Watcher, I had no idea how an engine worked, but now at least I have a clue.

Did anyone notice the dome car on the page about riding a train? Here's a link to the page. The dome interior is the lowest picture. I'd heard that NC occasionally used a dome on the Piedmont, but now here's photographic proof. Hmmm...I think I need to make a trip to NC this summer...

 

[Bill Haithcoat]

Empire Builder Fan---I have ridden the Piedmont once and I think I was told that it is specifically in the summer when they run the dome. Perhaps weekends has sometihing to do with it as well.

And I am not sure what kind of dome it is---somehow I think it might be a shorter dome than the one pictured on the link. I could be completely wrong about all of this...just going by memory.

 

[Amtrak Watcher]

AlanB:

Your clear explanation (you should author a book - the world needs a book on trains without all the train jargon) plus the HowStuffWorks site was helpful.

So, if the engineer wants to go backwards, he simply forces the current through the traction motors in the opposite direction? Then there is the breaking effect I read about. When the engineer wants to stop the train, he simply lets the momentum of the moving train be converted to torgue in the traction motors, which thanks to magnatism offer resistance to the rotating wheels. The resistance appears as reverse current that goes somewhere to be converted into heat, which has to be exhausted out into the air somewhere. Do I get it? I presume there are some air brakes or something for faster stops.

 

[AlanB]

Empire Builder Fan---I have ridden the Piedmont  once and I think I was told that it is specifically in the summer when they run the dome. Perhaps weekends has sometihing to do with it as well.

Bill is correct, Amtrak only rolls out the dome car on the Piedmont during the summer months. I'm also not sure, but I seem to recall that they did not place the dome into service this past summer.

It should also be noted, that assuming Amtrak does run the dome this summer, one must hold a business class ticket to ride in the dome. Regular coach passengers are not allowed into the dome.

 

[EmpireBuilderFan]

It should also be noted, that assuming Amtrak does run the dome this summer, one must hold a business class ticket to ride in the dome. Regular coach passengers are not allowed into the dome.

OK, so I had heard right that Amtrak only uses the dome during the summer. As far as riding business class, I have no problem paying a little extra to ride in a dome car, since I haven't done it in a long time. If they run it this summer, I really have to go visit North Carolina!

 

[AlanB]

AlanB:
So, if the engineer wants to go backwards, he simply forces the current through the traction motors in the opposite direction? Then there is the breaking effect I read about. When the engineer wants to stop the train, he simply lets the momentum of the moving train be converted to torgue in the traction motors, which thanks to magnatism offer resistance to the rotating wheels. The resistance appears as reverse current that goes somewhere to be converted into heat, which has to be exhausted out into the air somewhere. Do I get it? I presume there are some air brakes or something for faster stops.

Amtrak Watcher,

You are largely correct in your statements. Again the whole process is somewhat more complex and technical than what you’ve stated, but you’ve got the general idea. The first typing of braking that you mentioned is called dynamic braking. Much like down shifting in a car with a manual transmission, you are allowing the traction motor to put a drag on the axles, thereby slowing the train.

The second type of braking available to the engineer is indeed air or pneumatic brakes. Air brakes are similar to the brakes you would find in your car, in that each wheel has it’s own brake pad that clamps down on the wheel. That friction slows and eventually stops the train from moving.

The big difference here, as opposed to your car, is that the air pressure is used to keep the brake from making contact with the wheel. Or to put it another way, if you have no air pressure in the brake line, then your train isn’t going anywhere. The air pressure holds the brake away from the wheel of the train. When the engineer applies the brakes, he’s actually letting the air pressure escape from the brake line. Without the air pressure to hold the brake away from the wheel, a spring attached to the brake takes over and forces the brake to clamp down on the wheel.

The first air brakes developed for use on a train years ago, used to use air pressure to force the brake to clamp the wheel. However, if the brake line broke, then you had no way to stop the train. So they redesigned the brakes to the method I described above. This means that if the brake line breaks, then the train comes to an immediate halt. Plus thanks to wonders of modern electronics, when an air line breaks or separates the engine is immediately placed into neutral.

If you’ve ever been on a subway, commuter, or Amtrak train that is suddenly placed into what is called BIE (Brakes In Emergency), you will hear a sudden almost explosive whoosh of air. That whoosh is all the air pressure in the brake lines escaping, and in turn activating the brakes.

There are a few ways that a train can go BIE. One is the engineer can trigger it if he sees danger, you can pull the emergency brake cord, an air line can break, and finally through PTC (Positive Train Control).

PTC is available on most subway systems, and some Amtrak and commuter runs. PTC will stop a train if an engineer runs a red light. It will also stop the train, if the engineer should become incapcitated for some reason.

One can also hear the engineer “drop his air” on a subway train, when the train reaches its final stop and the engineer prepares to change ends. Once the engineer changes ends or in the case of a BIE once the problem is fixed; the engineer must first recharge the brake line before he can operate the train. On the NYC Subway cars, I believe that it requires around 60 LBS per square inch of air pressure to deactivate the brakes. I’m not sure if that number is the same for all trains or not, but as you can see it does require considerable power to release the brakes.

 

[Amtrak Watcher]

AlanB:

Very clear and intersting. Dealing with very heavy objects (trains) able to travel a wide range of speeds is very different from our cars.

Thanks!

 

[AlanB]

Very clear and intersting. Dealing with very heavy objects (trains) able to travel a wide range of speeds is very different from our cars.
Thanks!

The hows and whys of trains are indeed quite different than cars. Some of those differences are what make trains far more efficient at moving large amounts of people. They are also what makes moving freight over long distances via train, a far better alternative than trucks.

Ps. You're welcome.