Genesis discussion (AMD-103, P40DC, P42DC)

http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopi ... 6&t=139353 I have to side with Dutch on this one NH, there is a relevant thread on the Comet I-Bs already in existence, no reason to stick that in here, that's how you're going to get this perfectly good thread locked up.

I remember seeing 4800-4801
When I went past New Jersey toward Washington D.C.
4800 was with an electric engine on the Atlantic City service
Remember seeing 4801 on same train with another electric engine

Weren't a few P40s suppose to be heading to Cali?

After all the truck problems are sorted out for the rest of P-40/42 fleet,then the P-40's from the Wilmington deadline might be
brought back online. Those P-40's are now at Beech Grove,yelded their trucks to the rest of the fleet,along with any wrecked units
with salvagable trucks.

When the first of the Genesis units were delivered (the 800s) I remember a conversation with a passenger engineer in which the topic of having no way to go from the front unit to the trailing via a nose door was of some minor concern. The discussion centered on "They work well now, just wait till they get some age on them and those engines will give them trouble that a nose door will come in handy."

So now all these years later does that ever come into play? I suspect today with a number of trains operating with a single engineer that is less of a point. Still have to stop the train to go deal with the rear unit.

My question: are conductors, assnt., conds. permitted/trained to come up from the train into the trailing unit to trouble shot, reset ground relays etc?

Any thoughts was this a good configuration or a bad one? Or one that doesn't really matter?

T2

Engineers and Mechanical are the only ones trained and "technically" permitted to troubleshoot issues with a locomotive. Are there conductors that do know how to troubleshoot certain issues of course but usually that is up to the engineer. Push pull is another story where the engineer operates from the control car, if the hep trips and the conductor knows how to fix it then sure why not have him do it on the fly.

The vast majority of Amtrak owned and ordered engines never had a front nose door. You must have spoken to an old freight guy. The only real difference is hitting the ground or walking through a hot, noisy unit that may still making a lot of noise. That being said, if any crew member passes through the locomotive body, they're supposed to wear hearing protection. By the time they comply with that requirement, the engineer may have already arrived to troubleshoot.

It probably isn't a big issue.

Can't be any worse than the F40PH's lack of a nose door, right?

or P30ch or all E units with doors welded shut for that matter.
on MNCR the P32acdm's have escape hatch, Amtrak units don't, reason the park avenue tunnel has insufficient room to get out sides if there is engine fire.

Read in Trains mag long time ago that it's safer in collision not to have a nose door, especially in collision with oil truck. The nose door tends to open in a crash and allow stuff to come in.

Generally speaking in Albany if we run two dual modes back to back or push pull they will give us a tech for the trip. However on 48/49 if something goes wrong on the second unit its time to climb down and walk back. Generally liked the 480 running off second unit made for a much more quite trip.

Climbing up and down to secure the second unit when changing crews, yard jobs, lite engine moves ect is just part of the job. Really not a big deal

I've not had an issue with it all. So you walk back in the weather to the second (or rare, third) motor. Gives me a reason to stretch the legs anyway.

There have been times when I worked freight where I had 4-5 motors and it was easier to just climb off and walk to the "problem" motor on the ground than along each catwalk and through the nose and back.

I'm not sure if it's directly due to the truck issue, but P32's have become a fairly regular sight down here in Virginia.

Matt Johnson wrote:I'm not sure if it's directly due to the truck issue, but P32's have become a fairly regular sight down here in Virginia.

Oh, those are the -8B's, not the dual modes, was gonna say, pretty sure empire service, adarondack & maple leaf need those!

Those units are often (erroneously) referred to as P32s. Definitely makes things confusing!

The correct/official designation, per the GE builder's plate, is DASH 8-32BWH, as seen here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pfsullivan ... 2/sizes/l/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;