by Jtgshu
I KNEW someone was gonna mention the leased Amtrak F40s 
They were leased, I believe they were leased by Alstom for NJT as backup power because of the sad performance of the PL42s when they were new. I only know of a few times they were used, and each time, it was in work/extra service, I don't konw of them ever running in passenger service for NJT. They were unrebuilt Amtrak F40s that had a very nice coat of paint put on them. They were returned to Railworld I think after about a year, and IIRC, were bought and rebuilt for AMT and live and work up there.
But NJTs F40s, the 4113 to 4129 were bought new by NJT from EMD.
Keyboardkat, very interesting story! The Comet 1s (and I think Comaros too) had semi permament HEP cables, meaning the cable was mounted on one side of the car, the other side of the car had a plug for the wire from the next car. They didn't use seperate jumper cables. All the cars since use separate HEP jumper cables. The HEP cables aren't the problem tho, (with the cars other than Comet 1s) its the communication and locomotive control jumper cables. The locos have double plugs on both sides, but the coaches don't. They have one on one sid eof the coupler, the other on the other side of the coupler. So if one of the cars is "backwards" they can't connect the Communcation (orange plug) or the Locomotive Control (black plug) inbetween those two cars.
All the cars in a train have to face the same direction, but you can have a loco on either end. In the instance that you have with that train that would need to be split, what they would need to do is have the train with the loco leading, a cab car coupled to it, then say 5 cars. So on that 6 car train, the last car is not a cab car, but a regular trailer car. Then after that car, would be coupled to a cab car and another 5 cars and a loco pushing. When the train split, the first train would be running from the loco, the second train would be running from the cab car. Problem would be when that first train got to its terminal, it wouldn't be able to be run in the other direction as it would have no cab car leading.
Having the locos in the middle like that, both trains would be able to split, the lead train would be running from a cab car, the hind train would be running from the loco, and when both those trains were to arrive at their destination, they could be turned to come back, as they would be complete adn intact and "laced up" as we call it. It would also be easier for the passenger to tell its two separate trains going to two separate places if the two trains are divided by two very loud locomotives!
They were leased, I believe they were leased by Alstom for NJT as backup power because of the sad performance of the PL42s when they were new. I only know of a few times they were used, and each time, it was in work/extra service, I don't konw of them ever running in passenger service for NJT. They were unrebuilt Amtrak F40s that had a very nice coat of paint put on them. They were returned to Railworld I think after about a year, and IIRC, were bought and rebuilt for AMT and live and work up there.
But NJTs F40s, the 4113 to 4129 were bought new by NJT from EMD.
Keyboardkat, very interesting story! The Comet 1s (and I think Comaros too) had semi permament HEP cables, meaning the cable was mounted on one side of the car, the other side of the car had a plug for the wire from the next car. They didn't use seperate jumper cables. All the cars since use separate HEP jumper cables. The HEP cables aren't the problem tho, (with the cars other than Comet 1s) its the communication and locomotive control jumper cables. The locos have double plugs on both sides, but the coaches don't. They have one on one sid eof the coupler, the other on the other side of the coupler. So if one of the cars is "backwards" they can't connect the Communcation (orange plug) or the Locomotive Control (black plug) inbetween those two cars.
All the cars in a train have to face the same direction, but you can have a loco on either end. In the instance that you have with that train that would need to be split, what they would need to do is have the train with the loco leading, a cab car coupled to it, then say 5 cars. So on that 6 car train, the last car is not a cab car, but a regular trailer car. Then after that car, would be coupled to a cab car and another 5 cars and a loco pushing. When the train split, the first train would be running from the loco, the second train would be running from the cab car. Problem would be when that first train got to its terminal, it wouldn't be able to be run in the other direction as it would have no cab car leading.
Having the locos in the middle like that, both trains would be able to split, the lead train would be running from a cab car, the hind train would be running from the loco, and when both those trains were to arrive at their destination, they could be turned to come back, as they would be complete adn intact and "laced up" as we call it. It would also be easier for the passenger to tell its two separate trains going to two separate places if the two trains are divided by two very loud locomotives!
On the RR, "believe nothing you hear and only half of what you see"
John, aka "JTGSHU" passed away on August 26, 2013. We honor his memory and his devotion to railroading at railroad.net.
John, aka "JTGSHU" passed away on August 26, 2013. We honor his memory and his devotion to railroading at railroad.net.
