M-1 Railfanning curtain continues to fall

New high # car in-service: 7415. Heard a crew member call in to 204 this week that he had to cut out a door in this car............

Mack,

The LIRR M-1 and M-3 are fully compatible. Mix and match consists at will. At first they weren't. The M-3s were stronger than the M-1s when intermingled, and 8 to 10 car consists of all M-3s were tripping substations. They were always intended to be compatible off the shelf, but had to be slightly modified to be compatible.
Your best bet is to ask Dutch Railnut your question in re MN. He is now a MN Locomotive Engineer, from M of E background. He knows a lot about such things.

M-7 can never be used in same consist as M-1 or M-3. The two are completely different animals. No thought was ever even considered for interoptability between the two generations.
Consider:
M-1/M-3 nominal 37 volt low voltage system
M-7 nominal 74 volt low voltage system

If that alone is not enough, consider further:
Different physical size mechanical couplers
Different physical shape of electric coupler portion
Different style coupler pins = crush
Coupler doors actuated differently
Coupler pin trainlines would not line up = POOF!!
Coupler relay vs. drum switch - actuations would not be compatible
Different "P" wire thresholds = uneven braking between types
Different propulsion systems = different trainline calls (M-7 uses P-wire value)
etc., etc, etc.

Anyone who tries to couple an M-1 to an M-7 will have, as Ricky Ricardo used to say, "A lot of 'splainin' to do." There will be a lot of damage.

Tom

TOM: AGAIN YOU COME THRU! I tip my hat again! This was just what I figured it would be between the M1 and M3 cars. I figured the M7 was as you described it - totally different ANIMAL. As Jack Webb would have said "Just the facts,sir"(Dragnet theme music) Thanks to you,I can't get that Ricky Ricardo quote out of my mind with that cuban accent...I'm sitting here smiling as I am writing this. THANKS AGAIN - MACTRAXX

Do the M-1's have any distinguishing parts, like buildr's plates and number boards? The Friends of 35 or RRMLI might consider approaching the railroad to allow their removal, then auctioning the items on eBay to finance restorations. Sunrise Trail NRHS did that with the heavyweight parlors. Just a thought

Mack,

In fact, if you had an M-7 controlling, generating P-wire value of 370 milliamps, the M-7s would be calling for power and the M-1s or M-3s would be calling for braking! Talk about wheel defects!!

Richard G,

A lot of the builder's plates and some number boards are missing already by the time the decoms are ready to be shipped out. In addition, some people are removing builder's plates from cars that are not slated to be decommissioned in the present program!
I'd say there's never anything to lose by asking the LIRR for help for a worthwhile cause. The worst they could do is say no.

Tom

Tom, the perpetual problem concerning railroad equipment. It's a sad comment on "railfanning" when stealing becomes an accepted practice. IF the cars were on the deadline, or already being torched, it would be a different matter in my opinion. Old number boards from LIRR equipment are appearing on eBay right now. This is fine, as long as the cars were already condemned and the boards were destined for the trash hopper. On the other hand, approaching the company through official channels would possibly allow "harvesting" of number boards, builders plates, controllers, and the like. I'd prefer an official route be approached. BY establishing such a route, other discarded railroad equipment might become available, such as station signs and the odd relic of the steam and ALCO eras. Serious historians can usually see the bigger picture.

MACTRAXX,

Is someone there or you yourself keeping a note of what M1 cars are being retired?

I missed that part of your post.
The answer is yes, most assuredly. There is a person charged with keeping every detail of the decoms in a database.

Tom

Long Island 7285,

any one know the status of 9015/16

9015/016 are due for 3 year air brake in January, 2006.

From the point a certain M1 set is taken out of service, how long does it take before they end up on flat cars on their way to Mexico? Does the decomissioning process take a while and what is involved in it?

Joe

thanks Tom.

Joe (Emfinite),

Being on the PI and running repair side of the shop wall at HMC (tracks 1-5, with 30 car capacity), I have yet to be directly involved in the decoms. We are, in fact, 2 separate gangs with different account numbers.
That said, it looks like it takes an average of 2-3 weeks to move a pair from final out of service date to decommission date.
During this time, the pair will be looked over, and serial numbers checked on trucks, A/C units, and a few other components, and if they are in real good shape, they may be swapped out for clunkers.
Also, all shoe beams are removed. They are cut right off at the buss line, and the whole assembly is removed.
We are also, of late, taking whatever we need to stockpile off the decoms. At first, that was largely taboo.
What has been listed here does not take 3 weeks. I think the decoms are put on the back burner, and worked whenever manpower allows. If there is more important work to be done to get active cars or overhaul cars back in service, you can bet that work will be done before decom work. Believe it or not, sometimes we do things that make sense.

Tom

N340SG wrote:That said, it looks like it takes an average of 2-3 weeks to move a pair from final out of service date to decommission date.

Is this about the same amount of time it takes to get an M-7 pair into service? It seems to me that the M-7's are being put into revenue service really quickly; I could swear I remember seeing 7408 still on its flat car only a few weeks ago, yet it was the lead car of my train this afternoon.

How about M1 9608? I heard its ride is terrible.

LIRR 168,

AFAIK, the M-7s only need to run a certain amount of hours of burn-in.
I think it was posted the number of hours required, but I don't remember.
Then they can be put in service.

Tom