P32-8BWH retirement

You wont see anything new with isolated cabs. They found in crashes they are actually worse than the regular cabs because they just come off. They are not going to give them better riding trucks, im sure what they have is fine. A prime mover overhaul with electronic fuel injection, better power modules and possibly AC traction could be good enough and cost effective.

512 came through Williamsburg yet again today. Looks and sounds old and in need of a little work, but it was chugging along in typical GE fashion!

These units are not very good riding at track speed especially if you manage to get it at its max speed of 100. The vibrate and shake a lot. Definitely don't ride nice like a P42.

ApproachMedium wrote:You wont see anything new with isolated cabs. They found in crashes they are actually worse than the regular cabs because they just come off. They are not going to give them better riding trucks, im sure what they have is fine. A prime mover overhaul with electronic fuel injection, better power modules and possibly AC traction could be good enough and cost effective.

Ah, i see.

BuddSilverliner269 wrote:These units are not very good riding at track speed especially if you manage to get it at its max speed of 100. The vibrate and shake a lot. Definitely don't ride nice like a P42.

That is a high speed for something so non-aerodynamic....!

Matt Johnson wrote:If motive power shortage is an issue, there are still a number of P40's in storage. I'd like to see them rebuild the rest of the 800's and get a few more years out of those diesels that were sidelined prematurely.

The few 800 that were rebuilt from my understanding were the creme of the crop. Meaning they needed attention but those still in storage need a whole lot of attention. If you know what I mean. Body work and heavy structural work is needed. I have seen those left in BG and they don't look good compared to the ones taken out of storage and brought to Wilmington. Leaving units out in the weather without wrapping them like I seen BNSF do, takes its toll on the body work.

LIRR272 wrote:

Matt Johnson wrote:If motive power shortage is an issue, there are still a number of P40's in storage. I'd like to see them rebuild the rest of the 800's and get a few more years out of those diesels that were sidelined prematurely.

The few 800 that were rebuilt from my understanding were the creme of the crop. Meaning they needed attention but those still in storage need a whole lot of attention. If you know what I mean. Body work and heavy structural work is needed. I have seen those left in BG and they don't look good compared to the ones taken out of storage and brought to Wilmington. Leaving units out in the weather without wrapping them like I seen BNSF do, takes its toll on the body work.

Even wrapped you still get some issues from hot & cold differentials. A working locomotive would be warm to hot all over, but without power the entire thing goes through the ambient temperature swings, including any fragile internal components. The last 4 years in particular have seen some pretty drastic swings from 100's to below zero plus snow ice etc. Might be wise to at least put a tarp on the roof to keep stuff out if they dont all ready have covers over the cooling fan & exhaust...

BuddSilverliner269 wrote:These units are not very good riding at track speed especially if you manage to get it at its max speed of 100. The vibrate and shake a lot. Definitely don't ride nice like a P42.

Im sure with a good overhaul of all that rubber crap on the trucks should fix that. These trucks do not have springs for the secondary suspension, they are those rubber snubbers like the F40s used to have.

ApproachMedium wrote:

BuddSilverliner269 wrote:These units are not very good riding at track speed especially if you manage to get it at its max speed of 100. The vibrate and shake a lot. Definitely don't ride nice like a P42.

Im sure with a good overhaul of all that rubber crap on the trucks should fix that. These trucks do not have springs for the secondary suspension, they are those rubber snubbers like the F40s used to have.

Elastomer/polymer engine mounts & such definitely have a specific lifetime to them. Some get useless faster than others in the same application in the same location, making suppression uneven and therefore worse than if all the fittings were wearing evenly. A friend of mine has an old car with air bag suspension, and one of the air bags flexes a lot more than the other 4, making for an "uneven table leg" effect when all are inflated to equal pressure.

Yea, thats why on the F40s, GP50s/60s whatever railroads had bought that stuff with the rubber things they were replaced with the old style leaf spring bolsters which worked just fine. The B32-8 series however, does not have any other options as their trucks were only ever made with the rubber type. Unless some manufacture wants to come up with a coil spring retrofit.

Hypothetical: If these were retired today, where would they go, sold off & rebuilt, or scrap, or some other?

Given their role - mid-horsepower b-b midweight, I can't imagine them being scrapped. At worst, genset conversion. middle scenario - sale to shortline. At best - total rebuild and use on Class I or progressive shortline.

AMTK822401 wrote:
Was 822 given electronic fuel injection? I've ridden a revenue train behind it and I know it does not have an E-Bell nor does it have electropneumatic brakes

Anything that is running today on amtrak in the P40 or P42 class has EFI. Amtrak has nothing with EP brake only the Acela sets have it. If you are talking about the Knorr CCB electronic brake controller, then no it does not have that either as they did not upgrade to that when the units were rebuilt. Not all of the P42s even have Ebells yet.

The NJT P40 engines all have EFI, still have standard 30CDW air brake stands and retain their pneumatic bells. Neither of which have anything at all to do with engine control electronics upgrades.

It is so HIGHLY UNLIKELY they would retire these engines as GE is the mainstay for Amtrak,they had out of shop rebuilt the ex go transit GP40s
they still have many 70s emd yard switchers,if anything a demotion to MOW would happen but service life has aways to go after overhauls,so
it would be safe to say they will be around for awhile.

Still working the yard in Miami with it. Tied the 516 down this morning after using her all morning. Going anywhere? With what to replace it with?

slchub wrote:Still working the yard in Miami with it. Tied the 516 down this morning after using her all morning. Going anywhere? With what to replace it with?

With the P40s and P42s becoming redundant with the new Siemens locomotives being bought for California and Midwest service.