PL42AC thread

I passed by the MMC today. Noticed a PL in the yard hooked up to some Comets. Instead of having the PL42AC stripe decal on its side, it had an ALP46 decal. Very interesting.

If a PL42ac had rolled over it would have been on every board and a picture would soon follow.
Its not easy to hide a 120 ton locomotive with rollover damage.
I personaly think the thing is kind of a tall tale.
If it had happened on NS it would have been all over news.
If it happened on WNY&P the unit would have ben returned to Hornell and would have been visibile.
like I said BS.

I indeed saw a PL42 sitting in Meadows. They look nice. I hope they perform well.

It didn't roll over, but during testing in Colorado, one locomotive did derail on a curve due to a truck problem which was corrected.

njt/mnrrbuff wrote:I indeed saw a PL42 sitting in Meadows. They look nice. I hope they perform well.

That one you saw featured the ALP46 decal stripe. Don't know the number.

Sirsonic wrote:It didn't roll over, but during testing in Colorado, one locomotive did derail on a curve due to a truck problem which was corrected.

I heard it happened in or near Selkirk, and when I asked an Alstom employee about it, he confirmed it, but didn't offer any more info than that.

Whats the ALP stripe vs. the normal stripe for the PL

DutchRailnut wrote:If a PL42ac had rolled over it would have been on every board and a picture would soon follow.
Its not easy to hide a 120 ton locomotive with rollover damage.
I personaly think the thing is kind of a tall tale.
If it had happened on NS it would have been all over news.
If it happened on WNY&P the unit would have ben returned to Hornell and would have been visibile.
like I said BS.

Just because it isn't all over the internet doesn't mean it didn't happen, like this collision with the 503 almost 2 weeks ago:
community.webshots.com/photo/
173669063/468763183PVFKhA

Wow, NJT holding their feet to the fire? I don't believe it..........

Send the unit down, with the damaged frame and keep it for parts - and make them give a refund or build a new unit!!!

Hows life post "Circus" ABCD??? Hope all is well!

Lots of rumors here.

I spoke with a guy on the test team in Pueblo and he confirmed that the story about truck problems and a derailment at the test center is fiction.

He also told me that the loco that rolled forward off the dummy trucks in Hornell was 4000. It suffered superficial damage so it's being fixed. Building a new carbody after the production line has been shutdown would take at least two years and, don't forget, Alstom had to sell the factory in Spain to the German company Vossloh. Don't know who owns the drawings. Maybe NJT is settling for compensation.

There has been no derailment in transit but the first two had HEP receptacles and air end connections damaged in a yard move somewhere between Hornell and NJ.

The first loco in revenue service (4020) has run for a month on the PVL without any major incident. Is that some sort of record for a new loco?

Also, my source told me that the PL42 is the most powerful and the quietest diesel loco in the USA but no one seems to have noticed.

Not easy to notice the quietness of a diesel loco that isn't yet in revenue service... As for "most powerful", Amtrak's P42DC matches it in horsepower.

What trains is the loco assigned to. I want to get some pictures.

I have seen them on the PVL line in the evening. I have seen them on the 6:07 and 6:18 out of Secaucus.

I was standing next to 4020 last night, and I must say that it is extremely quiet, even when it is accelerating.

Time will tell of the reliability. Looking forward to riding behind them on the Main/Bergen Line.

sunwin wrote:Lots of rumors here.

I spoke with a guy on the test team in Pueblo and he confirmed that the story about truck problems and a derailment at the test center is fiction.

Funny, one of the people from Alstom told me that one had derailed...

He also told me that the loco that rolled forward off the dummy trucks in Hornell was 4000. It suffered superficial damage so it's being fixed.

If you can call a bent frame superficial, then yes.

Also, my source told me that the PL42 is the most powerful and the quietest diesel loco in the USA but no one seems to have noticed.

Quiet, yes. As quiet as every other locomotive with a EMD 710 prime mover. As to powerful, it might be, but the wonderful design of the locomotive, designed by someone who has never seen a train, limits the horsepower of the engine depending on the demand for HEP. What this means is that less cars = less horsepower. Having run these locomotives on test trains and in passenger service, the acceleration leaves a lot to be desired. About half of the FH's they are to replace accelerate better.