Rotem Cars Discussion (new bi-level cars)

Tuesday's #218 was 4 Rotems, led by ?1800? and 1802, with 802 and another straight coach I can't recall. I didn't have time to get out the camera and record the car side display's "now approaching Swampscott" as it sat on the Haverhill platform. But the inside voice announcements were correct.

This is the set we have termed the 'super set' with the 011 pushing. The external destination signs have not worked correctly. The now arriving scrolling message is interesting because it picks the most random station to display. Monday night it was arriving at River Works sitting in North Station.

816-1821-1823 into Somerville tonight on LA-4 (around 1030PM)

825,826, 1824 out of Selkirk on CSX Q426-27
D

GP40MC1118 wrote:816-1821-1823 into Somerville tonight on LA-4 (around 1030PM)

825,826, 1824 out of Selkirk on CSX Q426-27
D

The wanderer who has traveled far has finally come home!

I just saw a consist that had cars 1818 814 and 813 in the middle of the train on the Old Colony Line in Quincy.

In what must be the fastest PAR delivery of Rotem's, LAX-29 delivered the
825-826 & 1824 to bet today after taking the four Kawasaki's to Ayer.

Nothing showing out of the plant in Philly

D

For the record, with the latest delivery, there are now 50 cars delivered! Getting there, slowly...

How many are in service? How many cab cars are in service as cab cars? I have seen at least one cab car leading a train (#1800)

32 in service, 11 North, 21 South.

ck4049 wrote:32 in service, 11 North, 21 South.

Not bad. Bout time the in service number began to catch up with the delivered/testing number

I was told today that they are almost ready to test a new modification on the cab signal system units.

Last night the "superset of fail" was still together one last time: 1801-1802-(still pointed wrongly)-808-810 & 011 when it brought me into NS on 142.

sery2831 wrote:I was told today that they are almost ready to test a new modification on the cab signal system units.

Overall, how are the Rotems doing, really? The chatter/rumors here have focused on either the negative or the superficial, such that I suspect that we've dwelt a little too much on their initial bugs and a the cab signal system, and haven't really gotten to "how they are." Are the coaches doing OK? Seems like the trouble is "just" the signal / display / announcement stuff at this point.

OTOH, I like shiny and new and might be too cheerfully overlooking some fatal flaw, but It seems to me that "tech" problems are to be expected, and are exactly why seller and buyer provide for acceptance testing. I'd much rather have a tech problem than have that sort of in-born problem like the Type 8 LRVs derailing.

The static test set on the Valley Track is now: S-1809-1813-823-1807-809-824-825-826-1824-N. When I passed by at noon today, there was at least one workman on-board.

Arlington wrote:

sery2831 wrote:I was told today that they are almost ready to test a new modification on the cab signal system units.

Overall, how are the Rotems doing, really? The chatter/rumors here have focused on either the negative or the superficial, such that I suspect that we've dwelt a little too much on their initial bugs and a the cab signal system, and haven't really gotten to "how they are." Are the coaches doing OK? Seems like the trouble is "just" the signal / display / announcement stuff at this point.

It's too soon to say how they are doing. There are some serious under the hood issues. The bugs appearing just months into operation of the cars makes all of us wonder what is going to happen down the road when these cars age. I have had good thing to say about the 4 car super set over all. But there are some issues with it that need to be addressed that I cannot discuss openly on here.