Some Former Comet I's have run their last...

The survivors on Metrolink will survive no more....

Metrolink greases rails for railroad cars’ departure
Posted: November 22, 2011 5:51 p.m.
By Ray Bowden Signal Staff Writer

Metrolink directors have voted to remove 15 railway cars that have collected dust on railroad tracks in Newhall for several years, a Metrolink official said today.

http://www.the-signal.com/section/36/article/55086/

Looks like they've been dead for a while. They're just getting the final nail in the coffin.

Never understood why they bought them anyway...at least they got to enjoy some of their retirement in sunny SoCal!

Didn't Metrolink lease some freshened up UTA Comet 1 sliders while they had their own Comet 1s sitting there? Did those cars ever actually run in service?

Jtgshu wrote:Didn't Metrolink lease some freshened up UTA Comet 1 sliders while they had their own Comet 1s sitting there? Did those cars ever actually run in service?

At least one of them ran for a while.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaBbCu8rATI

Are these those Comet I cab cars that were sitting in LA for the longest time, or are those owned by CDOT?

ATCFault wrote:

Jtgshu wrote:Didn't Metrolink lease some freshened up UTA Comet 1 sliders while they had their own Comet 1s sitting there? Did those cars ever actually run in service?

At least one of them ran for a while.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaBbCu8rATI

Sorry for being unclear, I meant did any of the Metrolink Comet 1s ever run in service?

boy its amazing what a little sprucing up can do to a 40 year old car...haha

Jtgshu wrote:

ATCFault wrote:

Jtgshu wrote:Didn't Metrolink lease some freshened up UTA Comet 1 sliders while they had their own Comet 1s sitting there? Did those cars ever actually run in service?

At least one of them ran for a while.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaBbCu8rATI

Sorry for being unclear, I meant did any of the Metrolink Comet 1s ever run in service?

boy its amazing what a little sprucing up can do to a 40 year old car...haha

They have. When I was in SoCal last year our Surfliner train was in a siding waiting for a Metrolink train to pass. I had a nice WTF moment when I saw a Comet I right behind the engine, still with disco stripes.

And now, on the opposite end of the spectrum, from retirement to revivement.... I saw a report in the current Railpace that says that 15 surviving Comaros (12 cab cars and 3 trailers)** are headed out for total rebuild (trucks, running gear, upgraded interiors, removal of pantograph mounts, etc). Their final destination is for Amtrak California services (San Joquain/Capitols).

And then the report makes an error by saying that "these would likely be the first coaches to ever operate in both commuter and intercity services in the country".
Hmmmm.... how about the ex-Pennsy Budd sleepers rebuilt into coaches that ran for MARC or SEMTA, for example. Now maybe they would be the first cars to operate as both EMU's and straight coaches in both commuter and intercity service.... other places (LIRR, NJT) have rebuilt MU's as coaches but kept them in commuter service.

**Some of the cabs would have to be kept as cab cars, since the Comet IB's can't mix with the California Car equipment due to the different floor heights.

Silverliner II wrote:
**Some of the cabs would have to be kept as cab cars, since the Comet IB's can't mix with the California Car equipment due to the different floor heights.

Not sure how that will be accomplished because all of the cars that got shipped out of Sunnyside over the winter for Beech grove all had their cab controls severed. Unless they plan on rebuilding the cabs also to make them up to todays crash specs by removing the traps, stairs and engineers side doors.

sixty-six wrote:They have. When I was in SoCal last year our Surfliner train was in a siding waiting for a Metrolink train to pass. I had a nice WTF moment when I saw a Comet I right behind the engine, still with disco stripes.

Transit follows you everywhere...

How long will the SEPTA Cars run for, The Comet II's I think are running reliably, are the Comet I's?

ApproachMedium wrote:

Silverliner II wrote:
**Some of the cabs would have to be kept as cab cars, since the Comet IB's can't mix with the California Car equipment due to the different floor heights.

Not sure how that will be accomplished because all of the cars that got shipped out of Sunnyside over the winter for Beech grove all had their cab controls severed. Unless they plan on rebuilding the cabs also to make them up to todays crash specs by removing the traps, stairs and engineers side doors.

Ahhhh, didn't know they had the controls severed. Weren't the traps on the engineer's side already welded shut thanks to installation of the permanent seats on those cabs? In any event, if all get rebuilt as coaches, then they'll just have to run them with locomotives on both ends....

NJT4115 wrote:How long will the SEPTA Cars run for, The Comet II's I think are running reliably, are the Comet I's?

The SEPTA Comet I's, as far as I know have been just as reliable as their Bomber fleet. Which is to say, they'd probably have a near 99% availability rate if the locomotives that pull and push them didn't keep waking up dead lately over the last few years....

ATCFault wrote:

sixty-six wrote:They have. When I was in SoCal last year our Surfliner train was in a siding waiting for a Metrolink train to pass. I had a nice WTF moment when I saw a Comet I right behind the engine, still with disco stripes.

Transit follows you everywhere...

HAHAHA ATC

Yes, traps were welded shut for the better seats, but the doors still function. It wouldn't be hard to cut the trap open again and return it to a functional state. Many of these cars will probably need new door leafs anyways since they are the originals, and have suffered much use and abuse thru their service at NJT.

Interesting they are rebuilding the Comaros and not interested in the Comets - I guess the stainless steel Comaros are built better and stronger as they were originally designed as MUs, and would have needed less work structurally? Some (a lot) of the Comet 1s had a good amount of rot in places, and spongy floors, so they weren't in great shape after all those years of service, but at the same time, they still held up very well after all those years of service.

Gonna be interesting to see how these things turn out and what they look like....haha