Pantograph Pandemonium

[bth8446]

Yes, I was on THAT train today, 6419 Southbound from Warminster. Nice new SL V cars.
Between Roslyn and Ardsley . . . thump boom bam bang. Lights stayed on for few moments, but TV screens went dark. Engineer applied brakes (probably could have coasted to Ardsley but probably suspected the worst, and stopped the train to minimize wire damage.
Seems he didn't have to worry about that. Dangling from the wires were the pantographs from the train. By accident or by design, they seem to be 'break away'. I'd be impressed if it was by design. The wire held and the front pantograph failed, the next hit the 1st, the 3rd hit the 2nd/1st . . .
So there we were, caught with our pants down (more on THAT later)

Noise wasn't that bad during the issue, at least I didn't think so. Conductors were great. Kept us informed. Crowd was calm even though they were given estimates of hour or two.

As usual, the call of nature, well, it called. A young lady walked towards the back looking for attention/make request of conductor.

It appears the degree of urge was inversely proportional to the ability to come up with euphemistic phrases. Frankly, her 'euphemizer' was broken. Knocked on the door window where a conductor was passing by outside (we were locked in and given a speech earlier that they were not allowed to let us set foot on the ballast. Safety, don't you know.
Stating clearly for all to hear, she said she had to pee REALLY bad, what should she do . . .
After brief session, she was allowed to depart the train. Oddly she was helped back on board. Guess they told her not to run for the nearest station. At this point several other 20 oz coffee drinkers gave a 'me too'. Somewhere between Ardsley and Roslyn, keep an eye out for a mound of yellow snow!

So, finally the rescue train came. We were Ardsley and Glenside short of going express so the train was pretty filled, 5 cars. They brought a 4 car train for rescue. We had to step down and back up to the next train. So there was a lack of seating. but THATS ok, Warminster service is suspended, they'll just truck us right down to Center city after giving folks option to leave at Glenside. Right? They'll make it the express it was supposed to be, right?

I was OK up to this point.

But they made that stinking train a local. They were letting on people at Jenkintown, elkins/Melrose, I think they skipped Fern rock, they stopped at Wayne Junction and of course temple. I was waiting for them to switch tracks and pick up north broad for the heck of it.


Can't wait for the ride home

[ekt8750]

Yeah those pans are designed to rip off the roof if they snag to minimize any catenary teardown. The older designs would have pulled down yards or miles of wire.

[NorthPennLimited]

I wonder what the cause of this ordeal.

The new cars are less than 3 years old.

If memory serves correct, they had bus substitution on the Warminster Line 2 summers ago on week days and weekends to repair the wires.

New wire and new trains. Wonder which one failed.

[ekt8750]

I wonder what the cause of this ordeal.

The new cars are less than 3 years old.

If memory serves correct, they had bus substitution on the Warminster Line 2 summers ago on week days and weekends to repair the wires.

New wire and new trains. Wonder which one failed.

From the pictures I saw from Ch 3's story on this the one pan got tangled in the catenary for crossover so it's probably weather related. All the subzero temperatures and icing we've been experiencing, the catenary geometry could have easily have been thrown off.

[MACTRAXX]

BTH and Everyone:

I looked at the CBS3 video that looks to have been aired on Talk Live at noon today and noted the
damaged pantographs hanging in the wires in the vicinity of the switch that begins double track in
the southbound direction - this may have been a result of the cold weather and something to do
with the wirework above that switch that could have caused this mishap...

I believe that train crews did not want passengers outside this train because of the possibility of
any downed live (or holding a charge) wires and other trains that could be in the vicinity - but I
doubt that because of where the damaged wires were would have halted all Warminster Line
service as it did...I don't want to get into any discussion about the lack of lavatories on the S5
cars but the crew did the right thing allowing people that needed "relief" to exit the train at their
times of need...Just remember "When you have got to go..."

That rescue train that was sent may have been a local that was slated to begin at Glenside noting
the stops that this train made on its southbound run or may itself had to cover stops from another
late train...Thankfully this was resolved with only a long delay and it looks like there is not much
damage to the S5 cars other then the pantographs and catenary lines in the Roslyn area...

See: http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2015/0 ... ers-stuck/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

With the Flower Show - and increased Regional Rail ridership beginning in a matter of days - thankfully
this problem occurred now allowing SEPTA crews to fix and solve what this problem was...

MACTRAXX

[sammy2009]

Glad everyone is okay....you know about two weeks ago...I was coming from New York and i got the last Trenton Line train back to the city...we say at trenton for 25mins after the scheduled departed time...we was alerted that there was power issues. We then proceeded out of Trenton slowly...then the speed went up a bit then next thing you know...We hear this boom , i saw that electric shock outside from the overhead...and the train rolled and emergency announcements came on....then we sat there for like 5-10mins....i had thought the pantograph had snagged some wires....and it also sounded like something fell off .....then we started moving i was confused...I had seen a AMTRAK train on the other tracks just sitting there with little to no passengers. Our train went to operate as normal and we KICKED UP SPEED like normal. But my question is would a train still be able to operate if the pantograph was damaged. ?

[RDGAndrew]

Watched the CBS3 video, two thoughts:
1) Pantographs referred to as "boxes"? SEPTA's media relations team needs to step up and educate reporters on the right technical terms. Reporters aren't railroaders, but they can handle "fuselage" and don't refer to jet engines as "cylinders on the wings that push the plane forward", so saying "pantograph (the metal arm that gets electricity from the overhead wire to the motors)..." should be manageable.
2) Doubt the reporter referring to the situation's "silver lining" was an intentional pun, but it made me laugh anyway.

[Tadman]

But my question is would a train still be able to operate if the pantograph was damaged. ?

It would be rare that a train would proceed with a damaged pan. At one time, an MU train could drop the offending pan and let that motor car drag, but I bet they don't even do that anymore.

[glennk419]

Glad everyone is okay....you know about two weeks ago...I was coming from New York and i got the last Trenton Line train back to the city...we say at trenton for 25mins after the scheduled departed time...we was alerted that there was power issues. We then proceeded out of Trenton slowly...then the speed went up a bit then next thing you know...We hear this boom , i saw that electric shock outside from the overhead...and the train rolled and emergency announcements came on....then we sat there for like 5-10mins....i had thought the pantograph had snagged some wires....and it also sounded like something fell off .....then we started moving i was confused...I had seen a AMTRAK train on the other tracks just sitting there with little to no passengers. Our train went to operate as normal and we KICKED UP SPEED like normal. But my question is would a train still be able to operate if the pantograph was damaged. ?

A couple years ago, I was riding the southbound Vermonter. As we came through Hamilton, it sounded like the wire dropped on top of our coach but we ironically remained under power. I think what i actually heard was probably parts of the shoe from the AEM7's pantograph because as we came through the interlocking just north of Trenton, there was flash and huge explosion as the pantograph disintegrated, taking out the power on all four tracks at the same time. We were able to coast into the station. I was only going to Philly and there was a Septa train waiting to depart so I decided to make the jump. When I got off my train, it was obvious that the Vermonter wasn't going anywhere (it was eventually annulled) since the remains of the pantograph looked like a coat hanger and couldn't even be locked down. Fortunately they restored power after about 10 minutes and we departed immediately after.

[ExCon90]

SEPTA issued an account of the incident (which someone emailed to me, but I don't know how to link it) according to which a "support cable" (they said they were trying to keep technical terms to a minimum, so I think they meant the guy wires, if that's what they're technically called) holding the catenary poles upright snapped in the cold, allowing the cat pole to drift off the vertical, which consequently caused the trolley wire to droop, right at a crossover, fouling the pantograph. As confirmed by ekt8750 above, they stated that the pantograph was designed to come away rather than tear down a considerable length of overhead wire. (I think that practice dates back at least to the GG1s, which routinely operated using the rear pantograph, so that if it fouled anything it would break loose and hang from the catenary, leaving the lead pantograph available.)

[sammy2009]

Glad everyone is okay....you know about two weeks ago...I was coming from New York and i got the last Trenton Line train back to the city...we say at trenton for 25mins after the scheduled departed time...we was alerted that there was power issues. We then proceeded out of Trenton slowly...then the speed went up a bit then next thing you know...We hear this boom , i saw that electric shock outside from the overhead...and the train rolled and emergency announcements came on....then we sat there for like 5-10mins....i had thought the pantograph had snagged some wires....and it also sounded like something fell off .....then we started moving i was confused...I had seen a AMTRAK train on the other tracks just sitting there with little to no passengers. Our train went to operate as normal and we KICKED UP SPEED like normal. But my question is would a train still be able to operate if the pantograph was damaged. ?

A couple years ago, I was riding the southbound Vermonter. As we came through Hamilton, it sounded like the wire dropped on top of our coach but we ironically remained under power. I think what i actually heard was probably parts of the shoe from the AEM7's pantograph because as we came through the interlocking just north of Trenton, there was flash and huge explosion as the pantograph disintegrated, taking out the power on all four tracks at the same time. We were able to coast into the station. I was only going to Philly and there was a Septa train waiting to depart so I decided to make the jump. When I got off my train, it was obvious that the Vermonter wasn't going anywhere (it was eventually annulled) since the remains of the pantograph looked like a coat hanger and couldn't even be locked down. Fortunately they restored power after about 10 minutes and we departed immediately after.

Sounds about the same account....if the shoe came down ....thats what it sounded like..something fumbled on top of the car....we sat there for like 10mins. We had a SILVERLINER V...After that when i say we "HIT THE ROAD" I Swear we must have been doing 100 M.P.H down to Philly...even though we was 28mins late to 30th St. I got off the train at looked and saw the pantograph still connecting to the caternary.