A question has arisen in another forum as to what motive power got the Aerotrain through the North River tunnels (and the East River tunnels, since I assume it was serviced at Sunnyside). I've never seen anything written that covered that. Was some special provision made for it to run under its own power?
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Aerotrain
- Discussion relating to the PRR, up to 1968. Visit the PRR Technical & Historical Society for more information.
You'd think someone would've gotten pics of the Aerotrain east of Newark, even tho it only lasted four months. Seems like a worthwhile subject. Only pics I've seen were by Dziobko, in the Newark station with a GG1. They're in that PRRTHS book "PRR in the 1950s" -- text by Baer.
Last edited by timz on Fri Jan 15, 2016 1:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.
A reply on the other forum mentioned having seen a photograph of a GG1 being removed from a westbound Aerotrain at Newark.
Thanks for the info; I guess that means the diesel was serviced at Meadows. (I don't suppose anybody got a shot of the light engine move.)
This is almost another topic, but back in those freewheeling days, was it necessary to get an ICC waiver to operate lightweight trains like the Aerotrain and Train X without temporal separation from standard railroad equipment?
This is almost another topic, but back in those freewheeling days, was it necessary to get an ICC waiver to operate lightweight trains like the Aerotrain and Train X without temporal separation from standard railroad equipment?
Offhand guess: the diesel had to stay on the train to supply HEP or some such thing. In any case, one pic at Newark shows the GG1 just ahead of (presumably coupled to) the westward Aerotrain diesel.
That seems to make more sense, with the diesel being towed as far as Newark--which raises another question: where was the diesel serviced? I don't suppose Sunnyside was equipped to service diesel locomotives. Could it have made a round trip from Pittsburgh with only minimal attention at Sunnyside? Presumably it could have been refueled by truck at Sunnyside.
On reflection, considering that there was only one train, it would have had to be, wouldn't it? So they must have done the maintenance somewhere in the New York area, and I don't suppose Sunnyside was set up to do it. Maybe they towed it dead out to Meadows and back every night? (Actually, 45 minutes in Pittsburgh was really tight, since I suppose they had to wye it at East Liberty and come back.)
Feb timetable says arr Pittsburgh 1525, lv 1600-- 7 hr 30 min each way, NY-Pittsburgh. Could they cross the Monongahela to wye it?
Never thought about MONON interlocking--with only 25 minutes I think they would have had to. I'm wondering now whether crossing the Monongahela would have required a Lines West crew to make the move, or if things were more flexible within the terminal area.
I have read that Aerotrain service for the PRR went between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Since most platforms for Philly 30th Street Station and North Philadelphia are high level, and since the Aerotrain cars had low level platforms, where did people board the Aerotrain in Philly? Did it use its own station or designated low level platform at 30th street station?
"Look down, step over, and watch the gap!" - Dr. John Clarke, The Gap Rap (2010)
That's an interesting question. It ran from New York to Pittsburgh, serving NYP, Newark, Trenton (?), North Philadelphia, and Johnstown, all of which had high-level platforms. I don't recall ever reading anything about how that was handled.
I just asked reddit the same question and someone pointed out that according to this photo the Aerotrain was actually high enough for high level platforms, and had trap doors for low level platforms.
"Look down, step over, and watch the gap!" - Dr. John Clarke, The Gap Rap (2010)
That would explain why no mention of it was made at the time--it was just like all the other equipment.
Several pages down in this document, you can see the Aerotrain coach doors opened in both high and low platform configuration: http://streamlinermemories.info/Mfrs/LookofThings.pdf