Railroad Forums 

  • AC Catenary/Diesel Dual Modes besides NJT/AMT order

  • General discussion about locomotives, rolling stock, and equipment
General discussion about locomotives, rolling stock, and equipment

Moderator: John_Perkowski

 #756149  by metroduff
 
Are there any other "real" (not advocate/foamer-proposed) procurements of AC Catenary/Dual Mode passenger locomotives out there (proposed by an operating entity? contemplated by an operating entity?) beside the current NJT/AMT contract with Bombardier? Only markets I can think of would be on the NEC (MARC/SEPTA?) or Chicago ...
 #756212  by Jtgshu
 
Not that I know of, in this country at least.

NJT had plans almost 25 years ago to make their own dual mode locos. They were getting ready to retire their pretty large fleet of E8s in the Mid 80s, (1987 was their last run) and they were only a few years out of rebuild by the IC (late 70s, early 80s). They were seriously considering removing one prime mover, replacing the other one with a more powerful motor, say from a GP40 for 3000HP, and then where the other prime mover was, take I believe it would have been the guts of E60s or E44s NJT owned, and it would have been a dual mode in E8 shell with adequate diesel power and adequate electric power. However I guess upon further investigation, it wasn't feasible, i would guess because of axle loadings and weight, and the plans/project was dropped, and NJT ended up testing out MARC AEM7s and ordering their own version of the AEM7, the ALP44, with the first ones deleivered in late 1989 for testing, and the rest in 1990.

NJT has never lost the dual mode bug (first proposed in the early 60s when the "Aldene Plan" was created and passenger service in the state severely altered and the CNJ terminal in Jersey City shut down and abandoned) and they are the ones spearheading this dual mode locomotive design and building, with help from AMT, but its mainly an NJT project, just like the multilevels. It just happens that AMT has similar situations/problems and they jumped on board as well.

Let see how they work. I hope they work well, but I think the "gen set" style diesel locomotives (2 Caterpillar motors, each about 2100 HP) is going to cause some troubles, and that a single prime mover would have been a better route, but again, axle loadings are a problem, as NJT insists on 2 axle trucks, and not 3 axles, even if one was a dummy axle - A1A style.
 #759091  by bengt
 
1024 pix wide pic: http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c63/b ... /185/n.jpg

A Traxx loco with a diesel for train pulling on the ends.
High speed freigt on main lines, low speed on non elctrifyed lines.
No need to tow a diesel or have diesels waiting in both ends.

1024 pix wide pic: http://www.teknikarv.se/temp/PC155330-20091215-1024.jpg