AEM7 Disposition (and other motors - HHP8)

emd645e3 wrote:

fl9m2004 wrote:Haven't seen 653 or 904 in quite a while I do however have a great pic of 912-907 on 54 Vermonter from 3 weeks ago with both pantagraphs up

904 was on a Keystone set as of last week, I think. It had some kind of wacky wheelslip issue last I saw it. 925 blew up (basically) at 30th Street last week. Smoke and all.

I now have this image of the other R2 unit in Star Wars:ANH. "Uncle Biden, this AEM7 has a bad motivator unit."

Hopefully no one got hurt with 925 doing that
I have seen 906 recently but again I really don't live that close to see all these engines roll out their last miles before new engines take over for good
I seen to remember that 911 was a good aem7 before fire being how it was on 2 trains that I took between Providence and Stamford which I take 190 or 150 quite a bit and 167 or 169 home. Mostly its the same engine returning if I take 150.

904 when I went on train 171 this past April behaved pretty well 9800 was on rear or 1001 wasn't sure
Was that the engine that hit the turkey recently after Westerly or Kingston, Rhode Island

fl9m2004 wrote:904 when I went on train 171 this past April behaved pretty well 9800 was on rear or 1001 wasn't sure
Was that the engine that hit the turkey recently after Westerly or Kingston, Rhode Island

Yup. Happened in Mansfield at 125 MPH.

U think Amtrak would have sent a light aem7 to couple up and resume train 150's journey that day
Although the mbta train was nice according to one of my close friends who was on the train

fl9m2004 wrote:U think Amtrak would have sent a light aem7 to couple up and resume train 150's journey that day
Although the mbta train was nice according to one of my close friends who was on the train

They wouldn't have been able to go at track speed with a blown-out window hanging by a thread, so it didn't make much difference if the engine made the rest of the trip on its own at restricted speed or got a pull from a helper engine. Same thing a month later when 944 got its poultry-induced black eye:



Made the rest of the trip to the nearest terminal or yard-attached station on its own, but restricted speed to keep the wind from blowing out the rest of the glass. I mean, unless you go back to full ghetto grills and all their cleanliness and visibility downsides the laws of physics kind of dictate that any object of certain mass and density hit at certain speed is going to do damage. It doesn't matter if it's a turkey or tofurkey. It's a shame 904's engineer got a bloody nose from it, but the window DID hold and deflect most of the brunt of it and save him from getting full-on decapitated by the bird. And 944's shatterproof glass did hold intact. In both cases the safety mechanisms did exactly what they're designed to do, and the design behaved exactly as it was supposed to being hit by that much force: bend and warp, but not break away entirely. The day will come--and it probably won't take more than a couple years of full service for the daily odds to tap one of 'em on the shoulder--when an ACS-64 blows out a windshield in a torrent of blood and feathers. That's not in doubt so long as the wildfowl pest population along the NEC keeps growing at this rate. It's almost certainly going to happen on an Acela too. Scarcity on the daily schedule vs. the conga line of Regionals, etc.--pure odds and luck--is the only reason it hasn't happened so far...not because HSR trains are any better at avoiding or deflecting debris hits on the same track. So long as the windshield performs as designed in a debris hit, that's not a bad thing in the slightest. Debris hits are a constant operational hazard. To some degree you want the engine to blunt the force and take the ugly end of it instead of shooting a cannonball 500 ft. and 50+ MPH into some close-abutting house's sliding glass patio door or off bridge into some unsuspecting driver's windshield.

I remember seeing one amtrak aem7 having window damage train had 937 in the old scheme before the current one they hooked up 927 to it and train was able to move a 80 mph from New haven train was 137

It was a brick that had done damage engineer was able to operate from firemans side of engine to New haven

Id love to know how an engineer operated from the firemans side since theres no controls over there.

The 904 is in Ivy City probably having repairs done. Excessive wheel slip if not from lack of sand or clogged sanders can be a speed sensing issue.

925 was usually a good motor, most likely since its an AC motor its not toast, it will be repaired. Smoke in machine rooms is usually a sign of blown power modules which happens often, esp during wet weather. If the roofs leak water will get down in to the motor block and short out the modules. I have had more than one module in an engine fry this way and have had more than one engine in the same night.

ApproachMedium wrote:Id love to know how an engineer operated from the firemans side since theres no controls over there.

The 904 is in Ivy City probably having repairs done. Excessive wheel slip if not from lack of sand or clogged sanders can be a speed sensing issue.

925 was usually a good motor, most likely since its an AC motor its not toast, it will be repaired. Smoke in machine rooms is usually a sign of blown power modules which happens often, esp during wet weather. If the roofs leak water will get down in to the motor block and short out the modules. I have had more than one module in an engine fry this way and have had more than one engine in the same night.

925 was pretty well covered with snow that day. I wouldn't be surprised if that's it. 904 slipped coming out of a station, the MCB opened, and came back to life after pressing the amber reset. No faults. But it would not hold the rail. I don't know if it was related, but it was odd.

Sounds like 904 had a major speed pick up issue. If the traction motors cut out, and/or it got a speed pick up fault when it happened then most likely a speed sensor failure. It very well could have been so much snow kicked up under the engine that all 4 speed sensors were getting faulty readouts. Stranger things have happened.

These engines are mind boggling. I wish they would've taught us more about them in class.

You want the real class spend a day or two with me. I was trying to get something better set up for education of these things but alas, that rolling stone has not gathered any moss, or moths, or dirt or anything. lol

What's the best working aem7 or hhp8 this winter
Hopefully 923 and 653

ApproachMedium wrote:Sounds like 904 had a major speed pick up issue. If the traction motors cut out, and/or it got a speed pick up fault when it happened then most likely a speed sensor failure. It very well could have been so much snow kicked up under the engine that all 4 speed sensors were getting faulty readouts. Stranger things have happened.

Can you not cut out the speed sensor on the electrics while over the road? Usually on the diesels that is the first thing I go after with continuous wheel slip (provided I know that the wheel slip isn't due to track conditions or locked axle.