F40PH-3C overhaul program

my apologizes, I stand corrected, thank you!

and thank you 1118 for the list, haven't heard back yet of the other 5 units to go

$27M for overhaul of 10 locomotives that are 30 years old. Mr Aiello may be on to something. How much does a brand-new locomotive of similar power to these cost? The HSP-46's cost $6M each only a few years ago for a more powerful locomotive, so this doesn't seem like a good value.

That would only make sense.


But I think they are looking at it like buying new will only get them have as many locomotives than fixing the old junk. They need X amount to keep the fleet a float.

But fixing the old junk, there is a chance that it wont be long until only 5 of the patched units are reliable. So mine as well have bought the new ones.

This is about short vs. long-term. Those 10 locos will all be done in 18 months (some sooner). New purchases will take at least twice, probably in the 3-5 year range. Remember the MBTA still has to go out to bid for new locomotives, so this is an unfortunate stopgap expense due to lack of earlier planning.

[OT]...like separately installing two sets of fiber cables, one buried, one on poles, for two separate projects?

The existing fleet will continue to fail crankshafts at an accelerated rate because the engines are all in a very similar age range out of overhaul, except for the few with recent engine changes, and Keolis and the MBTA have not been able to keep up with need for main bearing renewals. The 645E3C engine will not put up with operation on bearings with excessive wear. When the discussion of this RFP began, about ten units of the 1025 and 1050 series were listed out of service, one with a failed main generator, one with a damaged air compressor and stubshaft, and the rest with main bearing and crankshaft problems. That is a percentage of units out of service for simple mechanical failures that is far in excess of the EMD fleets on other commuter agencies. Changing the units to microprocessor controls won't do anything to limit or reduce these kind of mechanical failures. They have got to get a handle on this situation by engine rebuilds and replacements before it eats them alive. And they don't have very much time left to do it.

MX

Anybody know when we can expect the first F40PH back from rebuild at MPI? NETransit says the first unit is expected in March, but the end of the month is fast approaching..

Nothing yet on any of the units. Not even a "waybill reported" hit.

The only one you can rule out for certain is the 1075, which landed at MPI this month.

D

I wonder if they’re going to get the paint job to look like the HSP46’s. That would be awesome.

Unfortunately they are. One will revert back to the original scheme that the screamers wore until their end.

The livery on the HSPs and the original "solid stripe" scheme from the '80s beats the faux "lightning stripe" imitation any day. Only the NYC could pull that off in either two tone gray or black and gray.

I actually think that will look quite good! Anything beats the paint job now.

^This is true.

And I agree. I actually really like the HSP's paint job.

A few years ago when there were murmurs of a possible-but-highly-unlikely screamer rebuild a-la Metra/Caltrain/Metronorth to skirt Tier III/IV regs, I slapped together an MS paint rendering of a screamer in the HSP-46 color scheme.

It actually looked really sharp, and I guess someone at MassDOT though the same thing.

Still have the rendering?