Is MN Up for the Winter Weather?

On Friday, the 6:20pm Harlem line to Crestwood (M7) would not "take power" and was unable to make it up the center ramp from the lower level. We had to return down the ramp to the platform and take another train.

Then this morning, while I was attempting to get on the 8:18am express to GCT in Fleetwood, an ACMU died and we had to take on about 150 extra people.

My question is, is MN up for the winter weather? I recently moved just to get away from the New Haven line because of all the problems last winter. Am I now going to face the same problems on all MN lines?

In my opinion you may face some problems on the Harlem as well. However, I believe they will not be as bad as those that may be faced on the NH.

Remember, in addition to the problems of equipment age on the NH there are the issues with the catenary wires - which of course you do not have on the Harlem.

If this winter turns nasty, it will test the mettle of the new M7 cars. No one can say for sure what will happen until it happens. The M7 coaches have not had to endure a truly harsh winter as of yet.

Remember that the winters are a bit harsher north and west of the city as opposed to LI.

If we do get a massive storm similar to the one we had last Februeary, the only thing that will run will be diesel equipment.

Again - just an opinion.

That'd be dissapointing with the M7s if they won't be able to handle the harsh weather.

I remember reading one of the "Milepost" pamphlets last winter and they were saying how "oh, just wait, we'll have the new trains and things will be all better" (That's more of a paraphrase than a quote). If you mean to tell me this won't make a difference then I'll be dissapointed. Lets just hope that the issue with the automated announcements isn't a prelude to other "dissapointments".

Don't get me wrong so far I love the M7s. They ride VERY smooth compared to the earlier M units.

Well they made it throught the first days bellow 32F ( at least on the Harlem line) which is amazing. They tend to forget about the cold until the first set of trais freeze up.

Not in New Haven today 12/20. Less than 3in. of snow and the switches in New Haven had to be moved manually. This could be a very ugly winter on the Red Line.

Channel 5 news did a standup this morning at Rye. Trains pulled in, loaded and pulled out again in the background.

Looked fine at 8 am...

Channel 8 News is saying 42 out of 50 something AM trains were delayed at least a few minutes...the link is below. Not off to a good start, there wasn't even that much snow on the ground this morning.

http://www.wtnh.com/Global/story.asp?S=2715153

I was wondering how MN would handle the snow this morning. As I expected and only with a few inches (though bitter cold), not well. I bet folks will be counting the days (and there's 1000s of 'em) until the M8s arrive.

who says ??? the M8's are not even designed or up for tender.
Manufacturers have to bid for contract and then a choice can be made then final designes etc start thinking 5 to 8 years maybe.
unless its a vestpocket deal with no bidding, which is against the law.

DutchRailnut wrote:start thinking 5 to 8 years maybe.

5 years = 1826
8 years = 2921 or 2

So that's in the 1000's of days...

Just to be picky

Not to be picky either, but that was my point (with the 1000s of days -- apparently we've got 2000-3000 days or so to go).

Number of days aside....its going to be a while, and things are going to get worse before they get better. Hopefully the protection added to the electrical components over the summer will help somewhat. I feel bad for the shop workers who besides regular maintenance work, also had to deal with preparing the cars for winter, and now once they start breaking need to repair them as fast as they possibly can. Those guys really do deserve more credit then they get.

On my train from GCT-Tarrytown on Friday, a normally 8 car train was turned into 6 car and was very crowded from end-to-end at around 10PM.

The C/R said they were already having car shortages.

This was Shoreliner equipment, not electrics, as well. This winter should be fun...