MP36 #411 Heading East!!

AmtrakFan wrote:

MetraF40C607 wrote:Speaking of Western Ave. not being all there, was it their idea on which F40Cs to retire at the MP36s came? Cause if it was, they really weren't thinking. Why you may ask? 607 was the first too be killed. It was the best out of all of them (not only my personal opinion, but that of engineers). The crap that goes on up there is unreal. Bones has the idea down for a roster, but Metra never would listen to their employees anyway, so forget that. My preference? For all of you MP36 loves, take em on the RI and BNSF. We don't want them, you may take them. The system is so messed over, all you can do is sit here and wonder to yourself, why do these people do this!?!?! But anywho, ya, that's my rant. Please, feel free to question me or Bones on this matter. We share the same opinions.

Mr. Means,
The RI and the MILW can have them we don't need anymore MP36er's. I saw all of then in a row on one train Thursday.

Give us as many MP36's as you'd like. We'll definately take them.

A Metra engineer told me that he heard that BN hates the MP36's and doesn't want them.

On another note, a Union Pacific employee told me that he had overheard that bridge repairs are almost done on the UP-N, and when they are done they might be bringing new units over to UP. I know you guys think that's crazy and I'm sertain people are going to tell me that I'm wrong; my responce in advance is:

In this case, I just give information, I don't debate or explain it.

I would believe that the BN hates them. They seem to have a hard time getting up to track speed and trains they pull and push always seem to be late. heck, almost every rushhour now trains are running up to ten minutes late for no apparent reason. I remember when i used to get off the 5:16 at LaGrange Road and the Express to Naperville would come by as we would got off. Now i get off that train and the Naperville train pulled by one of the new beast dosent pass it to the LaGrange train is well out of Stone Ave and almost into western springs. Ofcourse another problem that plagues the BN now is since all the new Signal "improvements" BN dispatch dosent seem to know what there doing. Last Week all inbound trains where running main 4 (frieght only) due to freight trains being stacked on mains 1, 3 and outbounds running 2 main and passengars at Western had to walk across track 3 to get on. so that might be a problem too.

MetraRy wrote:I would believe that the BN hates them. They seem to have a hard time getting up to track speed

MetraRy, I agree with you that they take a while to get up to track speed. But those MP36's sound nice throttling up. Some people may disagree with me and that's okay.

MetraRy wrote:They seem to have a hard time getting up to track speed and trains they pull and push always seem to be late. heck, almost every rushhour now trains are running up to ten minutes late for no apparent reason. I remember when i used to get off the 5:16 at LaGrange Road and the Express to Naperville would come by as we would got off. Now i get off that train and the Naperville train pulled by one of the new beast dosent pass it to the LaGrange train is well out of Stone Ave and almost into western springs.

For the most part MP36's have no problem pulling an 11 car train to Naperville. Train #1255 the 5:12....at LaGrange Road is 6 minutes ahead of #1257 the Naperville Express. #1255 should all ready be at Western Springs by the time train #1257 passes LaGrange Road.

sorry i ment the LaGrange express that leaves union at 5:16 and the naperville express that leaves at 5:22. The lagrange express takes about an extra 2 minutes between Brookfield and LaGrange because of the new crossovers then it did in the past. The naperville express used to fly through Lagrange at around 5:38. Just as the Lagrange Express was pulling out of LaGrange Road. Now even with an additional 2 minutes for the LaGrange Express, the naperville express dosent pass it till Gilbert Ave, which is the boarder between Westen Springs and LaGrange. Almost all of the Stone Avenue pasengars are pulling out of the lot when the naperville express goes threw

Ah, ok....I wasn't sure which train you meant. Either way, the train most likely ends up on-time at Naperville. Naperville Express trains should be going through Hinsdale 11 minutes before the scheduled arrival in Naperville, which would be 5:43ish for #1267. I thought the new crossovers were supposed to be "high speed"...?

I thought so too, yet now the train slows down just past riverside to take them and never gets back up to speed

The new crossovers at Maple Ave interlocking in Brookfield are only good for 35mph, just like at the old LaGrange plant. Right now, the only hi-speed crossovers good for 50mph are located at Berwyn (between MT 1 and MT 2 only), and at West Lisle.

Since 1265 and 1267 both use MT 2 between Union Ave 'A' plant and Maple Ave., the six minute gap between trains should be sufficient enough for 1265 to slow down in advance of the crossover to MT 1 before its stop at LaGrange, while also allowing the Ft. Worth dispatcher enough time to get the switch on MT 2 re-lined in time for the Naperville runner. Consider also, that 1267 might be a minute or two tardy out of CUS at times because i/b train 1274 is due to arrive CUS at exactly the same time as 1267 should be pulling out, so there could be some minor switch alignment delays at work here as well.

Actually though, 1274 should be a little earlier into CUS, because, as is the case for all i/b trains, the schedule is a bit padded to compensate for any delays en route, so perhaps 1274 has been using all of its "padding" lately...

Lately #1257 has been passing #1255 at Western Springs at around 5:18-5:20. I ride either the 5:00 (#1257) or 5:22 (#1267) Naperville expresses each afternoon and both trains for the most part arrive in Naperville at their scheduled 5:33 and 5:54 times, respectively. They are slow getting up to track speed until west of Western Ave.

But, a few weeks ago, #1267, #1279, and #1271 were all delayed at CUS because #1274 was running late. #1267 left CUS about 15 minutes late because of the late arriving #1274, which then becomes #1275, express to LaGrange.

My source at Metra checked with mannagement and reports that they have no reason or plans to move 411 to, and I quote, "The Reck Island". As noted, these guys at mannagement don't know what they're doing, and all logic and reason is gone from this company. Personally, I'm not at all surprised that they're keeping 411, as moving it to the Rock Island and making the numbers sequencial would represent a form of logical thinking. That said, I'm not taking part in speculations, because I've figured out that it gets us nowhere, and things won't change just because of what we say on this forum. Additionally, I am not taking any heat if 411 does move to another line; I'm just reporting what Metra guys have in mind rite now.

Like I said, Metra is always full of surprizes lately. Just watch they'll change thier minds again within the next month and pull another rabbit out of the hat.

In relation to the topic of the 411, how long did it spend being rebuilt? What ever became of the second unit? Was it scrapped? And was a new one purchased to replace it?

What is the maximum speed that Metra trains operate? This includes the electric operations too.

It's unfortunate that the engineer screwed up to begin with, all too often management doesn't figure out that this wasn't his cup of tea until something like this happens.

I see it all too often that new hire trainment want to immediatly go into engine service, not because of the desire to do the job, but rather the $$$ figures attached to the job.

Thanks for any replies.

FJ Caron
Amtrak Engineer - PCS

The units were both rebuilt from the ground up. They both (409/411) have returned for service with Metra. Top speeds for these units is around 90 or so. On Metra, they don't travel over 79mph. The highest track speed on Metra is 79mph.

411 was out alone this morning. I saw it deadheading its train to Western Ave. around 8:20 am.