Comet I's Officially Retired?

DutchRailnut wrote:all Comets are steel frame with Aluminium body, only stainless on them is hand rails near doors

AM is referring to the "Comaro's" which were the Arrow 1s and rebuilt into trailers way back in like 1987 after sitting in storage for like 10 years after being retired as electric MUs. They are all stainless.

Metrolink bought I think 15 or so of them a few years ago and they have been getting overhauled/rebuilt at Beech Grove by Amtrak.

DutchRailnut wrote:All Comets are steel frame with Aluminum body; only stainless on them is hand rails near doors

Not Comet Vs; they have a stainless steel body.

And as mentioned, not Comet IA nor IB either.

Incidentally, Metrolink has been running high-door Pullman Standard Comet Is in revenue service.

Thanks for proving me wrong

Also all of the door leafs on the Comet II and up cars are stainless, while the rest of the body is aluminum.

From what I can tell, Metrolink hasn't been using the high level Comet 1s as they have been "disposed" of, as seemingly shown in this video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHhhammK ... re=related

I think they are still leasing a few of the refurb'ed C1 Sliders from UTA as shown in the picture in Trains that I referenced above.

Maybe some of our west coast friends could give an update if they still have any C1s in service, or what the rebuilt Comaro's are going to be used for?

I think the fact that so many of the cars have been leased out/purchased, but not really used much (unless they had work done, like UTA did) to Metrolink and AMT, shows that they were really worn out and that it was their time to go and enjoy retirement and the "afterlife".

Jtgshu wrote:AM is referring to the "Comaro's" which were the Arrow 1s and rebuilt into trailers way back in like 1987 after sitting in storage for like 10 years after being retired as electric MUs. They are all stainless.

Metrolink bought I think 15 or so of them a few years ago and they have been getting overhauled/rebuilt at Beech Grove by Amtrak.

Wait a sec..If the Arrow Is are all stainless bodies (including frame), would that get them with the same problem with the related Silverliner IIIs, which were retired due to that?

R36 Combine Coach wrote:

Jtgshu wrote:AM is referring to the "Comaro's" which were the Arrow 1s and rebuilt into trailers way back in like 1987 after sitting in storage for like 10 years after being retired as electric MUs. They are all stainless.

Metrolink bought I think 15 or so of them a few years ago and they have been getting overhauled/rebuilt at Beech Grove by Amtrak.

Wait a sec..If the Arrow Is are all stainless bodies (including frame), would that get them with the same problem with the related Silverliner IIIs, which were retired due to that?

Are you referring to the crash strength situation? In this case, the former Arrow I's are all being rebuilt as coaches, no cab cars, so I would gather that would not apply...

So were the Silverliner IIIs the last "cab units" with full stainless frames?

I thought the frames on the SL2 and 3s weren't stainless, but some kind of other steel, and thats what the issue was with them?

R36 Combine Coach wrote:

Jtgshu wrote:AM is referring to the "Comaro's" which were the Arrow 1s and rebuilt into trailers way back in like 1987 after sitting in storage for like 10 years after being retired as electric MUs. They are all stainless.

Metrolink bought I think 15 or so of them a few years ago and they have been getting overhauled/rebuilt at Beech Grove by Amtrak.

Wait a sec..If the Arrow Is are all stainless bodies (including frame), would that get them with the same problem with the related Silverliner IIIs, which were retired due to that?

I thought SEPTA was forced to retire those cars due to ADA.

Jtgshu wrote:I thought the frames on the SL2 and 3s weren't stainless, but some kind of other steel, and thats what the issue was with them?

I am fairly certain the silverliner 2's were all stainless. The other steel used in railcars is carbon steel, but since it can rust more easily and is a bit less flexible it is not used as frequently in passenger cars. In fact i am pretty sure i can recall NYC subway cars being retired due to fatigued carbon steel frames, but were otherwise fairly healthy. They were not spring chickens, but a stainless build would have probably been in service longer.

They were withdrawn I think because they fail to meet current crasoworthines standards due to being built in a different era. That is my understanding of the situation.

25Hz wrote:I am fairly certain the silverliner 2's were all stainless. The other steel used in railcars is carbon steel, but since it can rust more easily and is a bit less flexible it is not used as frequently in passenger cars. In fact i am pretty sure i can recall NYC subway cars being retired due to fatigued carbon steel frames, but were otherwise fairly healthy. They were not spring chickens, but a stainless build would have probably been in service longer.

They were withdrawn I think because they fail to meet current crasoworthines standards due to being built in a different era. That is my understanding of the situation.

It was the R44s that were withdrawn (2010) due to LAHT steel corrosion. The St. Louis R38 and R44s also suffered from the same issue. The Budd R32s are full stainless.

25Hz wrote:

Jtgshu wrote:I thought the frames on the SL2 and 3s weren't stainless, but some kind of other steel, and thats what the issue was with them?

I am fairly certain the silverliner 2's were all stainless. The other steel used in railcars is carbon steel, but since it can rust more easily and is a bit less flexible it is not used as frequently in passenger cars. In fact i am pretty sure i can recall NYC subway cars being retired due to fatigued carbon steel frames, but were otherwise fairly healthy. They were not spring chickens, but a stainless build would have probably been in service longer.
.

Wrong. The budd and St louis cars used for the SLII and SLIII cars were full stainless steel. Current production cars are steel with heat form coated stainless over it. They are far stronger this way. Amfleets, the Arrow I, II and III cars as well as the SLIV and many other current things (Multilevels) are made this way. Solid stainless steel bodies with solid stainless steel underframes are actually fairly weak as proved in the Pioneer III crash tests conducted by the FRA.

Comet 1's may be retired, but the Erie Lackawanna Dining Car Preservation Society cars 1700 and 1705 have their "Old Timer's Day" uniforms on once again, and will be out on the road Saturday running through the Poconos. Here's a sneak peek, courtesy Jeremy Kwiatkowski/ELDCPS:

The only thing missing is a low door.