M9 and M9A Procurement & Acceptance

DutchRailnut wrote:No they are coupled between two pair as in A car- B car -single car - A car - B car so they need Automatic couplers.

I did not read your other post carefully - Not between a pair of M-8s but "The cars will couple between two pair of M-8's"...doh

So if they have automatic couplers, will they have shoes for their own power needs (HVAC & lights)?

hrfcarl wrote:So if they have automatic couplers, will they have shoes for their own power needs (HVAC & lights)?

I believe they will. I image the other M8's would not be able to provide power for both their needs and the single, and I think there is some sort of FRA rule that does not allow power to be passed between cars except in the case of permanently married pairs.

yes each single will have a Pantograh and third rail shoes for lights and HVAC.
The Automatic couplers only connect control circuits and battery at either 32 or 64 volts

DutchRailnut wrote:yes each single will have a Pantograh and third rail shoes for lights and HVAC.
The Automatic couplers only connect control circuits and battery at either 32 or 64 volts

If the singlets are taking their power straight off the wire/3rd rail, what do they need in terms of a transformer setup vs. a married pair? Do they have to lug around electrical equipment similar in heft to what the powered pairs do?


If that were the case it would best explain why the price difference between powered vs. unpowered is so meager.

they need a smaller transformer , a transfer group, and inverter to produce AC of third rail for lights and HVAC, they need batteries for emergency lighting and charger.
the huge price for this is, the design of only 25 cars

DutchRailnut wrote:The 25 single car's ordered in the M-8 order will NOT be spliced in a pair and form triplets.
The cars will couple between two pair of M-8's and form a 5 car set.
and correct those cars have no cabs, no propulsion, no dynamic brake, no toilet, just seats HVAC and lights

What's you opinion on how well the singles will play with the other cars as there is no propulsion or dynamic braking?

I can't believe in this day and age they're going to buy UNpowered trailers. Won't that cause the train to be underpowered with predictable loss in acceleration and top speed?

They always need to make the multi-million dollar mistake before they can rule it out for the future.

If you have a car with blended brakes and a car without in the same set wont that make a mess of the train handling when it comes time to stop the train?

no Amtrak does it all time

beanbag wrote:If you have a car with blended brakes and a car without in the same set wont that make a mess of the train handling when it comes time to stop the train?

SEPTA did it all the time with the Silverliner II/III (no dynamics) and IV (has dynamics). It did take a little longer to stop, but still better than a loco-hauled train.

Of course train handling will be horrible, but who cares about that?

no it won't, with or without the braking rate of each car or engine is about equal

Umm no. Whens the last time you ran an M7 with a pair on air and the rest of the consist in blend?

I listened to the most recent LIRR committee meeting in full for the first time in my life yesterday and it was quite comical at points It was funny to hear the board members talk about articulated trains and 14 car M7's. The video's on YouTube if you wanted to listen to it in full.