Single Arm Pan on Arrow III #1463

Caught Schunk equipped 1327 at Trenton two weeks ago at night. Not really impressed with the aesthetics

http://acm.jhu.edu/~sthurmovik/Railpics ... night.html

Jersey_Mike wrote:Caught Schunk equipped 1327 at Trenton two weeks ago at night. Not really impressed with the aesthetics

http://acm.jhu.edu/~sthurmovik/Railpics ... night.html

I hear you on the aesthetics bit, but i'm sure less wires pulled down per year will be a welcome change for NJT and AMTK.

Theres quite a number of them around right now. What is there to be impressed with? They work, work better than the old stuff and hopefully wont be getting caught up in the catenary as much as the old sprung counterparts.

ApproachMedium wrote:Theres quite a number of them around right now. What is there to be impressed with? They work, work better than the old stuff and hopefully wont be getting caught up in the catenary as much as the old sprung counterparts.

How many fewer wire events per month or week are being prevented?

I'd be happy with one less wire event per year. A bad dewiring can block an entire main line at rush hour.

Didn't the Arrow II's have similar Single Arm pantographs before they were retired in the mid 90s????

Jersey_Mike wrote:Caught Schunk equipped 1327 at Trenton two weeks ago at night. Not really impressed with the aesthetics

http://acm.jhu.edu/~sthurmovik/Railpics ... night.html

Those new pans are TransTech, according to a bulletin I read. They did test a Schunk, same model that SEPTA is using, but evidently, it did not pass muster with NJT.

I'm hoping to see some Arrows with the new pans during the time I plan to railfan Princeton Junction later this week...

blockline4180 wrote:Didn't the Arrow II's have similar Single Arm pantographs before they were retired in the mid 90s????

Yep. The Arrow II's were built with Faively pantographs identical to those on all the Silverliners, E44's, E60's, and some Metroliner MU's at the time. Sometime in the early 1990's, NJT replaced the Faiveley pans with Stemmann pans identical to those on the Arrow III's.

Tadman wrote:I'd be happy with one less wire event per year. A bad dewiring can block an entire main line at rush hour.

I'm not sure such an "improvement" could even be considered statistically significant.

Those new pans are TransTech, according to a bulletin I read. They did test a Schunk, same model that SEPTA is using, but evidently, it did not pass muster with NJT.

Yeah, something name brand is out of their price range. That explains why the Silverliner IV's seem to be able to pull off the new pantographs better, they aren't using the "transit" model.

If they work then who gives a damn what they look like...

AmTransit wrote:If they work then who gives a damn what they look like...

Exactly the point I was going to make.

AmTransit wrote:If they work then who gives a damn what they look like...

I see you've never owned a classic or Italian car. Anyway that was my first question. How much better do they work?

Uhoh. This won't end well..

Jersey_Mike wrote:

AmTransit wrote:If they work then who gives a damn what they look like...

I see you've never owned a classic or Italian car. Anyway that was my first question. How much better do they work?

I know plenty of people with classic cars. You can own one that works and looks good. But most people own them because the way they look, not functionality. Thats a classic car. This is a pantograph for a transit agency that needs on time performance and trains that are not pulling wires down. Performance of pantographs can be measured in plenty of ways without looking at wire down statistics. Cameras mounted to the vehicle and maintenance/inspection intervals can provide plenty of data for the customer to understand pantograph performance. I would say since the new design has far less parts to maintain its probably going to cost them a lot less in replacement costs. Also since the shoe heads are exactly the same as all other NJT equipment they can save time and money in carbon/shoehead replacement which is the heaviest wear item on a pantograph.

Arguing over facts of life seems pretty pointless. It is an improvement to them. I'm only surprised that NJT is doing this to them so late in their career. This move would seem to indicate they've got at least a few more years left in them.

And not that aesthetics really matter, but I think they look fine.

I have owned and continue to own a classic car. I once made the mistake of relying on it to get to work. Bad idea. They're toys for the weekend. A railroad does not need toys, they need something that can reliably get 940,000 people to work every day.