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  • Amtrak’s Growing Pains with Siemens Locomotives

  • Discussion related to Amtrak also known as the National Railroad Passenger Corp.
Discussion related to Amtrak also known as the National Railroad Passenger Corp.

Moderators: GirlOnTheTrain, mtuandrew, Tadman

 #1601824  by ApproachMedium
 
They can but what tends to happen is the dynamic brake throttle does not pause for setup, so it will set a fault in the IO station because it did not get the response it wanted (dynamic brake) it then usually causes some kind of voltage problem, faults out the IO station and the P42 can no longer be controlled by the siemens. The ALCs have since been swapped with an analog IO station, supposedly, that will correct this problem. It still has to interface thru software.

There WAS a time when the ACS 64 was functional with diesel locomotives with minimal problems. I dont know what happened. The diesel i ran with though did not have dynamic brake so im not sure if that had anything to do with it. But they can be problematic to the point where they will not even talk to each other. hell, the software version changes between 10 and 11 make ACS 64s incompatible depending on which one is leading. But SOMEHOW thru all this, a control car works perfectly fine. Control cars do not have dynamic brake control though.
 #1601828  by hxa
 
Today, no other major rolling stock manufacturers provide off-the-shelf high-speed locomotives. If Amtrak insisted their high-speed train be locomotive-hauled instead of an MU, Siemens would be their only option.
 #1601859  by CSRR573
 
or how about the fact that the seats originally had armrests too long so they dug into the dash and now all the dashboards look like they lost in a knife fight. Interesting fact about the Control cars, so they cant control the dynamics of the leading loco? Id be interested in seeing a ACS be controled from a NPCU and see how that works out. Dont recall ever seeing that setup
 #1601909  by ApproachMedium
 
Yea the seats are absolute trash. They are a herniated discs worst nightmare. I dont believe NPCUs have dynamic controls. No control car i have seen has a working dynamic brake controller. its difficult to maintain stable variable voltage across many cars, resistance loss etc.
 #1601911  by 8th Notch
 
CSRR573 wrote: Fri Jul 08, 2022 12:21 pm or how about the fact that the seats originally had armrests too long so they dug into the dash and now all the dashboards look like they lost in a knife fight. Interesting fact about the Control cars, so they cant control the dynamics of the leading loco? Id be interested in seeing a ACS be controled from a NPCU and see how that works out. Dont recall ever seeing that setup
It seems like the company’s fix to prevent the seats from swiveling fully now came a bit too late, 3/4 of them are badly in need of a cab refresh between the peeling black area on the desktop or the gouged up edges. The windows on some of them are crap as well, they require extra force just to get down or back up!
 #1601913  by ApproachMedium
 
Beware of the adjustment pegs, people have been cranking them down too hard. it blows the gaskets out. Back them out some. till its easy to close. If you hear window noise when you are moving fast, its probably actualyl the door not the window. pull the handle up. Do not crank those pegs down too hard.
 #1601932  by scratchyX1
 
ApproachMedium wrote: Fri Jul 08, 2022 8:01 pm Yea the seats are absolute trash. They are a herniated discs worst nightmare. I dont believe NPCUs have dynamic controls. No control car i have seen has a working dynamic brake controller. its difficult to maintain stable variable voltage across many cars, resistance loss etc.
For those who don't operate locomotives, how are dynamic brakes activated?
I'm assuming they aren't automatic, like prius regenerative braking.
 #1601945  by Railjunkie
 
scratchyX1 wrote: Sat Jul 09, 2022 8:58 am
ApproachMedium wrote: Fri Jul 08, 2022 8:01 pm Yea the seats are absolute trash. They are a herniated discs worst nightmare. I dont believe NPCUs have dynamic controls. No control car i have seen has a working dynamic brake controller. its difficult to maintain stable variable voltage across many cars, resistance loss etc.
For those who don't operate locomotives, how are dynamic brakes activated?
I'm assuming they aren't automatic, like prius regenerative braking.
Dynamic braking in with diesels is accomplished by taking the throttle and placing into idle then pushing it forward into the dynamic brake mode the further forward you push the more braking force you apply. Cant speak to the electric motors never run one but I would think its something similar.

Blended braking commonly used with passenger service is a combo of both train and engine brakes and dynamic braking. That is throttle to idle and setting the automatic brake to what ever reduction you need to slow the train down. Control of the dynamic in this case is handled by the braking system itself.
 #1601949  by eolesen
 
Dynamic braking with diesels is really only needed on heavy loads on long mountain down grades. That's why most midwest and southern railroads didn't bother with it. I'm not sure if the A.trak F40PHs even had it - it's pretty uncommon in passenger locomotives - which would explain why it's not an option for the cabbages.

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 #1601952  by CSRR573
 
The NPCUs used on the downeaster still have their dynamic controls operative. When I daily a NPCU hooked up to a P42, you can still activate the dynamics on the P42 from the stand of the NPCU. And please be careful with the windows, they a huge pita to change!
 #1601987  by ApproachMedium
 
All the amtrak F40s had dynamic brakes. Its not just for long downhills on freight, it can be used in the same manner for passenger. Mostly, on the NEC we use them for making high speed station stops to save on brake shoe wear and not piss the air away making a lot of on and off with the automatic brake. There is of course, more than one way to skin a cat so your operators behaviors may vary.
 #1601988  by Railjunkie
 
Running on the B&A or coming down West Albany Hill the use of dynamics is a everyday occurrence. I use them on the road and even in the yard we have a bit of a grade from LAB towards Troy and its just easier to put it in the third position and coast backwards rather than mess with the brakes.
 #1602024  by Railjunkie
 
photobug56 wrote: Sun Jul 10, 2022 2:35 am Question from a rail fan to someone who actually knows how all this work; how much braking for how big a train can you get from dynamic braking? Such as a ratio, one loco per x cars of various types and loading?
The above question is why I make them stop and go. Math was never a strong suit.LOL I'm sure somewhere there is a chart of some kind.
From experience one engine and 5 or 6 cars working the B&A I could easily slow the train down before the next cab signal drop (10 to 15 mph) on the down grades without touching the air. Coming west into Springfield MA station was pretty much done with dynamic only till you wanted to spot the train.
When AMT49 was much bigger and had the roadrailers tacked on the rear end I used to use the dynamics coming into Syracuse so I could have enough air to stop the train. The signal was almost always stop at the west end of the platform. Train lengths back then were 20ish cars and two engines set up in direct release(freight brake) a little different than passenger.
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