Railroad Forums 

  • MARC AEM-7s

  • Discussion related to DC area passenger rail services from Northern Virginia to Baltimore, MD. Includes Light Rail and Baltimore Subway.
Discussion related to DC area passenger rail services from Northern Virginia to Baltimore, MD. Includes Light Rail and Baltimore Subway.

Moderators: mtuandrew, therock, Robert Paniagua

 #865630  by Jersey_Mike
 
First I've noticed the AEM-7's back on the head of trains again (not news), but they seem to be working in pairs for some reason. Can someone explain this as well as why the AEM-7s vanished for so many years and what Amtrak did to refurbish them at Wilmington?

Also with Amtrak prematurely retiring its own fleet of AEM-7s, AEM-7ACs and HHP-8s would MARC be interested in any of of those engines? It seems somewhat stupid that MARC would be running any diesel services on the Penn Line. With lots of inexpensive, second hand electric locomotives hitting the market I would think it would behoove MARC to pick them up and use some motive power that is more appropriate with the performance requirements of the NEC.
 #865763  by electricron
 
I agree, it may be wise for MARC to pick up some second hand Amtrak electric locomotives if only for a source of spare parts. Double heading, which they are already doing on some Penn Line trains, is another possibility to consider for all Penn Line trains. The major questions remaining to be answered is how much money does MARC have, and how much Amtrak wants for the trains. Then MARC would have to decide which trains to buy, either AEM7s or HHP-8s, or buy both? DC AEM7s should become available sooner with HHP-8s later, but the HHP-8s shouldn't be worn out as much as the AEM7s. Which locomotive do you think MARC should buy from Amtrak?
 #865828  by strench707
 
It seems like a good idea if they wanted to or could expand service but since they already have all trains covered with new MP36's and existing electric power where would new locos fit in to operations? They are in a pinch, they need to expand but they don't have the physical capacity to and with these engines hitting the market it would be cheaper than buying brand new units. Amtrak fully retiring the toasters is still a ways off though so maybe MARC can get something figured out in terms of storage in the meantime.

Davis
 #866171  by HokieNav
 
MARC actually doesn't have everything covered with their current fleet, they're going to run into some problems when they have to start sending the GP-39's back to MPI (which was a part of the purchase agreement when they bought the MP-36's).

The motors were overhauled in Wilmington and had trouble with parts availability - some parts were unavailable from their original suppliers and it took quite some time to fabricate new parts that functioned correctly. There's a thread in this forum that documents the entire process and return of the AEM-7's - they were back before the summer and then started getting doubled (and replaced by pairs of MP36's) when they had the reliability problems through the summer.

In my opinion, MARC shouldn't buy any of Amtrak's castoffs, and instead tag onto Amtrak's order and get some of the new electric motors (similar to how they came into the HHP-8's). Amtrak is retiring them for a reason, and I doubt that they are interested in continuing to maintain them for MARC.
 #866209  by oknazevad
 
I thought it was the GP40's, not the 39's that were going to MPI.
 #866962  by strench707
 
I hope the old geep 40's will find new life on another system, they have served MARC well!

Davis
 #867082  by Tadman
 
I don't think anybody but the scrapyard wants Amtrak's old DC toasters. Ask any of the employees over at the Amtrak board. The DC's are in terrible shape and the AC's aren't spring chickens. 25 years after delivery, the toasters are still running in just as vigorous of service as they were when delivered. You sure don't see early-1980's freight power on the most demanding freights anymore.

It would be criminal for MARC to waste money on beat up toasters.
 #867097  by strench707
 
Tadman wrote:It would be criminal for MARC to waste money on beat up toasters.
That is unless Amtrak sold it to them for an extremely low price. Kind of like how VRE got the Metra gallery coaches for a buck each.

Davis
 #867212  by DutchRailnut
 
The Amtrak AEM-7's are slated to become Cab/bagage cars on NEC.
 #867315  by electricron
 
DutchRailnut wrote:The Amtrak AEM-7's are slated to become Cab/bagage cars on NEC.
But not the 15 HHP-8s. Amtrak's 70 locomotive order is supposed to make all 15 of them redundant in just a few years. Presently, MARC already owns 6 HHP-8s, and 4 AEM-7s. That's 10 locomotives. If MARC acquired the 15 Amtrak HHP-8s, they would have 21 of them, enough to double head all their electric trains.
I'm not suggesting the HHP-8s will be worth what Amtrak will ask for them, but these locomotives are just 10 years old or so, and should have another 10-15 years of service left in them.
 #867483  by DutchRailnut
 
one of engineering rumors at Amtrak is to convert the 15 HHP-8 into Acela power cars and to make 7 additional sets by just ordering 7 x 8 cars for 7 longer Acela's.
this would leave one spare cabcar
 #867523  by R36 Combine Coach
 
Perhaps buying SEPTA's AEM7s? If they do choose to scrap push-pull with 100% SIlverliners
 #868374  by realtype
 
Jersey_Mike wrote:First I've noticed the AEM-7's back on the head of trains again (not news), but they seem to be working in pairs for some reason. Can someone explain this as well as why the AEM-7s vanished for so many years and what Amtrak did to refurbish them at Wilmington?

Also with Amtrak prematurely retiring its own fleet of AEM-7s, AEM-7ACs and HHP-8s would MARC be interested in any of of those engines? It seems somewhat stupid that MARC would be running any diesel services on the Penn Line. With lots of inexpensive, second hand electric locomotives hitting the market I would think it would behoove MARC to pick them up and use some motive power that is more appropriate with the performance requirements of the NEC.
Yeah I've noticed that too. I guess they still aren't as reliable as they should be. MARC could run all electric rush hour service easily now, as they only have 6 dedicated Penn Line trainsets, but 6 HHP-8's and 4 AEM-7's. For some reason they still run the 9-car set (the longest one) with double-headed MP36's even though the summer heat is long over. I can't believe that the 534 express train to Perryville which uses this set gets there on time going 35mph slower (125mph vs 90mph).
HokieNav wrote:]In my opinion, MARC shouldn't buy any of Amtrak's castoffs, and instead tag onto Amtrak's order and get some of the new electric motors (similar to how they came into the HHP-8's). Amtrak is retiring them for a reason, and I doubt that they are interested in continuing to maintain them for MARC.
I agree that this would definitely be the better choice, but if funds are in short supply I do think MARC should buy the surplus HHP-8's or some AEM-7AC's.