New Talgos moving westward for testing

[jmx53]

Any ideas on the new sets have MU and Comm's ports? I would extremely doubt that these will be MU'd together at any point.
I will add that these sets have a bizarre look to them, but I welcome it. I hope to someday get out to the NW and check out these new sets and the older sets.

I wrote to Oregon Dept of Transportation a couple months ago and they replied that these new trainsets will likely still operate with an F40 NPCU on the cab car end due to concerns about having to take the entire trainset out of service in the event of a grade crossing accident, so that is probably why the MU ports are still there. See post #38 on page 2 of this thread to read more of their reply.

 

[Acela150]

Any ideas on the new sets have MU and Comm's ports? I would extremely doubt that these will be MU'd together at any point.
I will add that these sets have a bizarre look to them, but I welcome it. I hope to someday get out to the NW and check out these new sets and the older sets.

I wrote to Oregon Dept of Transportation a couple months ago and they replied that these new trainsets will likely still operate with an F40 NPCU on the cab car end due to concerns about having to take the entire trainset out of service in the event of a grade crossing accident, so that is probably why the MU ports are still there. See post #38 on page 2 of this thread to read more of their reply.

That makes sense. Thanks.

 

[fairviewroad]

ODOT has posted a few photos of the train traveling through Oregon:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/oregondot

Here's my favorite:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/oregondot/8655646920/in/photostream

 

[AlanB]

Any ideas on the new sets have MU and Comm's ports? I would extremely doubt that these will be MU'd together at any point.

I will add that these sets have a bizarre look to them, but I welcome it. I hope to someday get out to the NW and check out these new sets and the older sets.

I wrote to Oregon Dept of Transportation a couple months ago and they replied that these new trainsets will likely still operate with an F40 NPCU on the cab car end due to concerns about having to take the entire trainset out of service in the event of a grade crossing accident, so that is probably why the MU ports are still there. See post #38 on page 2 of this thread to read more of their reply.

That makes sense. Thanks.

You'd want the MU ports and such to be there just in case of a failure of a trainset. If one needs to hook another consist or engine on to tow a dead in the water train, you need those cables to deal with the other engine. Let's pretend that an engine fails on a northbound train and the only easy option is that the next northbound train hooks up to the rear of the dead train.

If you have no MU cables, then you cannot control the combined train from the dead engine. That would mean that you'd have to take two trains worth of passengers wanting to go north, south. With MU cables, the engineer simply transfers to the dead, lead engine and controls things from there.

 

[A friend of Rocky the Goat]

I am really glad that Oregon bought these trains but there are a number of botched things in this order or just not as nice as the originals. Most are design problems. Poor attention to details and how things look.

1. First of all the cab. A triumph of bad design, regulation and communication. A fail if there ever was one. Many have already commented on this.

2. The Bisto car interiors look like someone just dumped restaurant equipment in a shell. Not at all the car that was made with the originals. People observed the Amtrak standards but with no fineness or creativity. Utilitarian is all that could be said. But no other business would stand for such poor design work.

3. The naming of the first class coaches. Cascade service has had a standard name for its first class: business class- certainly understandable and familiar , but these cars to be mixed in with the others are labeled custom "class" This nomenclature will be confusing to say the least.

4. The striping and detailing of the paint job. The lower strip is 3 inches too low which results in a narrower green band which is less pleasing. But what is worse and so tacky is that this means the the emergency exit decals which are meant to be white against a white strip stand out as a hash mark. It also appears that the handrails on the cab cars stick out so much from the body that they have to be wrapped with black and yellow warning tape.

All of this is poor attention to design and for $40 million dollar trains it is inexcusable. I don't know if it was Talgo USA or ODOT but someone was not minding the store.

 

[Acela150]

I just have to laugh at the comment about the paint.. It's paint. Who cares about it. If it runs, that's all I care about.

 

[user 1215]

I just have to laugh at the comment about the paint.. It's paint. Who cares about it. If it runs, that's all I care about.

It's pretty well known that aethetics play a huge roll in the perception of quality by the public. You don't want to spend money and invest your time and life in something that looks like it was thrown together by the lowest bidder. If the paint sucks, what else - mechanically, electrically, hydraulically, etc - was done on the cheap and careless?

People want to ride on a train that looks as cool as it is functional.

 

[A friend of Rocky GN Goat]

The original purchase agreement with Talgo was for $36.6 million; ODOT has approved an additional $6 million for consultants, spare parts, testing and the addition of WiFi.

For that price, you should should get not only a train that runs but has a careful paint job.

 

[CHamilton]

Via Facebook:

Oregon II (the 2nd Talgo set) will leave Milwaukee for Seattle today following train 7(21)

 

[cpamtfan]

I can't believe some people have the nerve to gripe about stuff like paint. How about they just scrap it now because God forbid it will melt peoples eyes out when they see the horrendous paint job. Give me a break.

 

[CHamilton]

Via Facebook:

All Aboard Washington · 393 like this


8 hours ago ·

• ODOT-2 Talgo is headed this way
  
  Andrew Kim: A big special thank you to Shane Darst for giving me a heads up and letting me share a few photos of a WB Amtrak Special Train #941 with the new Cascades talgo that will be following very closely with the Westbound Empire Builder #7 as both will be in Seattle on Thursday. The talgo train will be running 30 minutes behind Train #7 schedule. On Train #941, 2 P42DCs (20 Leading, 93 trailing) with the new talgo train set. If #7 is running good and on time, Train #941 should be through Everett by 9 AM approximately.
  
  
  

 

[sitzplatz17]

Any reason why they're running two separate trains? Seem like it'd just be easier to add another loco to 7 and add the talgos on the end.

Thanks in advanced to anyone who can enlighten me!

 

[fairviewroad]

Any reason why they're running two separate trains? Seem like it'd just be easier to add another loco to 7 and add the talgos on the end.
Thanks in advanced to anyone who can enlighten me!

Well, for one thing the Talgos are going to SEA so if they were at the end, they'd be right behind the Portland section. So the

switching ops in Spokane would be a lot more complicated since you'd have to remove the Talgos from the Portland section and

then reattach them to the SEA section. Obviously not in-and-of-itself the reason to run it as a separate train, but definitely a

factor. Plus, they'd have to tack on the Talgos somewhere in Wisconsin, so the EB would already take a hit there. In the end,

running this as a separate train is probably just easier all around.

 

[Nathanael]

Any reason why they're running two separate trains? Seem like it'd just be easier to add another loco to 7 and add the talgos on the end.
Thanks in advanced to anyone who can enlighten me!

In addition to what the other person said, hauling power over the mountains. The EB is a long train. Adding an entire Talgo set (let alone two) would probably make it longer than the Auto Train, with various attendant problems.

 

[user 1215]

I'm quite frankly suprised these are attached to a passenger train at all. I would imagine that until they are fully tested and certified, they could be a safety liability to a passenger train. As for attendant problems, these cars aren't being used in revenue on this transition, so I can't imagine an attendant problem.

 

[Tracktwentynine]

I'm quite frankly suprised these are attached to a passenger train at all. I would imagine that until they are fully tested and certified, they could be a safety liability to a passenger train. As for attendant problems, these cars aren't being used in revenue on this transition, so I can't imagine an attendant problem.

In this case, "attendant problem" doesn't mean "a problem affecting the onboard service personnel", it means "...would make it longer than the Auto Train, with various associated problems."

From the Harper Collins English Dictionary:

Attendant (adj) -

1. being in attendance

2. associated; accompanying; related - Ex: "attendant problems"

 

[Ryan]

They're also not attached to a passenger train - they're a special move 30 minutes behind the Empire Builder.

 

[user 1215]

So you see, I DID miss something.

 

[sitzplatz17]

Any reason why they're running two separate trains? Seem like it'd just be easier to add another loco to 7 and add the talgos on the end.
Thanks in advanced to anyone who can enlighten me!

Well, for one thing the Talgos are going to SEA so if they were at the end, they'd be right behind the Portland section. So the

switching ops in Spokane would be a lot more complicated since you'd have to remove the Talgos from the Portland section and

then reattach them to the SEA section. Obviously not in-and-of-itself the reason to run it as a separate train, but definitely a

factor. Plus, they'd have to tack on the Talgos somewhere in Wisconsin, so the EB would already take a hit there. In the end,

running this as a separate train is probably just easier all around.

Duh, of course. Thank you I wasn't thinking about 27!

Any reason why they're running two separate trains? Seem like it'd just be easier to add another loco to 7 and add the talgos on the end.
Thanks in advanced to anyone who can enlighten me!

In addition to what the other person said, hauling power over the mountains. The EB is a long train. Adding an entire Talgo set (let alone two) would probably make it longer than the Auto Train, with various attendant problems.

Not sure if it'd be longer than the Auto train, but I can see how it could become a concern to have a train basically twice as long as what Amtrak is used to running on that route.

I'm looking forward to pictures!

 

[CHamilton]

I'm looking forward to pictures!

If you're on Facebook, check out the Empire Builder group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/AmtrakEmpireBuilder/

Several pictures have been posted there.