#14 Orange Line Cars 1400-1551 (From Red/Orange Procurement discussion)

rethcir wrote: I'm a bit concerned about the plastic seats, didn't they have to change those on the new Blue Line cars pretty quickly since they were so slick?

Nope. We still have them, and I love them.

New Yorkers seem to have no problem with them, and they're much less disgusting than thinking about what might have soaked into the current cloth seats on the red/orange lines.

True; New York Subways have had plastic or fiberglass molded seats since the 1960's and they are considered the norm here. If they ever tried cloth seats in NYC, they would be destroyed in a year or two.

Bramdeisroberts wrote:New Yorkers seem to have no problem with them, and they're much less disgusting than thinking about what might have soaked into the current cloth seats on the red/orange lines.

Yes... dear lord, I hate how every time I plant my butt in cloth seat I wonder if it'll be a mistake. More often than not, I'll stand instead.

From our friends at BART via the NY Times, see also: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/06/us/06bcseats.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Bay Citizen commissioned Darleen Franklin, a supervisor at San Francisco State University’s biology lab, to analyze the bacterial content of a random BART seat. The results may make you want to stand during your trip.

I can only imagine how disgusting the carpet on the floors of the WMATA fleet is...

These things can't get here soon enough. I was on 016[4?]8 yesterday, and the floor rot was so bad the linoleum liner had started peeling away due to the warping underneath, exposing pulpy mush where the seam was pushing apart. The exposed lip was right in front of the door seats, and pronounced enough to snag a stroller wheel or throw some old person dragging a walker off-balance. I've never been in a car with flooring in that obviously (visually and tactilely) deplorable a shape.

F-line to Dudley via Park wrote:These things can't get here soon enough. I was on 016[4?]8 yesterday, and the floor rot was so bad the linoleum liner had started peeling away due to the warping underneath, exposing pulpy mush where the seam was pushing apart. The exposed lip was right in front of the door seats, and pronounced enough to snag a stroller wheel or throw some old person dragging a walker off-balance. I've never been in a car with flooring in that obviously (visually and tactilely) deplorable a shape.

What's the ETA for the Red Line cars? I know that the 1300's will get here first, but it almost seems like right now, the 1500s and 1600's are the most disruptive to the T's overall service consistency. For sure, the Red Line is a much more vital link than the Orange Line is, and it's damn near irreplaceable.

Bramdeisroberts wrote:

F-line to Dudley via Park wrote:These things can't get here soon enough. I was on 016[4?]8 yesterday, and the floor rot was so bad the linoleum liner had started peeling away due to the warping underneath, exposing pulpy mush where the seam was pushing apart. The exposed lip was right in front of the door seats, and pronounced enough to snag a stroller wheel or throw some old person dragging a walker off-balance. I've never been in a car with flooring in that obviously (visually and tactilely) deplorable a shape.

What's the ETA for the Red Line cars? I know that the 1300's will get here first, but it almost seems like right now, the 1500s and 1600's are the most disruptive to the T's overall service consistency. For sure, the Red Line is a much more vital link than the Orange Line is, and it's damn near irreplaceable.

They've scheduled some short-term component rehab work for the 15's/16's to keep them breathing long enough to span the 2+ years the Orange order is churning through. Not an ideal situation, but there is some life support in the pipeline for that.

It's starting to get noticeable now how many off-peak trains now are all-17's. After-hours they seem to be taking greater pains to limit the odometer readings on the sets with 15's/16's in the consist. Not even talking trains with just one pair of oldies and 4/6ths rebuilds...but purposeful attempts to isolate the (non-01800) mixed sets and make sure all but a few odd outliers in the regular off-peak rotation are running with uniform UTDC rebuilds. I guess that's going to be S.O.P. going forward to carve out more shop time for old bones on nights + weekends.

F-line to Dudley via Park wrote:They've scheduled some short-term component rehab work for the 15's/16's to keep them breathing long enough to span the 2+ years the Orange order is churning through. Not an ideal situation, but there is some life support in the pipeline for that.

It's starting to get noticeable now how many off-peak trains now are all-17's. After-hours they seem to be taking greater pains to limit the odometer readings on the sets with 15's/16's in the consist. Not even talking trains with just one pair of oldies and 4/6ths rebuilds...but purposeful attempts to isolate the (non-01800) mixed sets and make sure all but a few odd outliers in the regular off-peak rotation are running with uniform UTDC rebuilds. I guess that's going to be S.O.P. going forward to carve out more shop time for old bones on nights + weekends.

I have a hunch that the next two years will be rough for the Red Line and those who depend on it. Those 1500/1600-related breakdowns and the ensuing delays that they cause between South Station and Charles/MGH were the reason why more than a few people I know have walked away from the T altogether and now commute via uber/personal vehicle.

Which is honestly a little scary, as the Red Line is already at crush loads during rush hour in its current, unreliable condition. I can only imagine how bad it will get in 2019-2020 when the fleet is all brand-new and service is fast and reliable. I'd argue that's exactly why the GLX needs to happen, if only to shunt passengers from Somerville and the Alewife Brook Parkway region off of the Red Line and onto something else.

Don't count on the all-new fleet being the immediate answer to fast, reliable service. New car fleets usually have glitches, some more than others so for the first year or so, expect at least some problems.

Here are some of my photos of the mockup today (cross-posted from another forum).

The rollsigns really are massive:


The flip-up seats are a neat idea, but poorly executed. They flex more than I'd like, and trash is definitely going to be stuffed in the space behind them. Also, none of the seats have a lip to discourage manspreading.


Single flip-up seat to provide access to an equipment cabinet:


Cab area. Many of the electronics do work; there's a covering on the door-close button at far right to prevent any of us gawkers from pressing it.


I may have gotten in trouble for flipping a few of these.

Long long time ago they had leather seat which can be kept clean more easily than cloth seats. Nowadays there are several different kinds of soft plastic seats that are also easier to keep clean than cloth seats. The plastic does biodegrade and crack over the years faster than leather but probably not faster than they or cloth seats get cut by vandals.

<<manspreading>>

Even with raised lips dividing adjacent seats it is common to find every other seat properly occupied and it is not possible to sit in the intervening seats. Also there are times when every third seat is occupied and the two intervening seats can be more practically used if there are no raised lips between the seats.

The EGE wrote: I may have gotten in trouble for flipping a few of these.

Steve Jobs is rolling in his grave! Crazy that there's that many circuits.

rethcir wrote:

The EGE wrote: I may have gotten in trouble for flipping a few of these.

Steve Jobs is rolling in his grave! Crazy that there's that many circuits.

I think it is a better thing to have that many circuits. It will allow one to isolate individual items that may be a problem, instead of throwing a breaker and losing 3 or 4 items tied to that breaker.

JoeD