Amtrak ACS-64 Sprinter Discussion

DutchRailnut wrote:Unions ? or one ?

Every local seems to have there own agenda lately so sometimes I forget we are one.

scratchy wrote:

ApproachMedium wrote:

8th Notch wrote:The seats could be be better however I’ll take them over the horrid Cab signals/ACSES audible alarms. Part of the problem with things like these are the Unions put up no fight!

Dont worry the new beepers are so quiet you cant even hear your overspeed penalty!

And the ACS seat is comfortable, if you arent moving. So it looks good to people and execs and union reps sitting in it stationary at the moch up i the factory.

I take it crews aren't allowed to bring cushions from home, as McGuyver fix?

I have enough crap to carry to work evey day in a 40lb bag of books, the last thing i need to think about is carrying or forgetting a cushion. Even if it had that, it still would not make up for the fact that there is no real shock absorption.

ApproachMedium wrote:

8th Notch wrote:The seats could be be better however I’ll take them over the horrid Cab signals/ACSES audible alarms. Part of the problem with things like these are the Unions put up no fight!

Dont worry the new beepers are so quiet you cant even hear your overspeed penalty!

Holy crap I came across one today and it seems like this place can’t get it right! Guess I won’t be running with the windows open this summer.

So it's been a few years and a few seasons of extreme weather have come and gone ... How are the new engines holding up?

Quite poorly....but that isn't much of a surprise. The only reason most people don't notice is they have so many of them and they look alike. I don't see them lasting 25 years. The only reason they may last 20 years is Siemens has a 15 year guarantee for parts.

Would you care to elaborate on that statement?
This comes as a surprise to me.
Ben

ThirdRail7 wrote:Quite poorly....but that isn't much of a surprise.

I had wondered previously if the size of the fleet might conceal certain shortcomings. Very disappointing to hear.

size of fleet ?? not much more than the AEM-7's yet plenty more service over greater distances.

I think at this point they have about 10 more engines than what they had for AEM-7s at the end ... Seems like a pretty significant cushion to me. (?)

Amtrak bought 54 AEM7's
Amtrak bought 15 HHP8's
Amtrak bought 70 ACS-64s
Some simple math = 70 - 54 - 15 = 1
I'd say that was just about a one to one replacement for all of Amtrak's electric locomotive fleet.

That's precisely why I specified "at the end" ... There were quite a few wrecked units ... At least four maybe five?

electricron wrote:Amtrak bought 54 AEM7's.

Note that two units from the 1987 order (947-953) were added to replace the two wrecked at Chase, so there were only 52 units at most after 1987 and only 46 units pre-Chase. The roster as of 2001 (with the HHP8 delivery/acceptance complete) was 52 + 15 (67).

ThirdRail7 wrote:

gokeefe wrote:So it's been a few years and a few seasons of extreme weather have come and gone ... How are the new engines holding up?

Quite poorly....but that isn't much of a surprise. The only reason most people don't notice is they have so many of them and they look alike. I don't see them lasting 25 years. The only reason they may last 20 years is Siemens has a 15 year guarantee for parts.

I’m starting to slowly notice the failures increasing as well but I won’t completely point the finger in Siemens’s direction.... Funny how I overheard a mechanical guy saying they are starting to break now that the warranty is up soon. Amazes me how 67 has been sent out with a diesel a few times this past month due to no spare electrics in Bos

liftedjeep wrote:Would you care to elaborate on that statement?
This comes as a surprise to me.
Ben

It shouldn't. Most of the pitfalls mentioned in the post have come to fruition. Additionally, this classic post by ApproachMedium continues to hinder operations when they fail. It has been a long time since a day has passed without one (or three) of them taking a break on the job.

gokeefe wrote: I had wondered previously if the size of the fleet might conceal certain shortcomings. Very disappointing to hear.

R36 Combine Coach wrote:

electricron wrote:Amtrak bought 54 AEM7's.

Note that two units from the 1987 order (947-953) were added to replace the two wrecked at Chase, so there were only 52 units at most after 1987 and only 46 units pre-Chase. The roster as of 2001 (with the HHP8 delivery/acceptance complete) was 52 + 15 (67).

Tying this together, when the HHPs were added to the roster, sure you had 67 listed. However, the 913 had already burnt up. The same goes for the 920 and the 910 although they were salvageable. The 915 had a bad transformer and was benched for years. Additionally, the 664 had massive problems and wasn't really used for the first 7 years of its existence. So, you only had 62 [active units. By 2003, the 922 and 930 burnt up and the overhauled E60s were permanently benched.

That being said, since they were different fleets, it was easy to see what was running around and what was in the shop. Some weeks, you'd see a lot of HHPs running around. Other days, you wouldn't see any. Some weeks, you'd see more DCs than Remans.

The point I was making (and Mr' O'Keefe caught) is with the ACS fleet, it really hard to notice how many are missing since there is another one filling the void. On any given day, it is not unusual to have high single digit/low double digit shop counts for incidents. This does not include overhauls or the sidelined units.

And you all forget the long long period of time that the DC motors were NOT allowed north of New Haven because the tap changers that werent used for the first 15-20 years of their lives were not exercised on a daily basis. That eventually changed when they did a fluid change out and upgraded some components.

These ACS-64 cabs are already falling apart. Doors that dont close right, windows that are being tinkered with, gaskets and seals missing. Body rot at the base of the door sills from sand building up. I say by 2020 you will see at least one unit driving around with holes in the sides of it like a 57 chevy that some old mans been driving around for the last 40 years. The dashboards are taking a beating, stickers are peeling off, throttles are getting wonky, the software OH THE SOFTWARE. We have a new problem the 616 seems to love to do. Put the throttle to idle and the speed predictor jumps up 130mph and then your speedo gains 5mph even though you are not actually going any faster. Great for giving overspeed penalties. All of them do this, but the 616 whatever is causing its problem is so strong its giving the 5mph speedo increase. Most other units that have the issue is only 1-2mph which causes no problems.

These things run, they do run well. its like having a BMW. Its Bavarian Maintaince Wh*&^%. You need to take care of it, if you dont its just going to not work and be very very expensive to fix.

We really should have gotten the Mercedes Benz. AdTranz did it right with the ALP46. Their cab doors still close solid like they did 20 years ago, like a Mercedes should.