Single Arm Pan on Arrow III #1463

Yea but these spring pans do like to fail. And yes amtrak it does happen more probably because the non constant tension catenary isnt so great.

There are literally hundreds more MUs in service on the NEC than the MandE, and the amount of miles they all travel a day on the NEC probably equals miles traveled on the MandE in a year. That being said, most dewirements occur on the NEC with ALPs as well - I can't remember the last one on the Coast Line - one about a year and a half ago maybe around Navesink River Road is the last I can think of.

But the Amtrak catenary isn't so great....its old and worn out. Once they told me to "go and observe the catenary" from here to there. Okay fine - I was in a pissy mood that day for bone head dispatching so i decided to report EVERY SINGLE broken clip and hanger and other broken things that shouldn't be broken. They soon told me that my observation services were no longer needed....

Like so many other things on the NEC, thank goodness its way overbuilt.

Jtgshu wrote:There are literally hundreds more MUs in service on the NEC than the MandE, and the amount of miles they all travel a day on the NEC probably equals miles traveled on the MandE in a year. That being said, most dewirements occur on the NEC with ALPs as well - I can't remember the last one on the Coast Line - one about a year and a half ago maybe around Navesink River Road is the last I can think of.

But the Amtrak catenary isn't so great....its old and worn out. Once they told me to "go and observe the catenary" from here to there. Okay fine - I was in a pissy mood that day for bone head dispatching so i decided to report EVERY SINGLE broken clip and hanger and other broken things that shouldn't be broken. They soon told me that my observation services were no longer needed....

Like so many other things on the NEC, thank goodness its way overbuilt.

During the summer of 2010,4407 snagged the wire at Branchport.

Jtgshu wrote:There are literally hundreds more MUs in service on the NEC than the MandE, and the amount of miles they all travel a day on the NEC probably equals miles traveled on the MandE in a year. That being said, most dewirements occur on the NEC with ALPs as well - I can't remember the last one on the Coast Line - one about a year and a half ago maybe around Navesink River Road is the last I can think of.

But the Amtrak catenary isn't so great....its old and worn out. Once they told me to "go and observe the catenary" from here to there. Okay fine - I was in a pissy mood that day for bone head dispatching so i decided to report EVERY SINGLE broken clip and hanger and other broken things that shouldn't be broken. They soon told me that my observation services were no longer needed....

Like so many other things on the NEC, thank goodness its way overbuilt.

And yet every time they repair one downed wire, another seems to happen in the same spot. But hey, at least they spent all their money on "high speed rail" before they updated the catenary from the PRR days.

at least they spent all their money on "high speed rail" before they updated the catenary from the PRR days.

That's because reactivating a dead line or bringing passenger service back to a line after 40 years makes for better press than making something that "works" run more reliable.

"What did I get for my $50 million? Did you add any trains?" - "No"
"Do they run any faster?" - "No"

"What a waste of money."

Then they complain when the system fails. You can't win.

I saw the 1463 on monday on the tail end of a train to trenton at Rahway. Still has the single arm ALP like panto on it. Its really weird seeing this still, but would be interesting to see if they do go ahead and do this to more if not all of the cars. A friend of mine who used to be NJT mechanical said this is not something new they actually have tried this once before a few years back after the 46s came there was one pair with the single arm high speed pans installed.

The 1339 and the 1467 are also equipped with a single arm pan.

I think its in the bulletin order, that states that all the MUs will eventually have their pans replaced with the single arm ones

I saw I think it was 1550 or something? with one, whatever the highest pair is. Has anyone been keeping track of what the numbers are?

Jtgshu wrote:I think its in the bulletin order, that states that all the MUs will eventually have their pans replaced with the single arm ones

Yes it does say all MU's will be receiving the new pan but I do believe its only all MU's on the Newark division.

Considering MU's can go across both divisions, are they going to do all of them anyway? (but the Hoboken division is currently Arrowless with no overhead wire power in HOB...)

lirr42 wrote:Considering MU's can go across both divisions, are they going to do all of them anyway? (but the Hoboken division is currently Arrowless with no overhead wire power in HOB...)

They can't easily go across both divisions without having the voltage change done at the shop, so I would say probably not.

lirr42 wrote:Considering MU's can go across both divisions, are they going to do all of them anyway? (but the Hoboken division is currently Arrowless with no overhead wire power in HOB...)

Hoboken division isn't Arrow-less.

AmTransit wrote:

lirr42 wrote:Considering MU's can go across both divisions, are they going to do all of them anyway? (but the Hoboken division is currently Arrowless with no overhead wire power in HOB...)

They can't easily go across both divisions without having the voltage change done at the shop, so I would say probably not.

As far as I know, however, it can and does happen... and pretty regularly.

ryanov wrote:

AmTransit wrote: They can't easily go across both divisions without having the voltage change done at the shop, so I would say probably not.

As far as I know, however, it can and does happen... and pretty regularly.

I never said it can't and doesn't happen. But please, don't take my word for how the voltage change is done on Arrow III's since I only run the god damn things everyday and couldn't possibly know what I'm talking about. By the way, for those that may be interested, the BO item heading referencing the new pans being installed on Arrow III's reads as follows:

"ARROW III EQUIPMENT - NEW TRANS TECH PANTOGRAPH INSTALLATION - NEWARK DIVISION ONLY"

Note that it does say NEWARK DIVISION ONLY. You're free to take that any way you like...