BandA wrote:How is the brightness & glare with the LED lighting?Singular anecdotal experience but the new lights are brighter and whiter. I had no problems with glare since it was easy to turn off the reading light directly above my seat. I didn't try swiveling it off to the side, but I bet that would work well too.
Railroad Forums
Moderators: GirlOnTheTrain, mtuandrew, Tadman
spRocket wrote:[different persons have LED perception differences. A person that we know had to have both eyes catarack surgery, The first one was done 6 weeks before the second. He immediately had problems with one color LED in one eye but not the other. Spent some time at a Home Depot getting color cards and could show how each eye perceived color. It was dramatic. Best he could figure out was he had very yellow cataracks and that caused his liking some colors and not other. Second eye completed and he ended up giving away some CFLs and LEDs
One thing to consider when going to LED lighting (or fluorescents for that matter) is color temperature. The soft-white (2400-3000K) LED bulbs do a good job of mimicking an incandescent bulb, while the cool white and daylight ones (5000-7000K) don't.
There are also LED tubes available both as drop-in replacements for old fluorescents, or with the fixtures rewired to bypass the ballast and starting circuitry. Some of these are noticeably brighter than the fluorescent tubes they replace.
One thing to consider when going to LED lighting (or fluorescents for that matter) is color temperature. The soft-white (2400-3000K) LED bulbs do a good job of mimicking an incandescent bulb, while the cool white and daylight ones (5000-7000K) don't.There is an important distinction to be made here. Color temperature is only a property of incandescent lamps. LED and florescent lamps do not have a color temperature. The numbers quoted above for LEDs are actually correlated color temperatures. The correlated color temperature is essentially the color temperature of an incandescent source which would produce the same visual effect as when the LED illuminates a theoretical white surface. Illumination of any other surface can produce very different color sensations.
Incandescent lamps and sunlight have a pretty much continuous spectrum. The output of LEDs and florescent lamps is in discreet bands. There are some florescent lamps such Blue Max which do a pretty good job of mimicking incandescent sources. The measure to look for here is color rendering index (CRI). The closer to 100 a CRI value is the better the source approximates the effect of an incandescent lamp.
I haven't found a white LED I would use for illumination. I find the light harsh and difficult to read with. I dread having them as my only source of light.
I think LED lighting is a great thing. Much much better than fluorescent, even though white LEDs supposedly use some of the same phosphor technology. For an Amfleet, you are saving load on the HEP & on the A/C (but not saving energy if the car needs to be heated.) Smaller gauge (cheaper) wiring if you replace the wires (but more wiring for outlets for cell phones?). Thinner, cheaper fixtures. LED uses about 30% less electricity than florescent, and about 3X or more service life. Depending on how they do the electronics, replacing LED could be very expensive if you have to replace customized voltage regulator circuitry (more of a problem in automobile applications than in trains I think).
https://quartzy.qz.com/1157158/new-inte ... ak-trains/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Ben
Ben
Check out my photo collection! : http://bkranefeld.rrpicturearchives.net
liftedjeep wrote:https://quartzy.qz.com/1157158/new-inte ... ak-trains/The $1M/year in savings should help!
Ben
Check out QuiCR, Quick, Crowdsourced Responses for businesses.
I was going to say it would be nice to have a rubber inlay (infill?) over the exposed seat tracks, but I see at the end of the video , it is actually a line of led's that I thought was exposed seat track. Is this correct?
Moderator worldwide railfan , Rail travel & trip reports
The only train trips I regret are the ones I didn't take.
The only train trips I regret are the ones I didn't take.
BandA wrote:I think LED lighting is a great thing. Much much better than fluorescent, even though white LEDs supposedly use some of the same phosphor technology. For an Amfleet, you are saving load on the HEP & on the A/C (but not saving energy if the car needs to be heated.) Smaller gauge (cheaper) wiring if you replace the wires (but more wiring for outlets for cell phones?). Thinner, cheaper fixtures. LED uses about 30% less electricity than florescent, and about 3X or more service life. Depending on how they do the electronics, replacing LED could be very expensive if you have to replace customized voltage regulator circuitry (more of a problem in automobile applications than in trains I think).30 % saving would be conserative. The power supplies/ voltage regulators are very chep thse days , and reasonablt reliable.
Moderator worldwide railfan , Rail travel & trip reports
The only train trips I regret are the ones I didn't take.
The only train trips I regret are the ones I didn't take.
David Benton wrote:I was going to say it would be nice to have a rubber inlay (infill?) over the exposed seat tracks, but I see at the end of the video , it is actually a line of led's that I thought was exposed seat track. Is this correct?It may be the seat track lights are always on or are activated whenever power is lost. That would make them at least emergency lights much like on some aircraft.
I was inside the interior of a refreshed car for the first time a few days ago. The effect is quite frankly nothing short of stunning. The car is a "single" within one of the Downeaster trainsets and consequently I was able to walk back and forth several times between the old and new looks. The new upholstery is very comfortable and even provides a modicum of lumbar support that the old seats didn't.
One of the visual aesthetic effects that is unexpected is how the curve at the top of the new larger headrest interacts with the interior. Amtrak has actually been able to make the seats larger without affecting seat pitch or width. It's an impressive use of a few extra square inches that really maximizes the comfort of the coach seats. Another interesting visual effect is how the elimination of the headrest covers really increases the sense of traveling in a "premium" accommodation.
One of the visual aesthetic effects that is unexpected is how the curve at the top of the new larger headrest interacts with the interior. Amtrak has actually been able to make the seats larger without affecting seat pitch or width. It's an impressive use of a few extra square inches that really maximizes the comfort of the coach seats. Another interesting visual effect is how the elimination of the headrest covers really increases the sense of traveling in a "premium" accommodation.
gokeefe
Greg Moore wrote:Amtrak seems to have received a heaping of free media like this article, with favorable coverage of the "refresh". That's worth quite a bit, of course, and it's much needed when there's a train wreck in the news.liftedjeep wrote:https://quartzy.qz.com/1157158/new-inte ... ak-trains/The $1M/year in savings should help!
I’m in an unrefreahed car right now on a train that has a few refreshed cars. To me, it’s not an improvement, but not worth worrying about.
EDIT: I moved to one of those cars later in the trip. The seats do appear to be more comfortable (lumbar support, and headrests that have fixed wings, to some extent). However, the car I was in did not appear to have new bathroom flooring, lighting or new "wainscotting" or bulkhead materials. Don't know if they're doing this in phases.
EDIT: I moved to one of those cars later in the trip. The seats do appear to be more comfortable (lumbar support, and headrests that have fixed wings, to some extent). However, the car I was in did not appear to have new bathroom flooring, lighting or new "wainscotting" or bulkhead materials. Don't know if they're doing this in phases.
|=| R. Novosielski |=|
I just got off a NE Regional train with a partial refresh. The seats and carpeting were new as were the reading lights. Everything else was the same. The good. Seat more comfortable. First time I've ridden an Amtrak train and my lower back didn't get sore. The bottom cushion also absorbs the bumps better. Now the Bad. The seat pitch was horrible. To make it worse the seats had a lot of recline so the seat in front was less than an inch away from my knees if I didn't slump in the seat and I'm only 5'-9". Even when the seat in front of me was fully upright I had to place my knees between the tray table supports which I've never had to do before. Airplanes have slightly more knee room.
If there's any perceivable decrease in space, it's because the cushions got thicker.