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Discussion relating to the operations of MTA MetroNorth Railroad including west of Hudson operations and discussion of CtDOT sponsored rail operations such as Shore Line East and the Springfield to New Haven Hartford Line

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 #1212315  by jt42cwr
 
Hi,

I am visiting Connecticut in November and would like to travel on revenue trains powered by as many of the BL20GH locomotives as possible during my brief stay. To aid in this endeavour, can anyone suggest the most regular equipment cycles for the BL20GH's, plus any SLE locos that venture onto the Waterbury branch during the day / at weekends? I can then plan a journey to cover as many of these trains as possible, maximising my time there.
 #1212341  by Clean Cab
 
BL-20's run on the Danbury Branch during the off peak daytime and weekends. Waterbury engines tend to be P32-ACDM Genesis most of the time, but I think one of the mid day trips is made with SLE equipment. SLE equipment tends to use ex Amtrak P40's and on rare occasions a CDOT GP-40 maybe used.
 #1212351  by runningwithscalpels
 
The SLE run to Waterbury is 1926/1973 which leaves Bridgeport at 1:37pm, gets to Waterbury at 2:32pm, departs Waterbury at 2:50, and reaches Bridgeport at 3:42pm.
I'm not sure I've ever seen SLE equipment on the branch with any regularity during the weekends, so definitely look to catch them during the week!
 #1212456  by NHAirLine
 
Clean Cab wrote:BL-20's run on the Danbury Branch during the off peak daytime and weekends. Waterbury engines tend to be P32-ACDM Genesis most of the time, but I think one of the mid day trips is made with SLE equipment. SLE equipment tends to use ex Amtrak P40's and on rare occasions a CDOT GP-40 maybe used.
HUH? P32-ACDM wouldn't run anywhere except Danbury (and in NY), since they are in short supply. Sure, they could run on Waterbury, but why would they? There is no direct service from GCT... Maybe you're mixing up P40's out of NHV? That's more likely. Those are a bit overpowered for that run, but they would work...
 #1212466  by Clean Cab
 
NHAirLine wrote:
Clean Cab wrote:BL-20's run on the Danbury Branch during the off peak daytime and weekends. Waterbury engines tend to be P32-ACDM Genesis most of the time, but I think one of the mid day trips is made with SLE equipment. SLE equipment tends to use ex Amtrak P40's and on rare occasions a CDOT GP-40 maybe used.
HUH? P32-ACDM wouldn't run anywhere except Danbury (and in NY), since they are in short supply. Sure, they could run on Waterbury, but why would they? There is no direct service from GCT... Maybe you're mixing up P40's out of NHV? That's more likely. Those are a bit overpowered for that run, but they would work...

P32's run on the Waterbury mini bomb train almost every day due to the constant unreliability of the BL-20's. I think I know the difference between a P-40 and a P-32, I used to operate them both when I was an engineer with MN for 22 years.
 #1212476  by DutchRailnut
 
Danbury has only one mini bomb left with a BL20 it runs trains 1837-1810-1853-1830-1881-1882-1897
all other trains are now maxi's with P32acdm

Wassaic has Bl20gh on its shuttles.
 #1212488  by fl9m2004
 
I thought the bl20gh would run 1837-1810-1853-1818-1863-1838-1881-1882-1897-1890?
I usually will see the bl20gh on 1838 or 1881
 #1212810  by runningwithscalpels
 
NHAirLine wrote:
Clean Cab wrote:BL-20's run on the Danbury Branch during the off peak daytime and weekends. Waterbury engines tend to be P32-ACDM Genesis most of the time, but I think one of the mid day trips is made with SLE equipment. SLE equipment tends to use ex Amtrak P40's and on rare occasions a CDOT GP-40 maybe used.
HUH? P32-ACDM wouldn't run anywhere except Danbury (and in NY), since they are in short supply. Sure, they could run on Waterbury, but why would they? There is no direct service from GCT... Maybe you're mixing up P40's out of NHV? That's more likely. Those are a bit overpowered for that run, but they would work...
Come on now, stop thinking logically ;)

Brookvilles are a rarity on Waterbury. If you think P32's are a bit overpowered for the run, what do you think about them running maxi-bombs on there? (Which happens more often than you'd think!)
 #1212814  by lirr42
 
NHAirLine wrote:There is no direct service from GCT...
While there may not be any direct service to GCT by public timetable there is one Waterbury set that terminates at Stamford and becomes a different train (train 1325, a local out of Stamford) which has direct service to GCT, so that set would require a P32 to go all the way to GCT...
 #1212819  by NHAirLine
 
lirr42 wrote:
NHAirLine wrote:There is no direct service from GCT...
While there may not be any direct service to GCT by public timetable there is one Waterbury set that terminates at Stamford and becomes a different train (train 1325, a local out of Stamford) which has direct service to GCT, so that set would require a P32 to go all the way to GCT...
I've only ever seen BL-20's coming down from Waterbury, but then again they run other trains at other times... And they're using a P32 for local service? That must be a nice slow ride compared to EMU's. So how do they have enough P32's to provide service to GCT if they're using them on Waterbury?
 #1212824  by lirr42
 
They might need that particular P32 elsewhere during the day, so it is possible it is just providing local service STM-GCT to get the equipment from A to B. And Metro-North isn't short on P32's like the LIRR is. They have enough to fulfill their duties both on the Waterbury Branch and elsewhere.
 #1212831  by NHAirLine
 
lirr42 wrote:They might need that particular P32 elsewhere during the day, so it is possible it is just providing local service STM-GCT to get the equipment from A to B. And Metro-North isn't short on P32's like the LIRR is. They have enough to fulfill their duties both on the Waterbury Branch and elsewhere.
Then why does everyone say that there's not enough P32's all the time?
 #1212841  by DutchRailnut
 
There are enough P32acdm's for current service, there are not enough P32acdm's for service expansion.