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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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 #1352417  by Jeff Smith
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJCdin6_nTE" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Source: Unofficial MNRR Facebook group from one of our shared members. Out past the Division Post to Mill River where testing was done. Very limited scope.
 #1353388  by DutchRailnut
 
at restricted speed and its not even a mile and half ;-)
 #1353394  by DutchRailnut
 
it was pushed trough voltage change with locomotive, with pantograph down.
same when it was done, it was pulled back to shop with diesel.

ps a phase break is not same, as what is break between two power systems.
 #1353450  by MattW
 
DutchRailnut wrote:it was pushed trough voltage change with locomotive, with pantograph down.
same when it was done, it was pulled back to shop with diesel.

ps a phase break is not same, as what is break between two power systems.
Was it a signal system test then?
 #1353489  by DutchRailnut
 
no just to see if it could run on 25kv and to do power measurements. there still will be a lot of testing ahead before they are cleared by Amtrak.
 #1362468  by F-line to Dudley via Park
 
Yes. M8's on SLE are specifically free up that fleet for reassignment. It's buried somewhere in the NHHS documentation and CT State Rail Plan. Even if that EMU transition is incomplete by 2017 the car requirements of the present SLE schedule are quite a bit less than the total size of the 33-car Mafersa fleet so they've got some slack to play with. It'd be *very* tight margins for spreading the Mafersas around both all-SLE and all-NHHS at the same time, and may require borrowing a few Shoreliners the days they're short...but until Armory layover in Springfield gets built the starter Hartford Line schedules are meager enough that they should be able to gingerly juggle both services on that fleet. Though would be a lot easier if M8 rollout were underway on at least a decent-size partial chunk of the Old Saybrook SLE schedules so they can start pulling off a portion of the Mafersas.


Locos are less of a concern with the 4 NJT P40DC's en route. I'm not even sure what the schedule is for the GP40-2H rebuild; it's been a moving target for a few years now. I suppose if CDOT wanted to hit up Amtrak for a few of its stored P40's they can cancel the Geep rebuild outright, sell them off where the leaser market or de-HEP conversion to work engines would fetch good aftermarket interest, put the rebuild money into their legacy P40's instead, and go forward with a more simplified uniform fleet. Most of Amtrak's stored units are in full operating condition and would just need the same light upgrades the NJT units and 15 return-to-service AMTK units got when they were plucked from that same storage pool. The first Siemens Charger option orders have already been picked up by the states, so Amtrak won't have any further need for keeping those 13 stored units on long-term contingency.
 #1363461  by Steamboat Willie
 
I was told fairly recently the substations on the Shoreline do not support more than four car consists (two pairs.) Unless they're in a rush to implement M8's into service to free up the diesel fleet, do not count on thru service into New York. Even running thru service to Stamford is a stretch with a four car M8 consist with limited seating availability.
 #1363462  by DutchRailnut
 
If those sub stations can safely support two ACS-64 (8600 hp each) on one train and possibly one on other track ???
the Horsepower equivalent would be around 21 M-8's at 1050 HP a car, so that story should be hogwash.
 #1363504  by kitn1mcc
 
Amtrak is trying to make up any excuse they can. they are concerned about regenative breaking messing up there sub stations. and they are concerned about the pans not dropping at sub stations and other stuff,.
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