dinwitty wrote:The only best possibility would be to have a 1500 volt generator to use during the times to run 1500 volt equipment than to keep converting the equipment. ... But you certainly dont want somebody accidentally raising the pole on a 600 v car on 1500vdc. ... If the museum was serious enough to run 1500v equipment, do you think simply raising the standard operating voltage would work? But maybe that would make 600V equipment run faster, unless you installed resisters in series on them.
IRM does not have its own generator; it receives power from ComEd and has a substation on the grounds. I'm not an expert on substations but I wouldn't imagine it would be difficult to get it to put out 1500 v instead of 600 v. But it's not a good idea, for several reasons:
- Although IRM does have wire section breakers, the line switches are not remote controlled, so isolating the section of line where 1500 v would be used would be a labor-intensive task at the least.
- With only one substation and with IRM's DC line distribution system, it is only possible to produce one voltage at a time and that voltage is sent to all the feeders. (Each feeder location is equipped with a line switch so sections may be shut off.) Therefore, it would not be possible to, say, run 1500 v cars on the main line and 600 v cars on the streetcar loop.
- There is potential for disastrous damage if a 600 v car were connected to a 1500 v line -- especially if someone tried to move the car on that voltage. To answer your question, no, the car would not just run faster. Breakers and fuses would blow, irreparable motor damage could occur, and wiring and insulation could be dangerously compromised. (Much of the wiring in 600 v cars is only rated for 1000 v.)
Pantagraph compatible has been done in model form, surely you can do it on the prototype.
The actual wire construction is the easiest part. Without many operating pan-equipped cars, making the wire compatible with them is not a high priority, but the DC Line Department is working on it as time allows. In some places, skates have already been installed at wire frogs and the wire is taut enough and centered enough on most of the main line to allow pan operation.
I would think if its just compressors you would just mount 600 v version on the loco and disable the originals, I figger the loco could move on half voltage anyways.
It's not just the compressors. A few of the South Shore cars at IRM have 600 v compressors and they work fine, but that doesn't solve other problems such as battery charging. I'm not sure whether 600 v versions of the compressors used on the 800's are available anyway.
If your going to preserve the locomotive, you may as well preserve it in full operating condition as it was built and don't alter it, then install somehow a 1500 vdc system on its own trackage for it to run on and other 1500vdc cars.
I agree with the part about preserving it as it was on the railroad. But I don't think it's practical to install a 1500 v system. (Nor would IRM probably ever be able to afford such an installation.) Frankly, I think it's enough to know that the 803 is operable and can be run -- albeit inconveniently -- on occasion, but let it be a display piece most of the time. Same goes for the M.U. cars, although it's easier to make them run on the lower voltage. If I can do anything about it, you may see one of them (40) running occasionally in the not-so-distant future. But I don't think you'll ever see a 1500 v line at IRM or any other museum around here. Be glad that the old stuff will run at all on 600 v -- the current NICTD equipment will only be a static display without the higher voltage.