Metro North's M7's

They really don't notice kids, even with an obvious digital camera in their hands taking pictures out of the "railfan" window. I know from personal experience. As long as you don't use any flash, I really don't think MNCR minds too much. I only ride the train once a month anyway.

You have to be a Tall kid and it has to be very bright outside, the glass in Cab door is very dark and with the cab now being a crash zone it won't be accesible to railfans at front or back of a train. I will post a link to picture later:
http://community.webshots.com/photo/130 ... 8867hvKkLO

The cab controls look more like a diesel than an MU, eh?

not really all controls are in one handle on diesels you work with a Trottle and an airbrake controler.

I meant looking out of the head end of the M2, 4 and 6's, since I live on the New Haven line. Nobody bothers me. The problem is generally dirty windows.

Also, what were the LIRR M7s doing in GCT? And how did they get there?The third rail on that track seems to be non-Penn Central/MNCR, and I know the LIRR is supposed to come into GCT sometime in the future. But I thought the LIRR was going to be given a separate 8 track terminal where the Madison Yard is now, fed by a two track line coming from the 63rd street tunnel and Harold/Sunnyside.

Another thing: is the operator of an M7 required to keep a hand on the control bar at all times for safety, or must a button be pressed every so often?

The M7's have alertors , The LIRR test train was loaned to MNCR to do preliminairy testing before production started. the 3 pair were brought over Hellgate with a switcher and to Harmon for instalation of differend MNCR Cabsignal decoders and MNCR third rail gear. a lot of testing involved power consuption and cab signal interferance.
The one pair was loaded with water barrels and had no seats.
Currently MNCR has about 12 cars on property and one 6 car set may go in service on monday out of Harmon. once delivery starts this month 6 cars a week will be delivered, and after a 1000 mile test put in service.
so hurry with ACMU pictures

I'd love to be on the first passenger run. Let us know if you find out when that will be. Thanks!

what's the deal on being first were gone be stuck with these, and simular cars on New Haven for at least 30 years, plenty of time to ride them.

Guess I better get my head-end video on the Hudson Line done pretty quickly then, huh?

Joe

dutchrailnut, great pictures on your webshots page. I have a question about the M-7a cab. What are the foot pedals for?

Eric

not sure so just guessing I have not gone to classes yet, but there is a foot bar and two foot swiches, one is rumored to be deadman pedal , it needs to be pressed when train goes 20 mph or below (due to alertor not beng effective at low speeds) other is radio transmit pedal. we have those on M1 and M3 as well.

One pedal (left) is indeed for radio transmit. The other (right) is correctly identified as the deadman pedal.
However, the deadman pedal only has to be used if certain ATC functions, most notably the Alerter function, are cut out. It is not needed during normal ATC operation at all.
The 25 second alerter timer is a direct function of the ATC system.
The alerter circuitry can be satisfied by moving and releasing the alerter "acknowledge" joystick, sounding the horn (sufficient to activate pressure switch) , or moving the Master Controller handle through "Coast" position.
Then, the 25 second countdown begins anew.
A new 25 second cycle begins any time one of the above procedures is performed. The engineer doesn't have to wait for the alerter to begin annoying him every 25 seconds.

(This is all presuming that the MNCR ATC Microcab functions are the same as LIRRs.)

Thanks for the info on the pedals. About the 25 second alerter countdown, is there an actually countdown (i.e. a display) or do you just need to know. Also, I assume that if you don't hit the alerter that you get some sort of warning before the train goes into a plenty brake application.

Eric

There is an additional 15 seconds before you get a penalty brake application. The alerter begins sounding after the first 25 seconds, low at first, gradually getting louder. There is also a large red "Alerter" indication on the TOD (Train Operator's Display) that illuminates as soon as the alerter begins to sound.

The engineer does not see a counter. (There is an LED display showing the counter on the Alerter module of the ATC rack, but that is buried behind 2 separate cabinet doors and the fire extinguisher. )
There is a real time clock (with seconds) on the operating display of the CDP (Central Diagnostics Panel) that the engineer could monitor, if he wishes.

BTW, there was a 2 page article in Long Island Newsday (Tuesday, April 6) about the LIRR M-7s. If interested, check http://www.newsday.com. You'll have to see if it's archived.

Dutch or N340: Nice cab photo! What is that horizontal metal bar just above the foot pedals? And on the left side of the console, what is the black handled lever and black button just below it?