by UpperHarlemLine4ever
Have noticed 10 and 12 M3 trains on the Harlem line but never more than 8 car M7 trains. Heard that the substations have to be upgraded. Is that the case?
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RearOfSignal wrote: ↑Sat Mar 14, 2020 6:47 pm On one occasion we ran a 10 car M7 consist to NWP during the evening rush. Had to do a double-take on that one. We usually ran with 10 M3s, so when I saw M7s I thought we would have people sitting in the luggage racks, but was pleasantly surprised to see we somehow had 10 cars.Good to know. But what specifically is a "bug" in this context?
It was common to move around much longer consists in the yard. Because of large gaps in the 3rd rail on tracks 24 and 25 in Harmon yard leading into the coach shop we would switch out as many as 14 cars of M7s in one cut (Though most of those cars were off the 3rd rail on those tracks). Now that the electric car shop has opened up and the spot tracks have moved to tracks 40 and 41 there isn’t a need to run such long consists, plus there is a more elaborate bug and 3rd rail system leading into the new shop building.
SeanW wrote: ↑Sun Mar 22, 2020 2:41 pm Good to know. But what specifically is a "bug" in this context?You can think of it as an extension cord for the 3rd rail power. There are no 3rd rails within a shop facility, henceforth the cars are unpowered. The "bug" is a device that, at least for the MBTA in Boston, that slip on to the contact shoe of a train so that it can be moved into the shop and around the shop. Once the car is in the correct position for working on the bug is disconnected. At that point the car is powered via another extension cord to power the internal systems, lights, HVAC, electronics and so on. I hope that answered your question.