A few questions:
Which pair was sent to Transportation Technology Center in Pueblo Colorado?
Two pairs were sent to Pueblo: 1104/5 and 1108/9
Was that pair shipped to TTC directly from Winder Georgia of did it pass through Washington before heading west?
How long was it there?
Unfortunately i don't remember for sure, but i would think that they came direct from Winder. I left the program after the first month or so, but it ran about 6 months.
What was learned, as in performance compared to other transit rolling stock? AKA top speed, breaking rates, acceleration rates. . . .
Again my memory is hazy, but I'll do my best. At the time FTA (UMTA at the time) was requiriing all new transit car designs to go to Pueblo. I think they had a standard test program they ran on all designs. I think there were also certain one-time "proof-of-deisgn" tests in the contract with Rohr that were deferred to Pueblo because there was not enough high speed track in service in Washington.
Cars testing time was limited in Washington and the test track the was only the inbound mainline between Rhode island Avenue and the portal just before Union Station. We were able to get the cars up to the design speed of 75mph, but just for a few seconds before braking.
The third type of tests were basically burn-in type tests where the cars were run over a simulated WMATA profile of various top speeds and station stops over and over again to make sure the propulsion and friction braking system had the required thermal capacities. The loop at Puelo is perfect, because you can go round-and-round all day with no significant speed restrictions.
I don't think any substantial problems were found with the design and the cars generally met the performance spec. There were a series of motor flash-overs at Pueblo, but the cause turned out the be the high altitude and low humidity in the high desert. A change in brush grade solved the problem.
Pete Schmidt
Peter Schmidt