Experimented with bi-levels way before the 300s?

Tadman wrote:Also, don't tell Amtrak we do this out here. In the east, they shut down the catenary for when normal-height bilevels operate under it.

I was poking around RailPictures last night and found these shots ...
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.p ... 33&nseq=23
Not a lot of clearance under the wires for a single level train. I'm used to seeing the pantographs extended twice that high on the Indiana sections of the South Shore.
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.p ... 68&nseq=20
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.p ... 07&nseq=25
One of Metra's old bi-levels with the pantographs barely raised at all. Their wires are higher away from the downtown area but there isn't a lot of clearance on the north end of the line.

BTW: The South Shore's freight clearance is 16'9" between Shops and South Bend, 18' 3" Shops to Burns Harbor, 18' 9" Burns Harbor to Goff and 18' 10" Goff to Kensington.

In Duneland Electric it was mentioned the RTA trainsets had to go 10 mph slower on the ME district to keep the cars from striking the catenary.
I find this interesting because all this time I thought all Chicago gallery cars were the same height, both on and off ME, yet the ME equipment could go at track speed with no trouble?

JLJ061 wrote:In Duneland Electric it was mentioned the RTA trainsets had to go 10 mph slower on the ME district to keep the cars from striking the catenary.
I find this interesting because all this time I thought all Chicago gallery cars were the same height, both on and off ME, yet the ME equipment could go at track speed with no trouble?

I wonder if the pantographs helped raise the wire for the ME equipment? Without constant tension I expect Metra's catanary sags (although their supports are close together).