Rohr RTL III Turboliners: Status, Location, Disposition

*Raises Hand*

I just think they look cool

lol

,,, and cool to ride in and look out the windows of, but apparently they were hangar queens and had little else going for them.

rohr turbo wrote: ↑Fri Nov 10, 2023 6:02 pm

lensovet wrote: ↑Fri Nov 10, 2023 5:34 pm Aren't turbines way louder than a regular diesel engine?

Not with enough brown and orange carpeting on the walls.

@photobug56 when did you ride the Boston train you remember? If 1971-76, then it was a UA turbotrain. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UAC_TurboTrain

If early 80s, it could have been the LRC. https://history.amtrak.com/blogs/blog/the-lrcs

If 1993, you may have caught the RTLs towing the X2000 demonstration train.rohr.jpg

im a huge fan of the x2000, is there any way to get a full size copy of this photo?

Hi @ApproachMedium

you can download that photo here:
https://collections.ctdigitalarchive.or ... A860167454

Here's another you might love:

awesome thank you!!! I own both things in HO and want to recreate this

AM and RT - There was a previous discussion concerning Rapido's RTL Turboliner models
In this discussion I mentioned both the X2000 and ICE Train display tours in the middle 1990s...
rapido-rtl-turboliner-trains-article-t175665.html
(5 posts - June 16 to 19, 2023)
I could not find any pictures of the two Turbopower units hauling the X2000 - the picture that RT posted
looks to be at Providence, RI before electrification work began...Note the two F40s and baggage car that
was being used for the X2000 tour at Joliet, IL making me think that using the two Turbopower units did
not work out as planned or was only used in the Northeast as a possibility then...MACTRAXX

The two turbo units were based out of Rennselaer worked with a engineer that was a turbo tech on that trip. You really did not want those things far from home as they were not reliable and had a tendency to break down as I have explained numerous times in numerous turbo discussions.

Come on guys, any of us who have had a paycheck (or ACH credit transfer to a bank account nowadays) from a railroad know it's a "hidebound" industry. While such predates even me by some fifteen years ('55 being about the final year such were used anywhere by a Class I, I hired on during '70), there were surely once many in railroad's Mechanical Departments who "swore by" steam motive power.

Likewise, I once learned how, after a grade X-ing incident involving one of the overseas sourced RTG Turbos from which the RTL's evolved, an Amtrak official reportedly said "oh, well we're rid of one of those things".

I think in this case, using turbos in the engines wasn't as refined back then... and it needed a decade to test, refine, and make reliable. Worth it? Yes, if to help fuel economy... but I don't know how long the engine back then was in development.

Having a turbo'ed engine now, applying cars to trains? Probably worth it, if it can pump more watts out.

STrRedWolf wrote: ↑Fri Nov 17, 2023 10:00 am
I think in this case, using turbos in the engines wasn't as refined back then... and it needed a decade to test, refine, and make reliable. Worth it? Yes, if to help fuel economy... but I don't know how long the engine back then was in development.

Having a turbo'ed engine now, applying cars to trains? Probably worth it, if it can pump more watts out.

Turbocharged is one thing. (My current debate: replace my naturally aspirated Subaru Legacy with a naturally aspirated Mazda 3 AWD Premium or go for the turbo? My Subaru is kind of like the first gen Acela at this point - barely hanging on at the end of its useful economic life!)

Gas turbine is another thing altogether!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOIrB1fwVPc

Off topic:

Mr. Johnson. Suburau makes a darned good auto.

My Sister, who has many more $$$ than I in this life, absolutely adores hers - and she had Bennies and Porsches to play with through her married life.

If I were to come "down a bit" on the food chain (Lady Lex has 44600 on her), I'd be looking at a Suburau myself.

End of off-topic.

I certainly can't complain at 17 years and 179k miles! (The mileage isn't quite a record for me - I put 220,000 on my 1997 Saturn SL2 but those were mostly highway miles over a shorter period of time.)

eolesen wrote: ↑Mon Nov 06, 2023 12:36 pm Those rtls are in better shape than I thought

Sent from my SM-S911U using Tapatalk

They still look good even faded but the lack of stainless steel construction is definitely apparent. I guess had they been used as intended they'd probably still be at end of life by this point.

Matt Johnson wrote: ↑Fri Nov 17, 2023 4:19 pm I certainly can't complain at 17 years and 179k miles! (The mileage isn't quite a record for me - I put 220,000 on my 1997 Saturn SL2 but those were mostly highway miles over a shorter period of time.)

Back off-topic Mr. Johnson (stand by for this to get killed), the furthest I ever went out with an auto was a '92 Acura, with which I parted ways @ 98462mi during Sep 98. However, for the final two years of "Ackie's" life with me, I also had a leased Lex.

Matt Johnson wrote: ↑Fri Nov 17, 2023 10:38 am

STrRedWolf wrote: ↑Fri Nov 17, 2023 10:00 am
I think in this case, using turbos in the engines wasn't as refined back then... and it needed a decade to test, refine, and make reliable. Worth it? Yes, if to help fuel economy... but I don't know how long the engine back then was in development.

Having a turbo'ed engine now, applying cars to trains? Probably worth it, if it can pump more watts out.

Turbocharged is one thing. (My current debate: replace my naturally aspirated Subaru Legacy with a naturally aspirated Mazda 3 AWD Premium or go for the turbo? My Subaru is kind of like the first gen Acela at this point - barely hanging on at the end of its useful economic life!)

Gas turbine is another thing altogether!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOIrB1fwVPc

In regards to Acela, we have no idea if and when the new ones will ever enter service.

photobug56 wrote: ↑Fri Nov 17, 2023 5:08 pm

Matt Johnson wrote: ↑Fri Nov 17, 2023 10:38 am

STrRedWolf wrote: ↑Fri Nov 17, 2023 10:00 am
I think in this case, using turbos in the engines wasn't as refined back then... and it needed a decade to test, refine, and make reliable. Worth it? Yes, if to help fuel economy... but I don't know how long the engine back then was in development.

Having a turbo'ed engine now, applying cars to trains? Probably worth it, if it can pump more watts out.

Turbocharged is one thing. (My current debate: replace my naturally aspirated Subaru Legacy with a naturally aspirated Mazda 3 AWD Premium or go for the turbo? My Subaru is kind of like the first gen Acela at this point - barely hanging on at the end of its useful economic life!)

Gas turbine is another thing altogether!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOIrB1fwVPc

In regards to Acela, we have no idea if and when the new ones will ever enter service.

Perhaps never, the list of mechanical woes keeps growing and growing.

https://www.oleantimesherald.com/news/a ... c511b.html

Kinda old news but news just the same. Mods if this is a cross post feel free to switch it out