What was Metra considering getting before the MP36?

Tadman wrote:If I recall, MPI was the only bidder because nobody else wanted to build a 645-engined locomotive capable of 3600hp.

I believe you are right, I seem to remember hearing/reading that before. That's the trouble with Metra living in the past. Sooner or later, they are going to have to go AC and dump the 645. The longer they wait, the more traumatic the experience will be.

F40CFan wrote:I believe you are right, I seem to remember hearing/reading that before. That's the trouble with Metra living in the past. Sooner or later, they are going to have to go AC and dump the 645. The longer they wait, the more traumatic the experience will be.

I'd bet on that. Still, wouldn't it be strangely ironic when/if Metra finally goes AC, then, as a result of the teething problems sure to arise, some of us actually begin hoping the train we're on has a "good old, reliable MP36?"; despite the problems that THEY had when first delivered?

Ok, ok F40Cfan, I know YOU won't be hoping...

It would have to be a pretty horrible piece of equipment to get me to feel nostalgic for the MPs. Either that or a quite a few STIFF drinks.

On the way into CUS this morning, I was chatting with the conductor. I commented that they had given him a good locomotive today (F40PH), rather than one of the MPs. He agreed and indicated that the MPs were starting to rust through on the car body. I guess I'll stop thinking of them as "Boom Boxes" and refer to them as "Rust Buckets".

Hey man, I've spent some quality time over vacation in CUS and at the Canal crossing on the north throat tracks - I'll take a MP throttling up any day over the screamboxes that F40PH's are.

It's dusk, and a oscillating headlight appears on the south wall of the condos at the curve...
A bell starts...
You see the MP crawl out from under Lake Street...
The MP turns due west at Canal while the hogger kicks it up a notch, accelerating the train and causing aural excitement not seen in passenger railroading since the 1960's...
Even the guy in the sound-proof Lexus takes note, remembering to take his kid down to the tracks this saturday.

And that's how MP36's are helping the nintendo generation railfan.

Just my two cents.

Tadman wrote:Hey man, I've spent some quality time over vacation in CUS and at the Canal crossing on the north throat tracks - I'll take a MP throttling up any day over the screamboxes that F40PH's are.

It's dusk, and a oscillating headlight appears on the south wall of the condos at the curve...
A bell starts...
You see the MP crawl out from under Lake Street...
The MP turns due west at Canal while the hogger kicks it up a notch, accelerating the train and causing aural excitement not seen in passenger railroading since the 1960's...
Even the guy in the sound-proof Lexus takes note, remembering to take his kid down to the tracks this saturday.

And that's how MP36's are helping the nintendo generation railfan.

Just my two cents.

To each, their own.

I pass through CUS virtually every work day and I would rather stand next to 10 F40PHs at run 8 than one MP at run 3.

The guy in the Lexus probably noticed the thing because it set off his car alarm.

I think Metra should have bought some of the surplus P40DCs stored at Bear, Delaware.
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... ?id=136731
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... ?id=151383
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... ?id=151392
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/locThu ... x?id=21008

I thought there was a need for power on Amtrak. Are these truly surplus, or have they got some major sort of ailment?

Dave Becker

pablo wrote:I thought there was a need for power on Amtrak. Are these truly surplus, or have they got some major sort of ailment?

I guess they can be considered surplus, since many of them are stored serviceable at the Bear, DE shops, and operate as "stand-by" equipment for various long distance Amtrak trains on the east coast. Some have also been leased for commuter service on Metro-North. For the complete rundown:

http://gobytrain.us/amtrak/notes/#P40


Interesting local note: Two of these units, 807 and 829, were involved in the infamous March 1999 wreck at Bourbonnais that killed 11 when New Orleans-bound Amtrak 59 slammed into a truck at a grade crossing. They were eventually scrapped at Beech Grove...

The pros around here say that P40's are not good for commuter as they don't accelerate fast enough. I also hear the stored units need a solid rebuilding, and they also have Amtrak's stellar maintenance record behind them. Finally, they have nothing in common with the 645 powered locomotives Metra already operates. It's a good thought, but it doesn't meet quite a few criteria important in to the Chicagoans.

Here's a neat little concept that's been rattling around in my head for a while - with passenger locomotives getting heavier, why don't we go back to A1A-A1A trucks instead of limiting the MP36's to only a few lines? Obviously this is a moot argument now, but in the future couldn't MPI build MP36's with the radial trucks found under the SD70 and just omit the middle motor on each truck? It looks like an MP36 has lots of space under the body, and the current B-B trucks are actually like 10% longer than a traditional blomberg found under an F40PH or GP40.

Tadman wrote:why don't we go back to A1A-A1A trucks

Probably for the same reason Metra won't go to a 710 engine or AC traction. If its different than what they have, they don't want it.