80 mph Passenger Trains?

Classic Toy Trains Forum
1

I was riding Amtrak today (taking advantage of my senior discount), and during this trip I held my GPS up against the window. We were traveling 80 mph most of the way across the Sacramento Valley, so maybe my boy’s fast throttle hand with the Lionel Cab-1 is more to scale than I thought? Better stop yelling at him.

The new Amtrak snack cars have a little table lamp next to the window, and my GPS is just the right size to wedge in between the lamp and glass. It was like having my own speedometer. Union Pacific has done a great job fixing up the old Southern Pacific track, and the passenger cars rode so smooth that I needed the GPS to get an accurate fix on the speed of the train. The engineer could have easily push it up to 100 mph, but there is probably a speed limit for Amtrak?

Is there a way to measure the speed of our 3-rail trains with a stop watch?

Richard

2

Somebody made a speedometer that sat next to the track, I can’t remember if it was Lionel, or MTH.

If you want to just try to check it with a stop watch, the math is the old,

distance = rate x time

if you want it in scale miles per hour, a scale mile is 110 feet exactly in O scale.

3

The FRA speed limit is 79 miles per hour unless an automatic train stop system is used; but hardly any track or trains are equipped for that.

4

Lionel made a digital speedo that went with the walk-over. I think Train World had both items on sale for the past few months.

5

Yes, Lionel has a speedometer with a walk over. Very cool LED read out.

6

Pedestrian Walkover with Scale Speed Sensor, Lionel #14082, MSRP $99.95. The TW add in the Feb. CTT shows only the #14082 walkover (no sensor), unless my eyes are failing me (!) Charles Ro ad in the same issue shows a price of $71.95.

For a manual calculation, select a section of straight track and measure it in inches. Time how many seconds it takes for a point on the train to traverse this section. Divide the number of inches by the number of seconds, then multiply this value by 2.73 to get scale miles per hour (1:48 scale)…

7

Correct. In fact, this rule is thought to be one of the regulations that “put the nail in the coffin” of wide-spread passenger rail use in the United States. Private Railroad companies had to install these systems, and maintain them at thier own expense, while highways and airports have a gov’t operated (ans subsidized) Trust Fund to pay for their infrastructure upkeep. The Amtak engine driver could pu***he locomotive up to 100 mph, but then that engine driver would be breaking the speed limit. Back in the Goldern Era of US train travel,before regulations such as this were promulgated, engineers could exceed 100 mph with impunity (and they frequently did). Nowadays, the RR company would fire them for that.