first pictures of NJT/AMT ALP-45dp

Trains Magazine Locomotives
1

posted by bregt:

http://s25.photobucket.com/albums/c63/bengts/ellok/ALP45/

note the small pantograph?

2

Wow! Thanks for posting. Transit-style fabricated wheels?

3

nope, standard wheels, the bolts are for quill drive.

4

The photographer’s image is seen in at least one of the photos, reflected off the high gloss paint.

So this thing is like an EMD E-unit, with twin Diesels, carbody, and radiators mounted over the Diesels? Doesn’t this present problems with maintenance, such as changing out “power assemblies” (i.e. pistons)?

Quill drive, eh? Amtrak’s latest “order”, in contrast, specs locomotives with axle-mounted traction motors (so called nose-hung). Can you run axle-mounted traction motors at 110 MPH plus (or even 79 MPH) without pounding up the tracks, or does track work come out of “someone else budget”? Does NJT know something Amtrak doesn’t, or is it that Bombardier locomotives just “come that way”, that Amtrak or NJT doesn’t know their nose-hung from a quill-drive from a whatever or whether this has any effect on the tracks, and that people just purchase what the vendor serves up?

5

Let’s just hope that the AMT locos will have that kind of “wave” design rather than what’s in that hideous artist’s portrayal…

6

I suspect the engines are skid mounted engine gen sets. You probably don’t do individual power assembly change-outs. Just swap out the whole thing… I’ll have to take a closer look a the photos…

7

People just purchase whatever the vendor serves up. They might spec out ride quality/track force measurement performance spec and not care too much how you get there (as long as it doesn’t drive maintenance costs thru the roof. If you let Mechanical write the spec - you might get nose suspended traction motors written in because change out is cheap and easy.

8

OK. Looking at the general arrangement and the photos again, it looks like you can pull the fan hatch assembly and lift the engine gen set straight up. It also looks like there is plenty of space to work on the diesel engine inside the carbody. It’s a high speed diesel with relatively small, man-handleable parts.