On the Hiawatha between Milwaukee and Chicago Amtrak has a P42DC(designated AMD-103 by Amtrak) on one end and a NPCU(non-powered controlling unit, formerly an F40PH) on the other end. I’ve noticed that the NPCUs have a roll-up door on the side of the engine compartment. Do they use the empty space inside for cargo, or is there some equipment like an auxilliary power unit for the passenger cars in there?
AFAIK the middle door is intented to be used for baggage. Train controls in the cab enable push/pull operation. There could still be some crew protection from a collision. In F40’s, the prime mover supplied HEP. It’s possible a small Cat generator could be installed. There would be plenty of power for the HEP from the P42.
Amtrak conveted some of their old F40PH’s to NPCU’s so that they would not need to run the engine aroud at the end of a trip, its also better than a cab coach because it offers more protection in a crash and there is a baggage compartmen. They are used all over the Amtrak net work including on the cascades(Seatle to Portland) which runs talgo equipment
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=175165
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=174583
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=170539
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=172523
got pictures from here http://www.railpictures.net/showphotos.php
Baggage is correct–they took out the prime mover, leaving plenty of room. I don’t think they operate very often on trains that offer checked baggage service, though.
When they first appeared, they were given the nickname “cabbage” cars (cab+baggage). They’re numbered in the 90000 series (take away the “90” prefix and you have the unit’s former revenue number).
Are the NPCU “cabbage cars” ballasted up to locomotive weight or are they lighter than a locomotive because they lack prime movers, main alternator, and traction motors? If they are ballasted, is this because the trucks are “tuned” for that weight or is there some kind of collision protection argument?
Given the short consists of the typical corridor train (4 cars – the 10-12 car Talgo is not much longer because Talgo cars are half the standard length), aren’t they spending a lot in fuel for this kind of protection, given the weight and height mismatch (affects aero drag)?
The California trains have a locomotive that has a streamlined cowl and is height-matched to the trailing cars, the run a bigger consist - or at least in terms of seating capacity – and don’t they run push-pull using a cab in a revenue passenger car?
The lightweight TurboTrain power cars are alleged to have done OK in grade-crossing collisions, while there have been fatal accidents even with a locomotive at the head end (involving crew, not passengers - there was an Amtrak accident years back with a collision with a fuel truck and some problem that the fuel got through a locomotive nose door.
The NPCUs look cool and everything, but operations such as GO Transit and LIRR that did a similar thing ran much longer consists to spread out the operating costs of a non-revenue, non-locomotive train car.
The California cars have coach cabs in a layout similar to the coach cabs on Metra’s and Caltrain’s gallery bi-level coaches.
On LIRR and GO Transit, the cab cars were equipped with HEP sets to provide power for the consist, the locomotives were off-the-shelf freight designs with no HEP capability.
If I’m not mistaken, a big reason for the F40PH conversions was it was cheaper than buying cab cars. Most of the equipment that they are used with (except the Talgos) is old itself, and the F40PH bodies were sitting around, so Amtrak McGyvered something up with them. (I believe the same is true of the old Metroliner cars turned into cab cars.)
I have no insight on the GO F-unit HEP units, but I think the economic reason was the same for Long Island Railroad. The power and cars they had were starting to get old, but weren’t quite dead yet (to quote Monty Python - and to note - the cars lasted another 20 something years, while most of the ALCO locomotives were gone within five). Alco FA units had just been retired en masse and were available for very cheap. They were the perfect inexpensive solution for how to turn the LIRR into a push-pull operation.