Last night a NJT train…ACES burned up a loco and ripped down 1400’ of catenary last night
Yeah, I heard about that on another forum.
The P40DC on the train, 4800, caught fire somewhere around Morrisville, PA and melted the catenary.
It seems like it may have been the turbo, but no one’s sure as of now. The ACES cars and the ALP on the other end were not damaged.
No one was seriously injured.
The passengers were bussed the rest of the way to NY. From a luxury train to a bus!
General Explosion at its best!
That is certainly a lot of wire. Wonder if it had been constant tension not as much would have burned? Amtrak cannot catch a break this winter. All trips up to that time were on time or within ten minutes. Amtrak ended up cancelling about 4 hrs of trips both directions. and the ones operating after that were 2 - 1 - 1/2 hr late for rest of day.
dumb question. Why was the P40DC operating or were both the P40 and ALP operating for acceleration? Also which unit was in front?
I’d like to know, too, and I asked in the other thread, too. Morrisville is electric territory–perhaps it was idling. I cannot imagine it was required for HEP, but then, I’m not an engineer, so I defer.
I understand that NJT starts up the diesel as soon as it clears the Hudson tunnels. .
What is the SOP? Is the diesel always on the same end or can the train be in reverse order on any given trip? How far is the juice drawn? Only in NJT territory or all the way to the junction? Diesel used only on the ACL or to the river tunnel? Are there cab cars in the train or not because of the locomotive at each end (if no cab cars, then both units have to stay with train for whole cycle?)?
The P40 is always on the west end of the train, which means it was trailing in this case.
They’ve changed the power change several times, but, for now, it is taking place at Newark Penn (to reduce the chances of snow getting in the loco) (so basically, the ALP is only used into/out of NYP). So in this case, the P40 was giving power, not the ALP.
And, BTW, the fire was caused by a bad fuel injector.
There are no ACES cab cars, since the ALP-44 is on the north (east) end, and the P40DC is on the south (west) end. The cars (7229-7236) are 8 of the 7200-series Multilevel restroom trailers, and run in two sets of four, with no spares.
Although the cars were undamaged, they did not run for the remainder of the weekend, and a set of regular Multilevels, a replacement P40, and a replacement ALP ran, in addition to the other “normal” ACES set.
And yes, both locos are on for the entire trip. Even if a loco is not providing power, it can be used as a “cab car” (like in this case, the ALP was shut down, but was used as a cab for the 4800, which was shoving from the rear).
Hope this clears some stuff up.
I don’t get it! NJT has some of the most modern electrics in the world, and yet they are operating diesels on an electrified line! WHY?
Thanks NS3010…it clears up my questions, almost as I assumed the operation is carried out.
The ACL (Atlantic City Line) is not electrified, which is why the diesel is required.
Diesel locomotives can not (legally) operate in NYC, so the only trains into/out of NYP are electric hauled.
Also, if anyone’s wondering why they don’t use other locos is because the P40s are the only diesel locos that fit through the North River Tunnels, and the ALP-46s don’t work as a cab car for the P40s, for whatever reason.
Okay, but obviously it was operating in electrified territory, or it wouldn’t have destroyed the caternary.
I’ll elaborate on what I said about not getting snow inside the locomotive:
If the locomotive (P40) is running, the blowers are activated, which keeps the snow out of the locomotive.
Now, one could argue that they could just let it idle, because it would save fuel compared to providing traction and HEP, but then again, one could argue what idling and/or running it just wastes fuel compared to having the ALP provide traction and HEP between NYP and SHORE (interlocking between NEC and ACL)
Ugh. There are couple of usual ways this happens. One is the low pressure lines that carry the fuel from tank the the high pressure pumps (one on each cylinder) could rupture and allow a lot of fuel to splash all over the place. The other is the high pressure line from the high pressure pump to the fuel nozzle broke allowing a lower volume of high pressure fuel to spray right on the exhaust manifold. Either way you get a nice fire. And here, all the while, they called the electrics “toasters”…
Yep. Once they shut down the loco, therefore cutting the fuel, the fire went out on its own.
At first, no one was sure if it was the leading or trailing loco, and reports said leading loco, which would be the ALP, which, as it seems you know, is a very close cousin to the AEMs. But then, of course, later reports said the trailing loco, which was the P40, which it really was.
On the NY - Atlantic City trains, the electrics can and do work as a cab car for the diesels and visa versa.
Yes, but the P40s are the only diesels that fit through the tunnels. The '44s are the only electrics that work as a cab for the P40s (the 46s don’t for whatever reason), so therefore, the locos must always be a P40 and a 44, ONLY.
I think the problem is that the 46’s must pick up power from the catenary for everything and anything to work, while the 44’s can use battery power for controls and lights for a long period before the batteries require recharging.
I think I remember hearing that it was a computer incompatibility issues, but I could be wrong.
The cab car has to be able to put out the standard 8 notch, four conductor throttle MU signal out on the trainline. Maybe that’s the issue?