Longest train I ever rode was a Christmas-time combination (at Pittsburgh) of (I believe) the Pennsylvania Limited and St. Lousian from Harrisburg to NYC about 1965. 5 E units pulled 36 cars of which about 12 were mail into the station and 3 GG1’s took it east. They were so hurting for cars they had some of the Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Line coaches (all old) in it. Moving forward, I counted 32 cars in the Chicago-NYC train at Harrisburg when Amtrak was trying to move the mails a few years ago–but only 6 of them were passenger. The train was stopped for over an hour at the station before heading east.
Although locomotive pulling power is a factor, another factor would be steam generation/head end power being supplied to the train. I believe Amtrak used a rule of thumb that it’s F40PH’s could provide enough steam or later HEP for five cars, so for every five cars they had to have one engine…so a 15 car train would need 3 engines. I suspect more than 3 engines on an Amtrak train would be rare.
I have been on a few Amtrak trains that have made double stops at small stations, and I saw one at Wilmington, DE, which has relatively short platforms.
The Wilmington situation was a southbound Florida train. Wilmington has a low level northbound platform with 1 track, the next track has a high level platform, which it shares with the 3rd track, which also has its own low level platform. The high level platform is much shorter than either of the 2 outside low platforms. The Florida train used doors only on the low platform side, I assume they didn’t use the other side because that platform’s so short they would have needed more than 2 stops.
Curiously to me southbound SEPTA trains didn’t use that raised island platform even though they’re certainly short enough. Most northbound SEPTA trains, espcecially the ones that change ends in Wilmington, and consequently dwell for a while, use the northbound 1st track which has the low platform, but I do remember seeing at least one trip that used the ‘AMTRAK’ northbound track with the high platform.
I haven’t been to Wilmington for a bunch of years, current practice may have changed.
I don’t know about steam heating generating capacity, trainline heat loss, or car heating demand.
I do know that Amtrak figured roughly 75kW per car (Amfleet); and F40s, maybe P42’s too, provided up to 750kW hotel power. That comes from just one of the locomotives to eliminate the problem of synchronizing engine speed, effectively leaving only 2,000hp for traction. The P30s had two 375hp diesel-alternator sets that proved troublesome to synchronize for train power. Two locomotives with engines operating independently by throttle setting alone pose an even greater challenge.
Another possible limit is the current capacity of the trainline bus and cable connections.
I don’t recall for sure, but maybe Superliners take 100kW per car and P42s provide 1,000kW. It works the same. Anyone know if later F40s were equipped with 1,000kW alternators for use with the Superliners if there was a higher power demand?
In any event, the only way to run a train longer than ten cars is to connect up to ten cars to the locomotive and connect additional cars to a generator car or trailing locomotive in as many blocks as necessary. After the second set, passing through the entire train consist is a problem - walking through an engine room, mis-matched end door heights, and walking through a locomotive nose door.
Alphas got me thinking. I’ve stood in the aisle on an 18-car holiday Flambeau and ridden on a long Capital and Blackhawks, continuing on the Western Star the second time. My longest was the Texas Eagle in 1999 that had at least 25 express cars on the tail end southbound from Little Rock. The train was three hours late into Dallas due to switching at Saint Louis and Little Rock.
SoCal Metrolink requires that stations be 600 feet long, and I have seen 6 car trains (plus engine) that didn’t take up the whole platform at Buena Park. The Amtrak station at Fullerton seems to be about twice as long as BP Metrolink. Don’t know how many cars that is. When the SW Chief stops at Fullerton the engines usually stop just past the end of the platform and about 1.75 engines, the baggage car, and the crew dorm overlap the platform. The coaches at the rear usually extend right to the platform end.
I saw an unusual double stop at Fullerton recently. There was a gas leak in Irvine that delayed by several hours a Surfliner with some passengers from San Diego with reserved seats on the Chief. The jam let up so that the Surfliner would be about 1/2 hour late for the connection. After the Chief did its normal boarding of passengers on Track 1, it pulled forward so that the gate across the triple tracks was clear. 3 Amtrak station workers took an electric cart across for luggage. The Surfliner pulled in on Track 3, discharged passengers, and left quickly. Normal passengers did their thing with the bridge back to Track 1. The passengers for the Chief walked across the tracks behind the luggage cart escorted by the Amtrak workers and boarded the last car of the Chief, which then took off. Both the Chief and the Surfliner were on the left hand track of the 3 at Fullerton, one going west, the other east.
An elegant solution to the problem, I thought.
Jack
Elegant and inspired! My opinion of Amtrak just went up a few basis points.
THere could be a couple places on the D&RGW like that. Even for PZ days, the station at Rifle was little more than a flag stop, with the train stretching out of both ends. Not sure if today’s Amtrak CZ has the same problem?? IIRC the train may have stopped for crew changes or other reasons??
Does it still stop at Rifle?
Between Denver & Salt Lake, I’m not sure how large the “stations”
at Winter Park & Granby, CO then Green River & Helper UT are.
Thompson UT, Bond & Rifle CO have dropped from the schedule.
D&RGW fans may be familiar with those names.
Comparing the 2007/UP & 1982/RGZ TT: today’s
WB CZ leaves Denver 1/2 hour later, @ 8:05 vs 7:30, arrives Salt Lake City 11:33 vs 9:30
(2 hours longer)
EB CZ leaves Salt Lake City @3:45 vs 7:30am, arrives Denver 6:58 vs 9:30 pm
(IMHO shows what a first class operation the RGZ & D&RGW was)
Here in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, I have boarded the Meteor in the middle of the night, walking across gravel, to get to the train on the outside track, away from the station.
When living in Miami, I would board at Hollywood where the Silver trains would often make two stops at the platform in the 60’s and 70’s
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Once saw a 18 or 19 car solid Amfleet train (Fall Foliage special in 1976 or 77) hauled by a pair of P30s. Apparenly, there is enough capacity in the HEP trainline for trains of that length. P30s did have the ability to bring their individual HEP plans on and off line as needed - probaby why that train had P30s and not SDP40Fs or F40s on it.