Here’s a link to a video clip I posted on Youtube about South Jersey’s lightrail Riverline which links Camden and Trenton, New Jersey.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TizfWStIy-M
Best wishes to the entire train community for a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.
Nice pictures. However, I have the impression the dmu bounces a lot while in motion. Bad track or bad running-capabiity or moving camera?
IIRC, the DMUs have been fabricated by Stadler in Bussnang, which is the next village to the south of Weinfelden, where I work. Lots of test-trains from Stadler and other manufacturers running through Weinfelden.
Hi Martin,
I suspect the movement is probably mostly my fault since I was not braced against anything while holding the Sony Cybershot out in front of me to see the screen while filming. The track work is mostly new, utilizing concrete ties, but with a few stretches with wooden ties. During the night hours freight trains still use the line.
While it was being constructed many predicted that it would not be successful. But from what I understand, the public has taken it to heart!
Where was that beautiful light-rail trainset assembled?
. . . and what is it using for propulsion? I don’t see catenary or a third rail.
Al, this link should answer your questions:
http://www.lightrailnow.org/news/n_nj002.htm
Regards,
Bill
I rode it from Palmyra to Trenton and back, just for fun, last summer. I thought the ride was pretty good. There’s a lot that’s questionable about the whole project, but that’s mostly water over the dam now. Looks like the ridership is exceeding expectations and there is now a push to complete the southern end of the line from Camden to Glassboro that was squashed by NIMBYs early on.
The mid-day trains I rode were pretty well patronized - I’d say the trainset was more than 50% full.
The lightrail-link is very interesting. Thank you for posting it.
Does that DMU type of light rail pollute very much at all?
I ask because in Chicagoland, several years ago, some planner-type thought it might be a good idea to originate some of these smaller dieselized light-rail trainsets in the suburbs, put them on existing freight lines, and then have them join the CTA Blue Line (probably near O’Hare) for the trip downtown.
We customarily call the system the “L” but the Blue Line going downtown is actually a mixture of median ROW, elevated structure, and underground. Over most of the 20th century the line grew longer and longer, but it is and was nothing but an electric shoe third-rail type of apparatus that I know of.
So is it really safe to send something that emits hydrocarbon fumes into that type of rapid-transit tunnel? One part of the Blue Line goes underground just enough to service one station, but downtown the tunnel under Dearborn St. is immense, only slightly shorter than the Red Line’s which supposedly was (is) second only to an outside train platform in Moscow.
We’re not hearing anything about diesels in rapid-transit tunnels anymore. Should I give thanks for that?
al-in-chgo
Stadler (Swiss) built the articuilated three-truck railcars for the River Line. They are diesel-electric, not diesel-mechanical, and were built with the thought in mind that they would still be useful if the line were electrified, with of course, the necessary equipment changes. They are mu and at times run in two-car trains.
Dual-mode technology has been around for a long time, way back to the New York Central’s “oil-electric” freight locomotives. There isn’t any reason why a series of mu cars compatable with one or another series of existing CTA rapid transit cars, cannot be built with diesel-electric capability for use at decent performance off-third-rail.
But don’t expect any approval of running any kind of non-emergency diesel power into the CTA tunnels. And you might have a fight on your hand for running diesel power into the downtown Loop. Dual-mode technlogy is practical and would be good in the application you are suggesting.
Most of the line is run on freight tracks so they may not be as smooth as say Amtrak tracks.
It is interesting because the big thing they advertised for the service was that you could take the Riverline to concerts at the Tweeter center right next to the end of the line in Camden. However in the beginning service stopped too early to accomodate people at the end of concerts. Since then they have extended the operating hours of some trains. Although if anyone has been to a concert at the Tweeter center in Camden you know that it could take a train 15 minutes just to clear the area because of so many people/cars in the street
What would a dual-mode diesel electric electric railcar compatible with the CTA be like? I would think each would be a two-car unit. Full operator controls would be at the opposite ends of the two-car unit, with only conductor’s door controls on one of the two inner ends. The A unit would have two pancake underfloor regular low-emmission bus diesel engines each attached dirrectly to an alternator-generator. These would on opposite sides and each just inside a truck, to distribute weight as equally as possible. They would be mounted on slides with the complete engine-alternator assembly capable of being slid out for maintenance. The B unit would have all transformers, switch gear, electronic controls including chopper, and possibly all air=conditioning equipment as well, although that might remain better duplicated between the two cars. Also any air equipment. All axles would be driven with the same motors as used on the latest electric cars. Third rail shoes would be on the end trucks to allow briding third rail gaps and would be disconnected in diesel operation