VRE, Metra, etc does.
So why not Amtrak. Would save time on end moves.
(I posted this on another train forum–OGR)
[%-)] The Heartland Flyer does.
The San Diegans have for 20+ years.
So do the Cascades
dd
Amtrak only have relatively few push pull control cars, some converted from former “Metroliner” Electric multiple unit cars (which carry passengers) and some from F40PH locomotives, (which carry baggage). With the really long distance trains, there is little advantage to be gained, because the schedule has to allow time to service the cars and refuel the locomotives, so turning the locomotives is not a problem, and saves the cost of multiple unit cables and connectors on each car ot the train, and the cost of a cab car.
As well as the trains mentioned, the Philadelphia to Atlantic City trains used cab cars, as does the “Cascades” and the “Downeaster” and probably other trains.
Amtrak do use push pull operation, but only where it is useful to assist fast turn around, which is why the commuter operators use them.
M636C
The Capitol Corridor trains between San Jose and Sacramento do not run their power around at either end.
I think the hiawatha runs backwards. When I was little I got to see the cab car on an amtrak train and it looks just like a loco. but only smaller. And to this day I think they still run in push/pull fashion.
with how late amtrak is at times you’d think they are running backwards.
There is also a safety measure involved with cab car operations as well as weather considerations. On long haul runs such as Chicago-Denver a grade crossing accident with a much lighter coach vs. a pair of heavy diesels puts passengers in danger. In heavy snow the locomotive forward is also much more reliable. ( the C&NW used to run locomotive forward as opposed to cab-car forward in the winter months on one train that was the first of the day out of the lake geneva branch) of course, these ideas are only based on cab car type push-pull operations, not locomotive on either end operations.
The Hiawahta has for at least 25 Years…
There’s no such thing as running backwards unless the end car is blind.
There is a cab car leading that is different. Springfield, MA - New Haven, CT shuttles run with a converted Metroliner MU cab car.
There are dangers with running at high speed with these like on the NEC and electric locomotives are not set up for this operation, and they have dual cabs anyway.
The Michigan trains out of Chicago regularly run backwards with F40PH-based NPCU cab cars numbered in the 90200 series on the unpowered end.
The Vermonter has to do a back-up move from NECR tracks onto CSX tracks and vice-versa. They use a cab-control car on the rear end to do this. In the winter, they often use a second locomotive on the rear for safety going through snowbanks at crossings.
I got my second star in before they do away with them![:D][^]
The Hiawatha sometimes runs with actual locomotives on both ends. Other times they use one of the “garage door” neutered F40PHs. Back in the day they used to have some former CNW bi-levels and converted metroliner cars and I imagine the crews feel much safer being in an actual cab. Before then they did have to turn the engine at the Milwaukee Road turntable, now long gone, in Milwaukee
Way way back – the Milwaukee Road actually used a loop to serve Fox Lake WI - the depot is still in place along with a few hundred feet of the loop track, looking very much like a model railroad. The local would leave Beaver Dam, head west to the wye at Fox Lake, go up to the depot and simply keep going (I wonder if the loop switch was a spring switch) and head back.
Dave Nelson
They call them coffin cabs for a reason.
I saw an Amtrak cab car at Union Station (Chicago) once. 2 or 3 actually!
Don’t the Acela sets have a locomotive at each end?
Before the F40PH’s were retired and converted to cab cars, there were several cab cars rebuilt from former Metroliners working in the Chicago area, mostly on the Milwaukee and Detroit lines but also on the Chicago-Springfield “Loop”, which was a Section 403 train. There were also two cab cars modified from the ex-C&NW bi-levels, usually found on the Chicago-Valparaiso suburban runs.
Ya, and that means what? Each engine has a FRA “F” end. Never runs “backwards”.
Actually it means that one of the engines always runs B or “backwards” while the engine on the other end is operating F end first. [2c] as always ENJOY[8D]