zuriblue
Member
I know they used electro-diesels when they ran into Grand Central - do they still do that into Penn?
Yes. Diesel traction isn't permitted in NYC.
I know they used electro-diesels when they ran into Grand Central - do they still do that into Penn?
Yes. Diesel traction isn't permitted in NYC.
Hate to spoil a joke with facts, but if memory serves correct NYC had two Republican mayors in the last couple of decades.How enlightened - then the Republican Party has had no great sway there for decades. Hope that can still be said after this autumn.
Also highly recommended:Just a small correction to the OP, Paris isn't home to the only third rail use in France. The metre-gauge Cerdagne line (better known as Le petit train jaune or The Little Yellow Train, is electrified at 650v DC and runs from Villefranche-en-Conflent to Latour-de-Carol-Envietg on the Spanish border (the only place where standard, Iberian and Metre-gauge routes meet). The line also includes the highest station in France at Bolquère-Eyne. I'd thoroughly recommend a ride if you get the chance.
Hate to spoil a joke with facts, but if memory serves correct NYC had two Republican mayors in the last couple of decades.
Yes. Diesel traction isn't permitted in NYC.
Hence the Manhattan Transfer.
Hate to spoil a joke with facts, but if memory serves correct NYC had two Republican mayors in the last couple of decades.
Including a very popular Rudy Giuliani.
Though his popularity varies depending on who you ask!
The imediate giveaway was the headcode window, smaller than on the EPBs supplied new to the Southern Region. Not to mention the unit numbers, 5781 - 5795 (later 6281 - 6295).They also had an extra-large luggage van area (with a small window between the double doors and the passenger section), which made them easy to identify once on the southern.
What's the SWML, 100 odd miles (all the way Weymouth-Waterloo), that's got to be one of the longest 3rd rail lines anywhere even when including subways/metros
OLE in the tunnels, changeover at Wimbledon, existing DC on the SW.
I don't think that's quite correct - there is an unelectrified branch used by passenger trains down the West side of Manhattan, for example.Yes. Diesel traction isn't permitted in NYC.
Including a very popular Rudy Giuliani.
I believe there is one ex tyneside EPB still in existence and if i recall correctly, its in Coventry
The pre-Grouping London, Brighton and South Coast Railway electrified most of its suburban network and had plans for Brighton, Worthing, Eastbourne, Newhaven and Seaford, and Epsom and Oxted when Grouping happened. I often wonder what the Southern would have been like if it had been chosen over 3rd rail. SUBs with pantographs? I think they would have needed to up the voltage eventually and go over to 50 Hz (the 11 Kv distribution system to the trackside substations was 25 Hz until the 1950s I believe). At least they would have had the gantries etc in place for upgrades to take place.It would have been interesting if the 6.7kV 25Hz system used by one south london railway (can't remember which off the top of my head) had been more succcesful than the 750V third rail system.
That might have concievably have become the overall national standard.
I think they would have needed to up the voltage eventually and go over to 50 Hz (the 11 Kv distribution system to the trackside substations was 25 Hz until the 1950s I believe). At least they would have had the gantries etc in place for upgrades to take place.
Universal motors are less than ideal. They are inefficient and have a lot of disadvantages from a maintenance point of view, brushes and commutators, sparking, need for laminated pole pieces and are noisy. Also the low-frequency transformers carried on locos/emus are heavier than 50 Hz ones. The Germans, already heavily into 16 2/3 Hz, electrified the Hollenthal line at 20 kV 50 Hz in 1936 with rectifier locos having DC motors for reasons like those, (also it would eliminate rotary converter stations) and the French who occupied that part of Germany after the war, were impressed. A British party including Riddles and Warder saw the first French line in the ealy 50s. The rest is history. having said all that, I love the sound of the preserved Swiss Crocodiles.25Hz has advantages in that it allows universal motor use which means that you can do regenerative braking with AC using technology from before the war.
The early mercury rectifier locomotives hardly distinguished themselves in the reliability stakes either hower.
It seems likely that any extensive 25Hz system would have survived simply by virtue of being expensive to replace
As far as I know Switzerland/Germany/Austria have no plans to convert, although presumably any new high speed projects are 25kV 50Hz as per the TSI.
Do the LIRR diesels even go into Penn? I seem to remember they either finish up at a terminus in Brooklyn or everyone has to change onto an electric somewhere further out.