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Where/to what extent can/does NS use diesel on the NEC? About how much more powerful are those diesels than Amtrak's electric locomotives?
Posts: 6 | Registered: Nov 2002
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you may be comparing apples to oranges on the power the two use. electrics develop power and brake differently than the freight diesels. the most powerful ns has are the 18 former conrail sd80mac's at 5000hp. compared to the amtrak hhp electric engine, the hhp develops about 8500hp, but you couldn't pull 100 loads of coal with it. conversely, an acela train would only top out at 70mph with an sd80mac on the point. ns has trackage rights on the nec from wash, d.c. to northern nj, and as long as the diesels have the cab signal/speed control equipment, they can lead on the corridor. mostly, they use former conrail power, but more and more ns power is being set up for nec use.
Posts: 85 | From: owingsmills, md. | Registered: Aug 2002
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Thanks for the info. Re: your last comment, do you mean that NS is beginning to use electric power on the Corridor, or modifying its diesels, or what?
I also assume from your comments that the only place where diesels are taboo between D.C. and New York is the Hudson River tunnels.
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i don't think ns is looking for electric engines. the modifications i spoke of to their pre-conrail fleet consist of the addition of amtrak/conrail cab signal equipment and whats called lsl- locomotive speed limiting. basically, a computer that puts the train brakes on if the engineer fails to comply with either wayside/cab signals or he is speeding, based on a preset speed limit in the computer. as far as i know, ns trackage rights on amtrak are from d.c. to northern new jersey, and i believe you are right, no diesels in the hudson tubes.
Posts: 85 | From: owingsmills, md. | Registered: Aug 2002
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NS uses only diesels on its freight trains. NS has exclusive freight rights from Philadelphia to Washington, except shared with CSXT from Washington to Bowie for moves of coal trains to the Pope's Creek generating station. CSXT has rights north of Philadelphia, and the jointly-owned Conrail Shared Assets provides local switching in the same area.
Conrail, when created in 1976, inherited the Pennsylvania Railroad electrification and a fleet of electric freight locos. THese operated until 1982, when Conrail decided that access fees it paid to Amtrak, combined with maintenance of the aging electrics, was too expensive. Freight on the NEC has been 100% diesel ever since.
There is no freight into Penn Station, NY. By city ordnance, only electrics can operate there. For trains from NYP to Albany and the west, Amtrak has a small fleet of P32DM (dual mode) units that leave Penn Station running on third rail, then start diesels when they're clear of the tunnel to the Empire Connection. NEC trains, of course, use overhead catenary.
Posts: 614 | From: Merchantville, NJ. USA | Registered: Aug 2000
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NJ Transit use to run what they called a "diesel express" from Newark to Trenton. I was train watching at Edison some years ago and saw it and it was in the timetable as such. I don't know of they still do or not.
Posts: 4 | From: Egg Harbor Township, NJ | Registered: Nov 2002
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