Favorite Commuter Line

[METRO]

As someone who models a commuter line I wanna know: What's your favorite commuter rail line?

Mine is of course Government of Ontario Transit or GO Transit. It's the line that helped Bombardier develop the modern double decker commuter coach, nicknamed the "pill car" for its shape, and helped EMD make the F59 a perfect commuter locomotive. It was also the only line that proved too much for the F40PH and they kept the classic F7 running untill just reciently.

[Anonymous]

Caltrain.

[Anonymous]

The TRE! Best way to the Stars and Desperados games.

RMax

[AntonioFP45]

I assume this is regarding "current" commuter lines.

My favorite is from the past: The New Haven Railroad's commuter trains with the streamlined silver and red American Flyer cars pulled by FL9's and EP5 electrics.[:P][:)][;)]

[Anonymous]

New Jersey Transit

[MAbruce]

My favorite past commuter line was the C&NW Bi-level Gallery cars they ran in the 60’s & 70’s. I grew up around these.

My favorite modern day (current) commuter line is the Virginia Railway Express (VRE). I rode it last year while visiting Virginia and it was very nice. It beats out my local commuter rail – the “T” (MBTA – Mass Bay Transit Authority).

[orsonroy]

Metra. For $5 on the weekend, I can ride about 500 miles in one day. A bunch of friends and I are planning a summer/early fall trip from Crystal Lake to Chicago, and from there to Mishawauka on the South Shore. 185 miles one way for $5; ya can't beat it!

[Jetrock]

I suppose one could consider Amtrak's "Capitol Corridor" train a commuter line--it starts 'way out in Auburn, CA, and goes down through Sacramento, Oakland (with a bus line that takes folks to San Francisco), down the peninsula to San Jose.

I have a soft spot for Regional Transit's light rail line in Sacramento. But I have to admit that riding old Peter Witt and PCC cars on San Francisco's recreation/historic trolley line is a real blast--I just wi***hey'd do the same in Sacramento! We used to have three (!) different trolley lines running though town, two of which provided interurban service!

[Anonymous]

TRE--live and local!! Seeing RDC's (although rebuilt) in the 21st century is pretty neat.

[CP5415]

GO Transit here. I see them everyday at the end of the line in Oshawa.
Least favourite --> GO Transit -- most of the people taking the train have no clue what they are doing behind the wheel of a car.

Gordon

[cnw4001]

GO Transit and CNW .

When in Toronto GO Trains are our link into the city and the first train I ever rode was a CNW commuter, the old single level cars. Then later rode the Gallery cars before METRA.

I have a four car CNW gallery car train and ironically I purchased the cars in Toronto. I have two six car GO Trains with Bombardier cars and only three of them were purchased in Toronto, the engines and other cars were purchased in the U.S. How's that for irony?

[FThunder11]

Regional Transit District (RTD) in Denver, Colorado.

[passengerfan]

Altamont Commuter Express (ACE) between Stockton and San Jose excellent. Really caters to passenger needs. I predict it will keep expanding and servinge the population of the central valley as it grows.

[espeefoamer]

NJT.They operate a variety of diesel locos as well as electric loco hauled trains,and MU sets.They also have a light rail division.

[CP5415]

Just picked up my first set of Athearn Bombardier cars. No GO loco yet, but my wife thinks I've gone loco.

Gordon

[METRO]

I Have four ten car GO transit rakes, and on my freelance commuter line I have four rakes with eight of Bachman's double decker Chinese cars, repainted of course, two rakes with ten Walthers Horizon commuter cars and three RDCs.

My favourite real world line is and will always be GO Transit. My girlfriend and I take it everywhere! lol if they had an extension to Wasaga Beach and Buffalo I'd probably sell my car.

[Anonymous]

I have several favorites. I like the Rock Island and CNW commuter lines of the 70's. as for modern I like Metro North, MBTA, TRE, and Metra.

[brothaslide]

The Coaster

and soon to be Sprinter

[cnw4001]

QUOTE: Originally posted by METRO

I Have four ten car GO transit rakes, and on my freelance commuter line I have four rakes with eight of Bachman's double decker Chinese cars, repainted of course, two rakes with ten Walthers Horizon commuter cars and three RDCs.

My favourite real world line is and will always be GO Transit. My girlfriend and I take it everywhere! lol if they had an extension to Wasaga Beach and Buffalo I'd probably sell my car.

Wonder what you have powering the 10 car rakes? I have one of those Atlas GP's in GO Livery for one and a Walthers Trainline F40 for the other rake. Ironically the Atlas is lighter than the Trainline engine and tends to have wheel slip going up the first grade out of the yard on our club layout, the Trainline marches right up the hill.

When the "EX" is on, I combine both rakes and double head the power.

Dale

[METRO]

lol Funny you should mention the F40. GO had lots of problems with their F40s, namely that they were at the edge of their designed limits the entrie time they pulled for GO. See, the F40 runs its HEP right off the prime mover, and since GO has LONG trains (standard commuter rake is 10 cars) and the F40 was pulling and powering all of them alone, it was constantly at the top of its capacity. GO eventually ditched the F40s to Amtrak when it got the F59s (which have seperate engines for traction and HEP.) Since the F40s were being stressed so much they produced some of the most horrid noise and were nicknamed Thunderliners and Screamers.

As for the GPs they pulled well and were used in conjunction with rebuilt F7s to provide HEP.

Interestingly GO has only once used double headed trains in regular service. To ease congestion on the Toronto-Hamilton line they had two F59s double up with absolutely insane train lengths. This eventually was seen as being not cost effective though and the ten car rakes returned.

I personally run two F7s and two kitbashed units that make decient F59s (lol well passable to all but rivet counters) I know the F7s are not quite prototypical but there is some emotional appeal to the old units.

The F7s are Athearns with Kato drives, and the "F59s" are just the Walthers F40s with an F59 cab and paint job, which is close enough for me

[cnw4001]

QUOTE: Originally posted by METRO

lol Funny you should mention the F40. GO had lots of problems with their F40s, namely that they were at the edge of their designed limits the entrie time they pulled for GO. See, the F40 runs its HEP right off the prime mover, and since GO has LONG trains (standard commuter rake is 10 cars) and the F40 was pulling and powering all of them alone, it was constantly at the top of its capacity. GO eventually ditched the F40s to Amtrak when it got the F59s (which have seperate engines for traction and HEP.) Since the F40s were being stressed so much they produced some of the most horrid noise and were nicknamed Thunderliners and Screamers.



As for the GPs they pulled well and were used in conjunction with rebuilt F7s to provide HEP.

Interestingly GO has only once used double headed trains in regular service. To ease congestion on the Toronto-Hamilton line they had two F59s double up with absolutely insane train lengths. This eventually was seen as being not cost effective though and the ten car rakes returned.

I personally run two F7s and two kitbashed units that make decient F59s (lol well passable to all but rivet counters) I know the F7s are not quite prototypical but there is some emotional appeal to the old units.

The F7s are Athearns with Kato drives, and the "F59s" are just the Walthers F40s with an F59 cab and paint job, which is close enough for me

I don't want to turn this into a private conversation and hope the others continue along. You hit the nail on the head with the F 40's running HEP and Amtrak had the same problem they'd sit in the station in Notch 8, not a fun experience for those boarding or getting off. Recall a story in TRAINS about one of the long distance trains out west and going over the mountain they'd sometimes have to dump the HEP to make it up the hill. Got real interesting in the passenger cars as the lights, air conditioning and such went off to keep the train moving.

As I mentioned in the earlier post my rakes are six cars each so I guess I'm running one of the non-Lakeshore lines in off hours. Truth be known it was hard to find the GO livery here in the US and three of the cars came from Georges Trains in Toronto. Thats also where the CNW gallery cars came from.

Ok, time to leave someone else have some space here.

[METRO]

Gotta love the F59s lol, if you want some GO coaches I got mine from Walthers and they have everything in stock, you can even pick up some of the F7ACPUs in GO colours from Athearn

[Wdlgln005]

My favorite is the Metra/BN Racetrack. Sit at LaGrange Road one rush hour & watch the parade of dinky's + 3 Amtraks!

[Anonymous]

I'm rather fond of the Tri-Rail in Florida and the METRA in Chicago.

[CP5415]

So Walthers F40 has no problems hauling the Athearn cars huh!
Sounds like I need to go shopping.

Gordon

[cnw4001]

QUOTE: Originally posted by CP5415

So Walthers F40 has no problems hauling the Athearn cars huh!
Sounds like I need to go shopping.

Gordon

Hi Gordon,

Our club layout has a pretty steep grade out of the yard and a reverse S curve on the same grade and the Trainline F 40 takes a rake of six cars up the hill. I don't know the exact gradient but I would guess it is at least 2% next time out there I'll get some more specifices. The Atlas Geep is pulling a six car rake and it tends to slip and all have been "rewheeled." Most of the cars had the earlier wheelsets and tended to derail until I replaced them with the second generation wheelsets from Athearn .

On the subject of pulling, lots of folks disparage the Bachmann Spectrum F 40's but I have four of them in Amtrak livery and they will pull virtually anything you couple behind them. I've taken 10 Superliners up the hill with a single Bachmann. Not the normal power on such a train but they do pull.

On a GO prototype note, will the Barrie service be daily or just weekdays?

Dale

[Anonymous]

I guess I would have to say that my favorite commuter line is or was the New Haven of old.

[Big_Boy_4005]

I live in a commuter rail free zone, though we are just about to get our first light rail line in the next couple of months or so. I am most fond of subway systems, and am not fussy about local. New York, London, Paris, Chicago, Washington DC, Boston, San Francisco, and Montreal and probably in that order. Those are just some the ones I've ridden.

[CP5415]

Dale, I think the Barrie service is going to start off as a weekday service first.

Gordon

[Anonymous]

The Amtrack Noth east corridor