I have a question about the capability of the generator cars that different railroads use such as Alaska RR, Union Pacific, and BNSF. For example, how many passenger cars can they power in one train and what is the power output for them? The reason I ask is because I have seen Alaska RR trains pulling more than 16 passenger cars at a time with only one generator car vs. the Union Pacific heritage fleet power cars only capable of powering 7-8 cars at a time. Thanks in advance for any information.
http://www.uprr.com/aboutup/special_trains/historical_equipment/index.shtml
The above link is to the UPRR website and is a documentation of some of its passenger special train equipment.
Scroll down to the topic: POWER
you will find a brief history of their power cars: 207, 208,2066 with a photo of the 2066 and an interior schematic of the lay out they use.
I rather suspect that each railroad had its own design and specifications. Also, what time of year was it? Not much need for interior lights in Alaska during the summer tourist season! OTOH, the UP heritage train has to contend with night operations in the mountains - colder (yup) and a lot darker than summertime Alaska.
Chuck
I haven't noticed the difference in season. What I suspect is that they are using a larger capacity generator. I just do not understand why Union Pacific doesn't just make one large capacity generator for their consist instead of using two to three. Maybe back up power?
32 volt direct current systems require huge conductors to run long distances. Smaller conductors depleted power rapidly. This may cause a practical limit to how long the conduits might run to distant cars. Thomas Edison was vexed with this problem trying to provide electricity for lighting to cities. Some passenger units also had auxiliary power units self contained.
Interesting theory. I wonder how trains like the Auto Train do it? Those train runs with at least 16 cars, with one 800kw generator from the secondary P-42 powering the whole train.
I would be pretty sure that the Auto Train uses 480V three phase AC as does Amtrak. 800kw would come out to a bit over 1,000 amps. While that's a lot of current, but the conductors are sized more by current rating than voltage drop.
- Erik
How many of those cars required hotel power and a steam line? Steam appliances are dinosaurs, but they are out there.
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