Washington DOT announcing testing of Charger on Cascades route.
http://wsdotblog.blogspot.com/2017/02/washington-conducting-national-test.html
Good. I will be watching for it.
Amtrak ran a SEA-EUG roundtrip today, heading south at midday and following 508 north. I managed to get pictures if anyone is interested, and have some observations:
Consist was 4611-Mt. Adams set-467(F59PHI)
Unit was very very quiet.
There are gaps between the exterior grilles and the interior grilles. This space is lighted, which will make night viewing very interesting.
Not the prettiest of units, but they may grow on me.
NorthWest Amtrak ran a SEA-EUG roundtrip today, heading south at midday and following 508 north. I managed to get pictures if anyone is interested, and have some observations: Consist was 4611-Mt. Adams set-467(F59PHI) Unit was very very quiet. There are gaps between the exterior grilles and the interior grilles. This space is lighted, which will make night viewing very interesting. Not the prettiest of units, but they may grow on me.
Those photos may turn out to be rare. That is reported to be an Illinois owned unit. If practice turns out to be keeping them in and about their "owned" state it may be a while before it returns once testing is complete.
It will be an Illinois unit. I can't find the online paint diagrams anywhere, but this may be the scheme, minus the big Siemens logos (which the units on the NEC lack) and with the addition of Illinois Amtrak branding. Not sure at this point if or when it will come back here, but I do hope it does. I'll try to have my pictures up sometime today.
Alright, for the pictures. Sorry about sharpness; I was shooting just before sunset as the unit was trailing.
These, like the P42s, are lower than the transition fins on the end cars on the older Talgo sets.
This opening is going to look really weird if they don't turn the lights off at night.
Trucks (sorry about fuzziness).
People had remarked that the trucks on these seem pretty far inward, but in comparison to the P42 on the 508 which this train followed, they seem in about the same position.
And for something completely different the following morning: (Unit on 513 had died the previous night).
Odd thought. Leaving the light on at night might just prevent some idiot from running into the side of the loco or train ?
Just came across this newly posted YT video:
Just what is the purpose of those transparent side panels on this loco? I'm not seeing anything of interest in that area. Unfortunately, the backlighted 'X' looks like a perfect rock throwers target.
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MikeF90 Just came across this newly posted YT video: Just what is the purpose of those transparent side panels on this loco? I'm not seeing anything of interest in that area. Unfortunately, the backlighted 'X' looks like a perfect rock throwers target.
That is where the engine is. I believe it is for inflow.
chrsjrcjThat is where the engine is. I believe it is for inflow.
I thought it was for baffled radiator air, perhaps to get around a problem with leaves getting vacuumed against an outside radiator grille -- yes, I remember the issues with the SPV 2000 APU!
Unit looks ver futuristic!
Posted Today, 08:27 PM
WSDOT Charger unveiled:
Not a good look, at all! Way too much white space which will turn into off-white dirty gray pretty quickly as it has on the current equipment.
Doesn't match the Talgo paint either.
Send it back!
I'm not surprised that the paint job doesn't match the Talgo equipment. The test unit is owned by Illinois DOT and eventually will be assigned to Midwest service.
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