I was basing My observations from what I could see, since as you say Rob, inside the train is not the best place for hearing external sounds on a train. Here in populated areas near peoples houses or such, there are walls built to reduce the amount of sound coming from our divided highways(Interstates or freeways), I just didn't see anything like that near the tracks, I did see a lot of trees, a real contrast to Southern California as a whole. Some people have said in the past that fast trains are noisy, this is based on their experience with slow freight trains. Some assume wrongly that a slow train is noisy, so a faster train must be noisier still, even though they've never heard an HSR train in their whole life, just slow trains, like in a freight yard, there is a small freight yard in Barstow CA.

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

Agreed Chris...

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

Public infrastructure services should not be run for private profit.

nationalise

Ah, yes, I remember it well.

John Major's Conservative government split up British Rail into a series of franchises 20 years ago.

All of which were required to compete against each other - even when there was only one physical pair of rails connecting two points in anything resembling a straight line.

John Major also issued the notorious - to me at any rate - "Passengers' Charter", which, it turned out, had very little to say about passengers, but was all about making the trains run on time (why does that ring a bell for a politician's aspiration?). So - if I arrived from London on a late-running Inter-City train (permitted lateness 10 minutes without penalty), I could be expected to miss the "connecting" (bah! - competing) local service (permitted lateness 5 minutes). Train home arrives on time - passenger arrives an hour later, on the next train.

Talking of 'permitted lateness' reminds me to mention the mass of legal contracts and lawyer-mediated penalty payments for delays, when one company's train was impeded by the action - or inaction - of some other company in what we must laughingly call the "national infrastructure". In searching for the original national version of the passengers' charter (now every company has their own competing one), I fell over this glorious list of Delay Attribution Codes which the lawyers use to decide who pays what to whom. I particularly liked:

FG Driver adhering to company professional driving standards or policy

MMmm, I didn't see the rescue, just a train cruising thru Bernie.

It's actually two trains coupled together. About half-way through is the engine for the broke train, followed by its cars. (Had to watch it several times, either YouTube or my Internet feed were being fussy today).

Yes it was really for train buffs, Donald is right. The Lake Shore comes through first with 11 coaches then loco number 12 (the one with the problem)and the Capitol Ltd are on the rear.

Interesting to train buffs possibly not to anyone else.

That was interesting, to me.

Did you happen to see 49 today? It was supposed to have engines 42 and 406. Those would be the "Honoring Our Veterans" and the 40th anniversary F40PH (which I believe is now just a HEP cab car with no traction motors).

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David
Sitting on my butt while others boldly go,
Waiting for a message from a small furry creature from Alpha Centauri.

I watched a video on Youtube of Amtraks Acela(3:38:52 or 3 hours, 38 mins, and 52 seconds long in HD, YBW), Amtrak does need to update the track, bridges and catenary on that line in the NEC(not all track in the NEC is owned by Amtrak, some is owned by transit agencies and Amtrak is a Tenant), this was from Boston MA to Penn Station in NY, early on the guy showed the speed the train was going, the highest speed? 152 mph, since this was an express there weren't a whole lot of stops, speeds did drop the closer the train got to New York of course, the main tracks looked well maintained, people had their laptops out and were surfing the web or were doing other tasks, the train went thru Rhode Island and Connecticut on its way to New York. If the train had been noisy I'd have expected sound walls like is out here along the Freeway(Interstate Highway to everyone else), but not one was seen, also No Train Horn was sounded either(No street crossings), lots of building, more trees than one would ever see in Southern California(it's like they go on Forever), a marsh, but no sound walls... Must not be terribly noisy...

I believe MBTA (Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority) owns the track out of South Station as far as they operate commuter trains, but Amtrak dispatches it. (I could be wrong, Amtrak may own it.) Amtrak owns from there to New Haven, CT (with a couple of other commuter agencies as tenants). This entire territory has only had electric catenary since the late 90s; the old New Haven RR never electrified east of New Haven. Along with installing the electrification, Amtrak straightened out quite a bit of curvature, several full circles' worth. This is the only area where Acela Express can go 150, and only for a few miles.

Metro North Commuter Railroad (jointly owned by the states of New York and Connecticut) owns and dispatches from New Haven to Grand Central Terminal in New York. MNCR limits all trains to 90 MPH. At New Rochelle, Amtrak's line splits off to cross the Hell Gate Bridge into Queens, pass their Sunnyside Yard, and enter the East River tunnels to Penn Station. Long Island RR is a tenant into Penn, and New Jersey Transit is also a tenant to deadhead trains to their portion of Sunnyside.

West of Penn, Amtrak owns the line all the way to Washington, with various transit agency tenants. Acela is allowed 135 in certain places, the limiting factor being the antiquated catenary system. Replace that and they could go 160.

NJT runs a really complex web of trains, some of which enter Manhattan and some which terminate at Newark or Hoboken. Part of what determines this is that some of their lines aren't electrified all the way to the end, but diesels aren't allowed in Penn.

I don't even pretend to understand the Philadelphia commuter system.

MARC runs on Amtrak and other lines, serving both Baltimore and Washington.

Virignia Railway Express serves that state into Washington on multiple lines.

---

David
Sitting on my butt while others boldly go,
Waiting for a message from a small furry creature from Alpha Centauri.

Did you guys ever hear Douglas Adams' story of how he came up with the part of Hitchhiker's with the spaceliner waiting for the lemon soaked paper napkins?

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David
Sitting on my butt while others boldly go,
Waiting for a message from a small furry creature from Alpha Centauri.

I watched a video on Youtube of Amtraks Acela(3:38:52 or 3 hours, 38 mins, and 52 seconds long in HD, YBW), Amtrak does need to update the track, bridges and catenary on that line in the NEC(not all track in the NEC is owned by Amtrak, some is owned by transit agencies and Amtrak is a Tenant), this was from Boston MA to Penn Station in NY, early on the guy showed the speed the train was going, the highest speed? 152 mph, since this was an express there weren't a whole lot of stops, speeds did drop the closer the train got to New York of course, the main tracks looked well maintained, people had their laptops out and were surfing the web or were doing other tasks, the train went thru Rhode Island and Connecticut on its way to New York. If the train had been noisy I'd have expected sound walls like is out here along the Freeway(Interstate Highway to everyone else), but not one was seen, also No Train Horn was sounded either(No street crossings), lots of building, more trees than one would ever see in Southern California(it's like they go on Forever), a marsh, but no sound walls... Must not be terribly noisy...

I believe MBTA (Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority) owns the track out of South Station as far as they operate commuter trains, but Amtrak dispatches it. (I could be wrong, Amtrak may own it.) Amtrak owns from there to New Haven, CT (with a couple of other commuter agencies as tenants). This entire territory has only had electric catenary since the late 90s; the old New Haven RR never electrified east of New Haven. Along with installing the electrification, Amtrak straightened out quite a bit of curvature, several full circles' worth. This is the only area where Acela Express can go 150, and only for a few miles.

Metro North Commuter Railroad (jointly owned by the states of New York and Connecticut) owns and dispatches from New Haven to Grand Central Terminal in New York. MNCR limits all trains to 90 MPH. At New Rochelle, Amtrak's line splits off to cross the Hell Gate Bridge into Queens, pass their Sunnyside Yard, and enter the East River tunnels to Penn Station. Long Island RR is a tenant into Penn, and New Jersey Transit is also a tenant to deadhead trains to their portion of Sunnyside.

West of Penn, Amtrak owns the line all the way to Washington, with various transit agency tenants. Acela is allowed 135 in certain places, the limiting factor being the antiquated catenary system. Replace that and they could go 160.

NJT runs a really complex web of trains, some of which enter Manhattan and some which terminate at Newark or Hoboken. Part of what determines this is that some of their lines aren't electrified all the way to the end, but diesels aren't allowed in Penn.

I don't even pretend to understand the Philadelphia commuter system.

MARC runs on Amtrak and other lines, serving both Baltimore and Washington.

Virignia Railway Express serves that state into Washington on multiple lines.

That's neat David.

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

Did you guys ever hear Douglas Adams' story of how he came up with the part of Hitchhiker's with the spaceliner waiting for the lemon soaked paper napkins?

No, can't say I ever have, David. Do tell!

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Did you happen to see 49 today? It was supposed to have engines 42 and 406. Those would be the "Honoring Our Veterans" and the 40th anniversary F40PH (which I believe is now just a HEP cab car with no traction motors).

Indeed I did!

Passing Chesterton IN



Turning on the wye at Chicago



Later 42 took the 393 to Carbondale via, of course the airline.

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I watched a video on Youtube of Amtraks Acela(3:38:52 or 3 hours, 38 mins, and 52 seconds long in HD, YBW)

I watched that also. Good grins, thanks for the link!

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I watched a video on Youtube of Amtraks Acela(3:38:52 or 3 hours, 38 mins, and 52 seconds long in HD, YBW)

I watched that also. Good grins, thanks for the link!

You're welcome Jimbocous, neat icon, does it come with racing stripes? Dang that's a lot of trees, if one is from Southern California, that's a lot of trees, more than you'd see around this end of CA.

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

Travel in a high speed train is certainly something else - they are very smooth, and often the only hint of the speed is when on or alongside a "conventional" track you hurtle past a conventional fast train going in the same direction (never mind the blur of another high speed train going in the other direction).
I would certainly suggest - if you can do get a ride on a high speed train, you won't regret it.

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Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

You're welcome Jimbocous, neat icon, does it come with racing stripes? Dang that's a lot of trees, if one is from Southern California, that's a lot of trees, more than you'd see around this end of CA.

Well, I'd seen half-assed before, but never half-horsed, so I had to adopt the poor thing when I stumbled across it :)
Jim ...

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Travel in a high speed train is certainly something else - they are very smooth, and often the only hint of the speed is when on or alongside a "conventional" track you hurtle past a conventional fast train going in the same direction (never mind the blur of another high speed train going in the other direction).
I would certainly suggest - if you can do get a ride on a high speed train, you won't regret it.

The unusual thing is that, riding a high-speed train on a dedicated high speed track, you barely notice the lateral curves: even without a tilting trainset, they can cant the track to suit the prevailing speed of the high speed trains. But there's nothing the track can do to hide the vertical accelerations as you meet hills and valleys. Those trains are so powerful that the track designers don't even attempt to avoid gradients, and you can feel them with your posterior, like an aircraft taking off.

Did you guys ever hear Douglas Adams' story of how he came up with the part of Hitchhiker's with the spaceliner waiting for the lemon soaked paper napkins?

No, can't say I ever have, David. Do tell!

One day, he had a meeting in London in the morning and another meeting somewhere else at noon, and the only way to make it was to fly. It was only 20 minutes faster than the train, but those 20 minutes mattered in this case. He got on the plane, and then it was held for an hour because they were out of biscuits or something. He wasn't the only one who missed a meeting because of it, but he figured he was probably the only one who got a good comedy bit out of it.

---

David
Sitting on my butt while others boldly go,
Waiting for a message from a small furry creature from Alpha Centauri.

Travel in a high speed train is certainly something else - they are very smooth, and often the only hint of the speed is when on or alongside a "conventional" track you hurtle past a conventional fast train going in the same direction (never mind the blur of another high speed train going in the other direction).
I would certainly suggest - if you can do get a ride on a high speed train, you won't regret it.

The unusual thing is that, riding a high-speed train on a dedicated high speed track, you barely notice the lateral curves: even without a tilting trainset, they can cant the track to suit the prevailing speed of the high speed trains. But there's nothing the track can do to hide the vertical accelerations as you meet hills and valleys. Those trains are so powerful that the track designers don't even attempt to avoid gradients, and you can feel them with your posterior, like an aircraft taking off.

Tilting is mainly for trains that go faster than other trains on the same track, which are the ones the track is canted for.

---

David
Sitting on my butt while others boldly go,
Waiting for a message from a small furry creature from Alpha Centauri.

Travel in a high speed train is certainly something else - they are very smooth, and often the only hint of the speed is when on or alongside a "conventional" track you hurtle past a conventional fast train going in the same direction (never mind the blur of another high speed train going in the other direction).
I would certainly suggest - if you can do get a ride on a high speed train, you won't regret it.

The impression I get when I see an HSR train pass another HSR train is this:

zip, zip, zip, zip, zip, zip, zip...

According to Dan Richards(He works for the CHSRA) it will be $85 from LA to SF(or vice versa), which is supposed to be 85% of what SouthWest charges for a flight.

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

Just a quick pic so perhaps if David sees it he can tell me where this might have been headed and why. Came through Chesterton heading West.

AMTRAK 315-060315 by Bernie.Vine, on Flickr

Looks a lot like Amtrak F40PH 315 and it has definitely seen better days!!

It even has "do not fuel" written on the tank!

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Sold, and being shipped to a yard for refurb and later freight service?

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Donald
Infernal Optimist / Submariner, retired

Just a quick pic so perhaps if David sees it he can tell me where this might have been headed and why. Came through Chesterton heading West.

AMTRAK 315-060315 by Bernie.Vine, on Flickr

Looks a lot like Amtrak F40PH 315 and it has definitely seen better days!!

It even has "do not fuel" written on the tank!

Western Rail, Inc. The X indicates that the owner is not an actual railroad.

Here are some pictures of another F40 they own. Notice that the nose has been cut back so there's a front platform to work from.

WRIX is in Washington state, so it's probably headed there for rebuild and a nose job. As I think I mentioned recently, an F40 is basically a GP40-2 in a boxy body. Remove the HEP generator and there's no appreciable difference. Maybe change the gear ratio between the motors and axles.

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David
Sitting on my butt while others boldly go,
Waiting for a message from a small furry creature from Alpha Centauri.