Re: Half-a**ed-article on the errors of BART Technology
Author: fkrock
Date: 03-29-2016 - 09:04
Dr Zarkoff Wrote:
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> A long time ago I compared the weights in pounds
> per foot of a BART car with the SP red electrics.
> As I recall, the trailers were only slightly
> heavier than the BART stuff, but the motors were a
> lot heavier owing to the massive weight of the
> electrical gear. The SP cars were all steel of
> course, and the BART cars are all aluminum. Still,
> all in all, the SP cars were exceptionally light
> in lbs/ft for their day. The orange NWP
> counterparts to the SP red electrics were also
> steel, except for the roofs which were aluminum.
Yes, the SP red electric cars were very light weight at the time they were built. But they were delivered with a money back guarantee by the manufacturer that if they were not satisfactory they would be replaced by heavier cars. They gave so many problems because of flimsy construction that some SP officials wanted to replace them but it never happened. Details can be found in Robert Ford's book "Red Trains in the East Bay."