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Re: New Bart Cars found to be too heavy
Author: Margaret (SP fan)
Date: 02-22-2017 - 13:22
BART's top speed back in the 1970s was definitely 80.
I know because my boys and I rode BART for fun every
so often on weekends all over its system, and loved
to walk up to the operators compartment and look through
the large window in the door and watch the large red numbers
of the digital speedometer as they changed, as well as the
other read-outs. It always went up to 80 when stations were
far enough apart.
The cars were clean and those large seats were very
comfortable and the upholstery was very attractive.
I heard that BART later dropped it maximum speed to 70
because going faster caused problems of some sort.
(FWIW -- I always thought the original A cars looked kind
of like caterpillars! It is really, really very
much too bad that a complete A car was not saved. Yes, I
know that the Bay Area Electric Railway Association does
have the front end of an A car, but for some reason they
never got a whole car. A real shame. No, they could never
have operated irt, but I very much wish tyey had gotten one.)
Thank you, Dr. Zarkoff, for telling us the true story about
exactly how fast BART can go. 110!! -- Wow!! Now, there
were a number of steam locomotives that supposedly went
faster than 110 -- the Milwaukee Road Hudsons ("F-7s"), and
]maybe the UP's 800s, and others, but the only reliably
documented time any steam locomotive went really, really
FAST was the famous time when the "Mallard" went 126 mph.
(FWIW, a now-deceased friend who was an active member of the
GGRM when we were at Humter's Point had been a Milwaukee
Road fireman in the later steam era out of Chicago. He fired
their high- drivered (84-inch) F-7s, and he said his "personal
best" (top speed) was 127.6 mph! No, that was never officially
verified, and was from timing mileposts. He did say it did
take them 15 miles to get up to past 100 mph, and that there
was a 100 mph speed restriction at the crossover with the
Eljin Joliet & Eastern RR. FWIW, there are stories that many
of the 84-inch-drivered Hudsons and Atlantics often went
faster than 120 mph. Again -- none of those speeds were ever
offically verified, but that is what the engine crews said.
synonymouse --
99-100-101 mph?? WOW!! You were soooo lucky to have experienced
that!
Thaks, everyone, for all the fascinating info!
I know because my boys and I rode BART for fun every
so often on weekends all over its system, and loved
to walk up to the operators compartment and look through
the large window in the door and watch the large red numbers
of the digital speedometer as they changed, as well as the
other read-outs. It always went up to 80 when stations were
far enough apart.
The cars were clean and those large seats were very
comfortable and the upholstery was very attractive.
I heard that BART later dropped it maximum speed to 70
because going faster caused problems of some sort.
(FWIW -- I always thought the original A cars looked kind
of like caterpillars!
much too bad that a complete A car was not saved. Yes, I
know that the Bay Area Electric Railway Association does
have the front end of an A car, but for some reason they
never got a whole car. A real shame. No, they could never
have operated irt, but I very much wish tyey had gotten one.)
Thank you, Dr. Zarkoff, for telling us the true story about
exactly how fast BART can go. 110!! -- Wow!! Now, there
were a number of steam locomotives that supposedly went
faster than 110 -- the Milwaukee Road Hudsons ("F-7s"), and
]maybe the UP's 800s, and others, but the only reliably
documented time any steam locomotive went really, really
FAST was the famous time when the "Mallard" went 126 mph.
(FWIW, a now-deceased friend who was an active member of the
GGRM when we were at Humter's Point had been a Milwaukee
Road fireman in the later steam era out of Chicago. He fired
their high- drivered (84-inch) F-7s, and he said his "personal
best" (top speed) was 127.6 mph! No, that was never officially
verified, and was from timing mileposts. He did say it did
take them 15 miles to get up to past 100 mph, and that there
was a 100 mph speed restriction at the crossover with the
Eljin Joliet & Eastern RR. FWIW, there are stories that many
of the 84-inch-drivered Hudsons and Atlantics often went
faster than 120 mph. Again -- none of those speeds were ever
offically verified, but that is what the engine crews said.
synonymouse --
99-100-101 mph?? WOW!! You were soooo lucky to have experienced
that!
Thaks, everyone, for all the fascinating info!
