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Re: HEP & refrigerated containers
Author: Q
Date: 09-11-2008 - 12:49
Splittin' Hairs Again!
Call it HEP, or REP, or ITEP, or whatever, it doesn't matter. As long as it is there - somewhere.
Amtrak would probably be better off anyway if they had separate power cars. Then most any off the shelf locmotive would do, as long as it would attain 79 mph. No more special orders.
Or perhaps a power/baggage car at each end, or even power compartments somewhere midtrain would prove useful in facilitating en-route switching. HEP really screws that up - as you surely would notice if you ever were on a train that was switched somewhere. I was!
Since the electrical disconnects at each end of the car were apparently poorly thought out, all power (both circuits) to all occupied cars in a train must be killed before any electrical lines between the cars are handled. That should not have been necessary - and it makes things unnecessarily hard. That is one reason Amtrak is adverse to any enroute switching, which would have certainly improved passenger services.
For instance: repair their hundreds of dead cars, and they would have enough to drop and add in certain large cities where trains pass through in the middle of the night, much as Pullman used to do. Imagine boarding or disembarking at a reasonable hour, to be picked up later. Such places as Salt Lake City would greatly benefit - but HEP, as it is, gets in the way.
Call it HEP, or REP, or ITEP, or whatever, it doesn't matter. As long as it is there - somewhere.
Amtrak would probably be better off anyway if they had separate power cars. Then most any off the shelf locmotive would do, as long as it would attain 79 mph. No more special orders.
Or perhaps a power/baggage car at each end, or even power compartments somewhere midtrain would prove useful in facilitating en-route switching. HEP really screws that up - as you surely would notice if you ever were on a train that was switched somewhere. I was!
Since the electrical disconnects at each end of the car were apparently poorly thought out, all power (both circuits) to all occupied cars in a train must be killed before any electrical lines between the cars are handled. That should not have been necessary - and it makes things unnecessarily hard. That is one reason Amtrak is adverse to any enroute switching, which would have certainly improved passenger services.
For instance: repair their hundreds of dead cars, and they would have enough to drop and add in certain large cities where trains pass through in the middle of the night, much as Pullman used to do. Imagine boarding or disembarking at a reasonable hour, to be picked up later. Such places as Salt Lake City would greatly benefit - but HEP, as it is, gets in the way.
