Ok... I know the serious modeler...the rivet counters...the purist...the proto guys etc etc are about to faint...but... I was out running my trains. Sitting there enjoying them running. I got to thinking about this thread and what I had said earlier on up. So I grabbed my Bachmann DD40AX and an old passenger car shell and went to work. The long hood on the Bachmann pops right off. Only had to cut the very end of the passenger shell off. I left the sill on the Backmann...and the passenger shell slipped right over everything !!! Too easy !! I call it a FPT..."Frankenstein Passenger Thingy" Disclaimer: The FPT shell comes right off and the DD40AX shell snaps right back on. No locomotive was hurt in the making of this "thingy" LOL For those with a sense of humor....enjoy. :teeth:
Welll...what looks like a big fuel tank down there is actually a water tank for the people inside who get thirsty from pedaling ! Nobody rides for free....LMAO!!!
http://www.alaskarails.org/fp/passenger/751/ Guess you have to find the beauty in its functionality. But jeezzz she sure is ugly on the outside IMHO. Hope it's more reliable than the old RDCs. Brian
The car leaves me with questions about operation. How does that high profile do in high wind situation especially crosswinds? What about fuel economy which is a big thing nowadays? That blunt profile would seem to take a bit more fuel to push it along when everything nowadays is geared toward getting the most mileage out of a gallon. And then there are the east coast corridor bottlenecks where low clearance issues still plague certain sections for both freight and passenger equipment. Somehow I see this car type as strictly a west coast operation and even there some possible restrictions. I also wonder if they managed to get the center of gravity low enough to not require reduce speed in areas of track curvature. Unique looking car though and a modeling challenge.
I think the goal was to reduce the total amount of steel hurling down the track while maximizing the passenger load. Lot of trade offs but I believe the resulting compromises seem to meet the requirements. The photo above was taken at the test track in Pueblo Colorado. It appears to be going around a tight curve at high speed, therefore the leaning. It does appear to be a little higher than other double level cars that Colorado Railcar built but I have not heard of any of them tipping over in high wind situations yet.
If you READ the article in TRAINS, you'll find out that it's no longer being used as a self-propelled car, it's a cab car. Makes perfect sense. I'm not sure than any of the self-propelled cars they built are still being operated as self-propelled, there weren't that many to begin with and they've had 'issues'. I had the opportunity to get under the single-level DMU when CRC was barnstorming it and studied the design. It was probably OK in concept, but I certainly didn't consider it the equal of an RDC drive. When it was barnstorming the east it was never connected in, either, it ran strictly as a trailer. It reminded me of a beefed-up hydraulic tractor drive more than a railroad application. The Rader/CRC bilevel cars are high, period, and although they look unwieldy I've never heard anything about that being a design problem except for the EXCEPTIONALLY tight clearances they discovered in the Whittier tunnel.
Although described as one in the title, this is not a DMU but simply a cab car with a safer redesigned cab end(The Alaska RR unit, however, is a DMU).
I was wondering about that myself and thought that looked like a cab car. I couldn't see where the prime mover and fuel tanks went if there was passenger space on the lower level.
Yea....not being a 'passenger train' kinda guy (I'm a freight hauler) I just find any single self propelled passenger car odd but interesting. The designations escape me and I appologize for my ignorance on the subject. I have been reading more on the subject the last few days. Although I dont see myself ever crossing over to the dark side (passenger service) Its still interesting ;-)
A gas-electric wouldn't be a DMU because the D stands for diesel, so I guess it would be a GMU. Anuyway, there is an important distinction between a DMU and a doodlebug type of rail car. Doodlebugs were meant to be operated individually, they may pull unpowered rail cars, but you wouldn't typically see multiple doodlebugs operating in a single consist. DMUs are designed to operate in multiple unit consists(Diesel Multiple Unit), all being controlled by one set of controls.
Some of these things are starting to look like what happens when a bus marries an RV, and they have a child.
Until the significant other decides that passenger trains are cute. If you are lucky maybe you can talk her into a single RDC.
Oh noooooo...she has her ONE excursion train...thats it. She may be the CFO...but I have the keys to the RV....lmao.
Many gas - electrics were converted to oil (diesel) before they went the way of the dinosaurs, largely because of how dangerous the gas motors were. Many reports were filed about these cars catching fire, which made the switch to oil (diesel) an insanely obvious move. Don't know if GMU would be appropriate since none that I know of were ever equipped with m.u.
Actually, the rivet counters don't give a rat's weenie what the rivet ignorers do. However, this is PERFECT, placed with complete contiguity on that shiny, totally non-prototyptical Unitrack. They really compliment each other! The perfect setting!!! Verrrry funny! Thanks for the belly laugh!:teeth: Cheerio! Bob Gilmore, a confirmed rivet counter and having a LOT of fun!
Well, I just asked a friend who works on ARR. Sent the pic and he was surprised that I had a pic. He said that the DMU is only a cabcar because it is unable to power itself up the 3% grade. That is crazy lookin thing, but yet charming in an odd way.. Do they serve tea ?? Sent from my Commando
