Cascades Commuter train and Push-Pull

Southern Oregonian Feb 27, 2011

  1. Southern Oregonian

    Southern Oregonian TrainBoard Member

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    Yep, 504 up and 507 back.
     
  2. Southern Oregonian

    Southern Oregonian TrainBoard Member

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    Ok, we made it to and from my in-laws in one piece and on time. Rail photos are harder when your ON the train it seems but my wife and I tried our best. From Eugene to Portland our Train was pushed by a GE P42DC and not a EMD F59PHI. Size wise the consist looked really over powered. We did our best with the dirty window we had so be gentile with comments if you choose to look at the other pics. I also uploaded a few of the photos my wife got of the back side-rail facing end of The ORHF's new Museum. On the dark ride home we did have a F59 and arrived 20 min early. Both trips where great and the ride was much much better on me then the drive would have been plus in my opinion, The Cascades Talgos is much more comfortable and has a better ride then the Superliners.

    I have a few more pics, but the max for posting is 4 :( I also uploaded a few pics I've been meaning to add of a very strange Costal Starlight we stumbled across on a walk downtown (Amtrak California led with a P42, and a Dash 8?).



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    Cornering coming into Portland
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    In Portland
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    What's Supposed to power the Cascades, a EMD F59PHI
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    Departing in Portland. I wanted to get the people departing so people can see how short Talgos really are.

     
  3. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Is this view just after crossing the bridge? If so, things appear to have changed a lot since my last visit. I suppose the old tower south of the station is long gone.

     
  4. Southern Oregonian

    Southern Oregonian TrainBoard Member

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    Nope, that's one of the bends leading to the junction just before The Steel Bridge before you cross it on the East Side.

    Fun thing I did notice however was the construction of new townhouses at 'The Yards At Union Station.' They're right next to the Steel Bridge and NW Natio pkw. Having lived in the Yard's normal apartments I can say that even at 200ft away from the rails and on the 3rd floor, idle locomotives are very noisy and long freight trains that keep changing speed as they cross the bridge at 3 am create the eeriest banging doppler effect.
     
  5. PnP Hobbies

    PnP Hobbies TrainBoard Member

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    N-Scale Cascades Update

    2012-08-18_23-18-33_843.jpg 2012-08-18_23-18-56_178.jpg DSC_0494.jpg 2012-08-18_23-21-02_556.jpg pnplogo-small.jpg

    Just an update and photo's To answer mariuszjj question on what paint I used, I was able to get the DuPont paint codes from Talgo (of Seattle), after doing a HO scale project for them. These photo's are in N-Scale. As far as the update to the wings. (Other than they are a pain) I was able fo make a master set and have them off to a friend to cast them.

    More Pics to come later. ENJOY
     
  6. Southern Oregonian

    Southern Oregonian TrainBoard Member

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    Cool cool. You only doing a master set in N scale then? I had to ride the Cascades again on friday and I'm getting some conflicting information. Seems the New ODOT Talgos might be stored until 2017!?! I was also told by the crew that the Mater from Cars looking Control Cab won't even be used?
     
  7. Southern Oregonian

    Southern Oregonian TrainBoard Member

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    I was going through my older posts and i'm not afraid to say I was wrong. After looking into the Cascades operation I can say that 1, the Cascades are serviced in Washington by Amtrak, not California I said, 2 ODOT, WSDOT, and Amtrak run the line as a partnership, and 3, there is a "pool" of locos for the Cascades according to WSDOT and ODOT. I also learned that the Cascades made $30 million dollars last year but is still 30% subsidized....
     
  8. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Other operations do far worse. This isn't too bad, as modern passenger operations are today. The population growth along that corridor is certainly good enough to support this train, so maybe the break even will come- Sooner, rather than later.

    I sure want to ride it one of these days.
     
  9. Southern Oregonian

    Southern Oregonian TrainBoard Member

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    A little something in the possible works...

    http://registerguard.com/web/news/c.../rail-eugene-passenger-valley-oregon.html.csp

    I will say though that with the strange freezing fog we've had the train beats the car. That and last friday we left on it before the sun was up and came home after it set. Sort of makes me wonder if they drive it at 79mph more in hope then anything else since visibility was around 20 yards. I also watched them rotate the seats. Didn't know they did that. ;)
     
  10. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Is the old OE right of way laid out such that speeds of modern equipment could exceed 79mph? On a quick map things look plenty straight, but on the actual ground?
     
  11. Southern Oregonian

    Southern Oregonian TrainBoard Member

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    From what I've seen of it the old OE line follows the UP line in several places. They even cross the Willamette at the same points, but I think the Talgos can do 124mph, and since they lean we might be able to use the OE the same way the UK uses high speed rail on a victorian era system but I don't know about the locos. I know the UK system has electric locos that lean with the consist. I think the biggest hurdle to overcome would be replacing the old sectional rail with contentious rail. There are sections on the UP line that make walking interesting.

    As for riding it, yeah, it's unlike any train I've rode. From the pics I've seen of the Amfleet, their more spacious, compared to the Superliners their more stable, and compared to the bi-level Bombardiers, they feel safer and huge on the inside.
     
  12. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Keep us posted on what happens with this latest proposal. How communities along the old OE react, etc. Should be interesting, if pushed forward.
     
  13. Southern Oregonian

    Southern Oregonian TrainBoard Member

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    I'll do my best, but from what I've heard and seen, this is still in the maybe phase. I was hearing about "PNW High Speed Rail!" in 2003, so I'll believe it when they've finished construction. And not that I don't have faith in ODOT, but The Beverly Bridge (about 15-20 yards long) took something like 7-8 years to complete and was over budget, and the Eddyville bypass was started, is being demolished, and restarted due to "problems," and what was a few million dollars is now going to cost several hundred million when it's all over.
     
  14. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Wow. Not good to read of such fumblings. :(
     
  15. Southern Oregonian

    Southern Oregonian TrainBoard Member

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  16. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Visual appearance in that photo reminds me of designs roughly from the 1950's. Such as the unit Ingalls built for GM&O.
     
  17. Hytec

    Hytec TrainBoard Member

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    [​IMG]
     
  18. JNXT 7707

    JNXT 7707 TrainBoard Member

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    Oregonian - I'm a bit late to this thread, but sounds like a great project. I saw the Cascades train this past May while we were waiting to board the Empire Builder at the Portland Amtrak station. I had never seen a talgo train up close before, it was very cool.
     
  19. Southern Oregonian

    Southern Oregonian TrainBoard Member

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    Cool, I've never seen or heard of that loco before.

    It's cool isn't it? We ride it fairly regularly because I hate driving in Portland and Union Station is downtown. I've never seen a Amfleet car, but I think the Talgos are much smaller and shorter. It's a fun ride and despite the controversy, the F40PH is a control cab with a slab of cement in place of the prime mover so it can't be converted to a Cabbage. I believe that 2 or 3 of the consists are operating under a FRA waver (hence the reason for the special Cab unit). The new ODOT sets are FRA Compliant.

    They're safe so long as the engineer doesn't fly into a corner at 2-3 times the speed limit slamming cars into a cement retainer wall. I prefer them to the Superliners and bilevel Bombardier cars myself. I don't feel safe on the Bombardiers UTA uses for some reason.
     
  20. Southern Oregonian

    Southern Oregonian TrainBoard Member

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    I got to ride the current Cascades again today. The new ones will be coming into rotation after the check clears and the last tests are over, so sometime next month according to the Amtrak ticket clerk.

    Quick question, are the F59PHIs unreliable? I ask because the last 3 times we've rode the Cascades (round trip) 1 consist has always had a P42/AMD 103 subbing for the F59PHI. Today was a little stranger though. A Dash 8 was subbing for the F40PH cab unit on one, another was powered by a P42/AMD 103, and the best one of all, the 508 was pushed out by a well worn P42/AMD 103 behind what I think was a dead F59PHI. Well, at least the F59PHI wasn't making a lot of noise, but the 42 was.

    Oh yeah, heritage unit 156 was in Portland today too.
     

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