Train of the Week

We are back to talking about more trains this week! Remember the Stadler FLIRT from a few weeks ago? Well, now that Stadler’s done some flirting, time for some KISS (the Swiss do love their trains eh). So this time, KISS is actually acronym for a bunch of German railroad terms, Komfortabler Innovativer Spurtstarker S-Bahn-Zug, for the Zurich S-Bahn or commuter rail. Similar to the FLIRT, the KISS is an EMU with very few powered axles. In her case, the 8 axles on each end of the train (i.e. cab cars) are powered in a 6 car consist (i.e. M-4T-M). The interior of the KISS is design for high density loading (in fact, a designed capacity of 1,694 passengers per 6-car consist) with lots of standing space, the EMU also has multi-functional storage areas for strollers, bicycles, etc. The KISS was first built in 2008 and entered service in 2011 with a top speed of 99 mph. The SBB (Swiss Federal Railways) ordered a total of 74 sets for the Zurich S-Bahn and regional services to Geneva, Schaf...

Since I posted a whole bunch of pictures of the TriMet MAX LRT System, it’s only natural to talk about one of those beautiful looking LRVs this week. I guess let’s talk about the newer one, the Siemens S70 (you are encouraged to Google around the older types, Siemens SD660 and the unknown Bombardier). The S70 is a modular low-floor LRV and is known as the Avanto in Europe. The S70 can be made up with multiple articulated sections. The connecting sections rest on unpowered trucks and still provide low-floor access to the rest of the car. San Diego Metropolitan Transit System And of course, TriMet MAX LRT Avanto for Paris, France Current users of the S70/Avanto include Houston, Minneapolis, San Diego, Charlotte, Portland, Norfolk, Salt Lake City, Atlanta, Paris (France), and Mulhouse (France). For the techy readers, technical information of several variants of the S70 in North American can be found here .

Hello everyone. So this was the other half of my little weekend trip, where I spent approximately 36 hours in the wonderful city of Portland, Oregon . To sum the city up, it's got an awesome downtown, lots of bridges, intercity rail service, and an amazing LRT and streetcar system. Enjoy these pictures.

And of course by road I meant railroad. I took a little weekend trip to the beautiful city of Portland, Oregon. Had to drive a few hours to get to the town of Shelby, Montana to board the Empire Builder and then it was nonstop fun for 2 and a half days. I hope you like these photos and I'll post photos from Portland another week (absolutely love their tram system).

The FLIRT is a popular regional trainset built by Swiss firm Stadler Rail . FLIRT stands for Fast Light Innovative Regional Train. She is an articulated electric multiple unit, with all intermediate cars, or sections, sharing a single Jacobs bogie at either end. Unlike other EMUs, the FLIRT has very few powered bogies. In fact, a 4-section FLIRT only has two powered bogies at either end of the train (2-section trains have 1 at one end, and longer trains may have an optional 3rd). Each powered bogie provides 1,340 tractive horsepower and depending on configuration, the FLIRT can have a top speed of 75 to 125 mph. Though most operators ordered the intermediate 100 mph FLIRT. Swiss Federal Railways FLIRT Norwegian State Railways FLIRT The FLIRT was first built in 2004 and hundreds of sets were ordered from operators in more than 10 different countries since then.