Train of the Week

It has been a while since I've written about anything fast lately. Lately I've seen a picture of a new trainset being transported to Poland as I stumble around the web for train pictures. This trainset has proven to be quite popular among European countries and is known by many names. Developed by the former rail division of Fiat, now under Alstom of France, this class of trainsets is known by the manufacturer simply as the New Pendolino. Trenitalia ETR-600 Polish PKP ED250, brand new and shiny Now if there's a New Pendolino, there must have been an old one. There have been quite a few kinds of those too, the British Rail Class 390 and Finnish Sm3 are a couple of quick examples. A Pendolino is named so because of the fact that she is a tilting train (i.e. the body of the train tilts towards the center of the curve up to 8 degrees, which enables the train to be able to travel faster than non-tilt trains in windy territories). However there are exceptions, like th...

North America has always been at the forefront of diesel traction in railroad heavy haul freight service. Although not heaviest in tonnage and not fastest in speed, our freight railroad system is balanced with longevity, interchangeability, and most importantly, service affordability. Today though, I will write about a locomotive in a state-owned and operated heavy haul system where technological prominence is placed at a higher priority. The HXD1 is the first of the massive numbers of European electric locomotives China Railways has ordered in the early 2000s. Her primary assignment is the 10,000 tonne high speed coal trains on the Daqin Railroad . The looks of the HXD1 show traces of the EuroSprinter The HXD1 is an 8-axle electric locomotive with 2 permanently coupled sections. The locomotive is based on the Siemens EuroSprinter , and is built by Chinese manufacture CSR Zhuzhou under license. The HXD1 combines some of the best Europe and North America can offer. Wit...

Why not keep the SD40 theme of late going again. I like looking up different locomotives all over the world and have them turn up being something familiar. I guess it just goes to show that although we have a long way to catch to the rest of the world in passenger rail due to certain lifestyle choices, but we are still quite influential in the freight world of things. It’s indeed somewhat difficult to go around the world and not find American Locomotive Company and General Motors locomotives in one form or another. So the SD40 of this week is a derivation of the SD40-2, known as the British Rail Class 59, aka JT26CW-SS by EMD. She’s got a low and narrow car body with a control cab at each end. A 16-645E3C sits at heart. Purchased by Mendip Rail in 1984, the Class 59 was the first American locomotive and first privately owned locomotive to command freight trains on the British mainlines. The locomotive proved very effective and reliable, about 10 years after Mendip Rail’s order, Natio...

I'm gonna write about this CL class from the former Commonwealth Railways of Australia. It is a very interesting locomotive, especially to those of us in North America, where the legendary bulldog nose on the F and E Units can only be found in nostalgia. The CL Class, still in service today, is the latest General Motors locomotive to feature that beautiful, streamlined, and timeless nose design. Bulldog nose and porthole windows, what a classic design Mechanically, the CL Class was an General Motors SD40, with all the parts we knew and were familiar with, when it was first designed and manufactured in the late 1960s and early 1970s by Clyde Engineering of Australia. This class of locomotives was operated from coast to coast between Sydney and Perth, Adelaide and Darwin by Commonwealth Railways and its successor Australian National. On the side, I have a theory on why the CL class is named CL class. There is this other locomotive introduced in Australia by the Western Austra...

I forgot to post anything this week did I... Well I guess I'll share these couple of pictures that I'm semi-satisfied with... here's something at least. I took them last fall near this spot called Cranbrook in British Columbia.

As production and commission of the Siemens ACS-64 come to full swing, it is only appropriate that I write some more here about this important locomotive that brings North American passenger rail into a whole new era. What a beautiful looking thing For those still not familiar with this name, ACS-64 is the new workhorse of the Regional (name for the locomotive-hauled 125 mph intercity service) fleet on the Amtrak Northeast Corridor . Seventy of them all together, projected to be delivered by 2015, will effectively replace all other electric locomotives currently in use. The model number decodes into Amtrak Cities Sprinter and rather than horsepower, the number 64 denotes the locomotive’s maximum short-term rating of 6,400 kW. That is a whopping 8,660 good ol’ horses (and remember, this is a 4-axle locomotive, so one axle of the ACS-64 is more powerful than a GP38!). Like the AEM-7, the ACS-64 is a full fledge European locomotive that is build in America. The Cities Sprinter is b...

The continuous cuts in Canadian intercity passenger rail service did not hamper the livelihood of our grand train station in the heart of Toronto. With years of improvement in regional transit by the Government of Ontario, Toronto Union Station is once again a prosperous union passenger depot she is ought to be. 246 weekday commuter services see passengers on and off at Union Station. On average, the GO concourse sees over 200,000 people flooding through each day (in the very positive way). In conjunction with the TTC Union Subway Station, Toronto Union Station is the busiest transportation hub in Canada. In the late 2010s, with the announcement of the BigMove transit investment plan by the Government of Ontario, under the same heritage head house, Toronto Union Station will receive some long overdue revitalization. A new retail level underneath the current GO concourse and a new entrance on the south side will be added, a section of the train shed will be rebuilt with glass (d...