railroad@ucbvax.ARPA (11/12/84)
From: Lee Moore <lee@rochester.arpa> Here is some of the articles that appeared on Usenet in the last couple months. =lee From: parnass@ihuxf.UUCP (Bob Parnass, AJ9S) Subject: Re: IL Railway Museum scanner freqs - (nf) Date: Thu, 21-Jun-84 03:37:34 EDT Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Naperville, IL > How does one get *all* RR radio frequencies? from the FCC? ICC? From the: US Dept of Commerce, National Technical Information Service (NTIS) 5285 Port Royal Rd. Springfield, VA 22161 tel: (703)487-4807 Ask for a price list and description of the FCC Master Frequency family of microfiche products. > Can we start a discussion on the benefits of scanner radios, and > include points about various models, e.g. portable vs. non-portable, > programmable vs. fixed, relative performance, handor shoulder carrying, > mounting in cars, etc. This topic is being discussed in "net.ham-radio". -- ========================================================================== Bob Parnass, AT&T Bell Laboratories - ihnp4!ihuxf!parnass - (312)979-5414 From: burton@fortune.UUCP Subject: Re: Brighton Line (BMT, Brooklyn) Date: Thu, 21-Jun-84 15:06:59 EDT Sender: notes@fortune.UUCP Organization: Fortune Systems, Redwood City, CA Ed, I didn't forget the Culver line, originally built about 1875 by Andrew Culver. I went to school from Queens to the Bronx (Bx. H.S. of Science), and my age is shown since I recall the 10 cent fare. Any other Electric Railroaders' Association members on the net? Philip Burton 101 Twin Dolphin Drive-MS 133 Fortune Systems Redwood City, CA 94065 (415) 595-8444 x 526 - - - {ihnp4 [ucbvax | decvax!decwrl]!amd70 harpo hpda }!fortune!burton From: essachs@ihuxl.UUCP (Ed Sachs) Subject: Re: Brighton Line (BMT, Brooklyn) - (nf) Date: Fri, 22-Jun-84 15:09:31 EDT Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Naperville, IL ================================================================== Speaking of old surface right of way, the Culver line also had a surface right of way underneath it used by a freight railroad (the South Brooklyn Railroad, if memory serves me correctly), which ran from the docks in the Bush Terminal area (around 39th St) to Coney Island (the BMT Coney Island Shops). Along MacDonald Ave., the tracks were shared with trolley cars until about 1956 or so. The railroad at one time used steeple cab electric locomotives, operating either from third rail (they shared tracks with the subway for a short distance between 4th and 9th Aves) or trolley wire. It was later dieselized. Anyone know if it is still running? -- Ed Sachs AT&T Bell Laboratories Naperville, IL ihnp4!ihuxl!essachs From: wmartin@brl-tgr.ARPA (Will Martin ) Subject: Re: IL Railway Museum scanner freqs - (nf) Date: Fri, 22-Jun-84 09:56:15 EDT Organization: Ballistics Research Lab There is a commercial source for railroad frequency listings; a book by Tom Kneitel called RAIL-SCAN. The blurb on it claims that it is "the absolute largest compilation of railroad scanner frequencies ever published -- 4000 railroad-related listings". It is listed in the catalog of CRB Research (PO Box 56, Commack, NY 11725), at $7.95 (Item # RS). This catalog also has many other scanner and communications books, and some of the standard survivalist and "covert operations" books sold by many mail-order dealers. (Anybody ever notice that these books are always sold mail-order, and not in bookstores where you could look at them first? I believe it's because the sellers realize that if a customer gets a chance to scan through the book first, he'll realize it is not worth the $8.95 or whatever the book costs... Anyway, that refers to the "build your own submachinegun" books, not the scanner frequency lists, though they are probably overpriced, too.) Probably worth dropping them a postcard for the catalog, in any case. Will From: alex@sdcsvax.UUCP Subject: In Hoc Scamo Nollum Bunco (the L.A. subway scam) Date: Mon, 2-Jul-84 21:04:37 EDT Organization: Alex Pournelle @ UC San Diego; freelance writer Your tax dollars may go to pay for the sins of your fathers--specifically, the proposed L.A. "MetroRail". I've seen scams before, and this one smells of it. They're talking $200 million a mile to build a 14 mile (multiply by 1.61 to get Klicks) subway. I need not remind you thusiats that until the mid-60s L.A. had 1200+ miles of trolleys; you can thank GM for buying the Red Cars and giving the city buses (really--like the first dose of heroin). Instead of using the existing roads (most of which the city still owns, BTW), the RTD (SoCal Rapid Transit Dist., or Racing Toward Disaster) wants to start completely over with a combined heavy/light system. With their way of budgeting, the National Debt will double in size. Nope, I have no suggestions for stopping it. Except perhaps to nuke RTD HQ (not a bad idea). Did you know that L.A. still has a 13-mile subway tunnel, now stuffed with Hall of Records archives? They didn't even give us back Angel's Flight. (info from word-of-mouth and an excellent series by the L.A. Times) Yours for better mass transit on rails, Alex From: ntt@dciem.UUCP (Mark Brader) Subject: Re: Subways of US and Canada - further notes on Toronto system Date: Tue, 3-Jul-84 19:51:41 EDT Organization: NTT Systems Inc., Toronto, Canada > Toronto, Canada: Toronto Transit Commission (TTC). Population, 2.2 million. > Heavy rail, 4 foot 10 7/8 inch gauge, 34.1 miles in two lines, 59 stations, > 5.2 miles in tunnel. TTC also operates a light rail system. Construction > is under way on a 4.3 mile Scarborough Rapid Transit light rail line. > About 204 million riders a year. The writer appears to be distinguishing between "tunnel" meaning tube (bored) tunnel, and "subway" meaning cut-and-cover construction. Most of the TTC subway that isn't in "tunnel" IS in "subway"; about 8 or 9 miles are on the surface. The "light rail" or streetcar network is almost entirely located on the streets, sharing space with cars, and is the last such system in the continent (though some cities have small fractions of street trackage). There are 8 routes (most of the time) totalling about 50 miles, plus extra trackage on other streets used for diversions. The gauge is 4 foot 10 7/8 inches, same as the subway. It was made nonstandard to ensure that it would never be used for steam trains; then the subway was made the same so that parts of subway car bogies (trucks) could be maintained in streetcar shops. The fleet is a mix of PCCs (which are being retired) and CLRVs made by UTDC. Both use trolley poles rather than pantographs. This system is much more convenient where the routes intersect with trolleybuses! Why ever did San Francisco get pantographs? Was it the only way the cars they got came? The Scarborough system will use "intermediate capacity" articulated cars (or coupled pairs, perhaps), larger than streetcars, running on standard gauge track on a disused railway right-of-way. There was politics here. Toronto area readers may be interested to know that they can preview the new cars by going to Kennedy subway station any Saturday or Sunday from July 14* to the end of August -- I think the hours are 10 am to 4 pm. The cars will make a short out-and-back trip (no getting off). The route is scheduled to open sometime next year. *I'm not quite positive of this date, but I am almost positive. The complete TTC system (which includes about 120 bus and trolleybus routes as well as the subway and streetcars) has the best accident safety record of all transit systems in large (>1million) cities on the continent. A body called something like American Transit Assn. gives an annual award for this, and the TTC has won it for something like 12 of the last 15 years. The TTC has flat fares with free transfers over the entire system including subways. Tokens provide mechanical entrance to subway stations for full-fare passengers; a monthly unlimited travel pass is available and costs 53*fare. Experiments are now in progress with magnetic-stripe-reading gates; if these are successful pass users will gain mechanical entrances, but tokens will be replaced (boo!!) by striped, single-use cardboard tickets (as in Montreal). Mark Brader, TTC fan From: friedman@uiucdcs Subject: light rail (streetcar) systems Date: Thu, 5-Jul-84 13:40:00 EDT My own railroading interest started with an interest in streetcars, and that is still my primary interest. Who else out there is interested in streetcars? There are still a number of streetcar systems in the US and Canada, and the number is growing. Only one system retains the real, old fashioned type of vehicle, and that is New Orleans, whose cars date back to 1924. A number of other systems have been using the streamlined PCC streetcars, designed in the 1930s and 40s (the last of them were built in the US in the late 1940s, although they were manufactured in Europe later than that). More recently, several new streetcar systems have been built, only now, people feel the need for a modern term; "streetcar" or "trolley" just sounds too old fashioned, I guess. So the modern term, LRT (for light rail transit), has come into use. And the new cars are often called LRVs: light rail vehicles. The "Mass Transit" issue for June 1984 has a compilation of all the LRT systems, new and old, in the world. Here is an extract of information on US and Canadian light rail systems, using information from this article and other sources. Boston, Massachusetts: Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA). The Boston light rail system is 34.8 miles long, and carries about 100,000 passengers per weekday. There are 64 PCC cars and 139 Boeing LRVs in use. Parts of this system go back to 1897. Buffalo, New York: Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority. This system is expected to open in April 1985. It will be 6.4 miles long and will have 12 stations. Most of the system will be underground. Projected ridership is 45,000 daily by 1985. 27 LRVs are being built by Japan's Tokyu Car Corp. of Yokohama. Calgary, Alberta: Calgary Transit. This system began operation in 1981, and has 7.7 miles in service with another 6.4 miles under construction. It carries 40,000 passengers per weekday. The 30 LRV cars were built by Siemens-Duewag. Cleveland, Ohio: Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (RTA). This system began operation in 1920. The entire line was recently rebuilt from the railbed up, and the overhead system changed from trolley pole to support both trolley poles and pantographs. It operates 48 LRVs built by Breda (Italy) plus 20 PCCs on standby and 20 more in storage. At least some of the PCCs have been equipped with half-pantographs in place of trolley poles. The system in- cludes two lines, is 13.3 miles long, and averages 17,000 riders each weekday. Detroit, Michigan: Southeastern Metropolitan Transportation Authority (SEMTA). Detroit currently operates a short line with vintage trolleys over a 35 1/2 inch gauge track in the downtown area, more as a tourist attraction than a transit line; it opened in 1976. SEMTA is planning a new LRT system, to be about 15 miles long initially and open in 1990; it is projected to be about 52.5 miles long when completed. Edmonton, Alberta: Edmonton Transit. Edmonton's system is now 6.4 miles long, extended in 1981 and 1983 from an initial 4.5 miles that opened in 1978. There are 24 Diemens-Duewag LRTs serving 8 stations. Further extensions are planned. Ridership is about 20,000 per day. Ft. Worth, Texas: Tandy Corp. This privately-owned, 1.3 mile line connects a parking lot to a downtown shopping and office complex. It operates 8 rebuilt PCC cars. Newark, New Jersey: N. J. Transit. The Newark system, opened in 1935, runs 26 St. Louis Car Co. PCC cars over a 4.2 mile line carrying 10,000 passengers per weekday. The line begins in subway at the Pennsylvania Station basement in Newark, and leaves the subway for private right of way at grade level 1.6 miles from the Station. New Orleans, Louisiana: New Orleans Regional Transit Authority. This is a true streetcar line, running 35 cars built by Perley Thomas Car Co. of High Point, North Carolina (long since out of business) in 1924, over a line that opened as a suburban steam line in 1835 (making it the oldest operating street- car line in the world). In electrified form, the 6.5 mile line dates from 1893. It carries 21,000 riders per weekday. Gauge is 5 feet 2 1/2 inches. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA). This system opened in 1892 in electrified form, and still includes 95.6 miles of streetcar lines (10 routes). Average weekday ridership is 90,000. SEPTA runs 144 new Kawasaki-built LRVs and 145 PCCs, with 164 more LRVs on order from Kawasaki. 112 PCCs are being extensively rebuilt. Gauge is 5 feet 2 1/2 inches. Pittsburg, Pennsylvania: Port Authority of Allegheny County (PAT). This system is being rebuilt from a 22.5 mile remnant of the old streetcar system, opened in electric form in 1891. The first 2.8 miles of a 10.5 mile rebuilt line were opened April 15, 1984. The reconstruction includes a 1.1 mile down- town subway, expected to open next November. 45 of the present 90 PCC cars are being rebuilt (losing their trolley poles to half-pantographs, among other changes) to augment 55 new LRVs on order from Siemens-Duewag. Portland, Oregon: Tri-County Metropolitan Transit District (Tri-Met). This system is expected to open in mid 1986. It will be 15.1 miles long initially, and is projected to carry 42,000 passengers per weekday; a 15.5 mile extension is planned. 26 articulated cars are on order from Bombardier of Canada, which is supplying a Belgian design. Sacramento, California: Sacramento Regional Transit District. This 18.3 mile system is expected to open in spring of 1986. The 26 LRV cars are on order from Siemens-Allis (Atlanta, Georgia) for delivery between August 1985 and February 1986. They will be articulated, 80 feet long, seating 64 each, and will operate in trains of one to four cars at speeds up to 55 mph. Ridership is projected at 24,000 passengers per weekday. San Diego, California: Metropolitan Transit Development Board (MTDB). The 15.9 mile San Ysidro line, popularly known as the Tijuana Trolley, opened in 1981, and serves 14,000 riders per weekday. Ground was broken June 1, 1984 on a 4.5 mile second line, expected to open in April 1986, and to be extended to 17.3 miles. The 24 LRV cars were built by Siemens-Duewag; 6 more are on order for November 1985 delivery. San Francisco, California: San Francisco Municipal Railway (Muni). Everyone knows about the three famous cable car lines, which reopened June 21, 1984 after extensize rebuilding; the cable system could be considered light rail transit, I guess. Muni also operates a 5-route electric light rail system of 21.3 miles with 130 Boeing-built LRVs and 50 PCCs. Ridership is 162,000 per weekday. The section from old Twin Peaks Tunnel to downtown was moved from surface trackage to subway (a level above the BART subway) in 1981; the surface tracks to downtown remain, and have been used in recent years for weekend service [I don't know if that is still going on] and for tourist service using vintage electric streetcars, some borrowed from nearby railroad museums. San Jose, California: Santa Clara County Transportation Agency. Construction of a 21-mile light rail system is scheduled to begin in early 1985, with an opening date in 1987. 50 LRVs have been ordered from Urban Transportation Development Corp. (UTDC) of Canada, with delivery of the first car scheduled for early 1986. Seattle, Washington: Seattle Metro. Seattle opened a waterfront streetcar line in 1982, using 4 cars purchased from Melbourne, Australia. The line is 1.6 miles long and carries about 2,000 riders per weekday. Toronto, Canada: Toronto Transit Commission. Toronto's electric streetcar system opened in 1892. Currently, the system includes 8 routes, 45.6 miles, gauge 4 feet 10 7/8 inches. Cars include 110 PCCs and 190 CLRVs (Canadian LRVs) from UTDC, manufactured by Hawker Siddeley. Six CLRV prototype cars were built by S. I. G. of Switzerland. These cars are equipped with trolley poles. There is a 4.3 mile standard gauge extension (the Scarborough Rapid Transit) due to open in March 1985. ALRT (advanced LRT) cars for the Scarborough line are from UTDC; I think these are half-pantograph equipped. Vancouver, British Columbia: British Columbia Transit (BCT). This new 13.3 mile system is scheduled to open in early 1986; about 1 mile is underground. Average weekday ridership is projected at 100,000 by 1990. UTDC is to supply 114 ALRT cars, with delivery to be completed by late 1986. George Friedman From: friedman@uiucdcs.UUCP Subject: Re: Subways of US and Canada Date: Thu, 5-Jul-84 11:46:00 EDT Thanks to those who have sent corrections and additions to the list of subway systems I posted. I recently noticed two more systems that include at least some underground sections, and so should have been included. Neither is yet in operation. Buffalo, New York: Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority. This system is expected to open in April 1985. It will be 6.4 miles long and will have 12 stations. Most of the system will be underground. Projected ridership is 45,000 daily by 1985. 27 LRVs are being built by Japan's Tokyu Car Corp. of Yokohama. Vancouver, British Columbia: British Columbia Transit (BCT). This new 13.3 mile system is scheduled to open in early 1986; about 1 mile is underground. Population of the metropolitan area is about 1.2 million. Average weekday ridership is projected at 100,000 by 1990. UTDC is to supply 114 ALRT cars, with delivery to be completed by late 1986. From: friedman@uiucdcs.UUCP Subject: Re: Re: Subways of US and Canada - furth Date: Thu, 5-Jul-84 10:53:00 EDT Thanks to Mark Brader for the additional details on Toronto. My information is second hand. As to "tunnel" vs. "subway", I don't know; I would not have made such a distinction, but the information reported was supposedly supplied by TTC, and either they or Mass Transit could have used such a distinction without my realizing it. I would only quarrel with the statement that TTC's streetcar system is the last such on the continent. It is a very good one, and perhaps the most extensive surviving streetcar system. Mexico City also has a good one (I limited my article to USA and Canada, but Mexico is on this continent). And at least Philadelphia (10 routes) and San Francisco (5 routes) still include enough routes to merit the (subjective) noun "system" (as opposed to a one-route remnant, such as New Orleans) with significant amounts of street running. As to trolley poles vs. pantographs: I suspect that the real reason that trolley poles are going the way of the dinosaur, in favor of half-pantographs, is that a pantograph (or half) can't slip off the wire, as a trolley pole can. Junctions are also simpler, requiring no frog (that "thing" in the overhead that connects one wire from one direction to either of two from the other direction). I have seen a picture of an LRV of the San Francisco/Boston type (Boeing made) equipped with a trolley pole, but only for testing purposes on a system whose overhead at the time (I think it was Boston's) would not accept a pantograph. Obviously, if SF had wanted to, they could have used trolley poles on their LRVs, but I think the problem of losing the pole while in the subway probably made the difference. You're right, though, about the problem of crossing a pantograph line with a trolley coach dual-wire line; I can't think of any way to equip a TC with pantographs! I'm not sure of this, but I'll stick my neck out: I think SF may in fact have no such crossings. From: ntt@dciem.UUCP (Mark Brader) Subject: Reporting on Toronto's Scarborough Rapid Transit line Date: Wed, 18-Jul-84 11:38:27 EDT Organization: NTT Systems Inc., Toronto, Canada On Sunday I took one of the preview rides on the Scarborough RT line. Since then I've been failing to remember to bring along the brochures they handed out, but never mind, I will write this up from memory. This system has characteristics of both light and heavy rail transit and the working name before they settled on RT was ICTS - Intermediate Capacity Transit System. The tracks are on their own right-of-way, mostly on the surface beside a railway, plus some elevated route and a short tunnel section. The stations are spaced like subway stations and have high platforms. The trains are capable of running at 50 mph but service speed will be 43. The conversion from the originally planned line, running with streetcars but designed for eventual upgrade to subway, to ICTS, was supposed to cause a year and a half's delay in the opening, and the now-planned date is next spring, a further half year behind. As I said, there was politics here. The motors are *linear induction*; that is, coils fixed to the bottoms of the bogies (trucks) react with a flat, foot-wide aluminum strip set in the center of the track, called the "reaction rail". This, combined with welded track, makes for a very smooth and quite quiet ride. And the only moving part in the motor is the train itself, which should help with maintenance - but it also means that track maintenance is more critical. The motor can be used for braking, either regeneratively or by reversing; this is supplemented by disk brakes and in an emergency by track brakes. The power supply is 600 volts DC, same as the TTC's subways, streetcars, and trolleybuses. But it is delivered by *third and fourth rails* - no return current through the track. The live rails appear to be aluminum and they use the side-contact system...one is set a couple of inches above the other on the same side of the track. Above them is a protective cover which appears to be aluminum also. (The TTC subway uses a conventional top-contact third rail with return current through the track, and a wooden protective cover over it. Using an insulator for the cover seems more sensible to me.) So we have tracks consisting of, from top left to bottom right, a protective cover, two power rails, one running rail, one reaction rail, and the other running rail. (Running rails are set at standard gauge). But even that is not all... About four inches to each side of the reaction rail we see a black cable maybe a centimeter in diameter. These form a series of loops which are used for communication between the train and the computer controlling it. I was informed that the driver has to do nothing at all; I asked, "Not even push a go-button at stations?", and the reply was, "I don't think he has to." (Other automated systems such as London's Victoria line and BART have retained this requirement, I understand.) Manual control is also possible, of course. As on some other computerized lines, there are no visible signals, and the trains do not accelerate directly from zero to full speed, but go by stages, which I find slightly annoying. The other rare feature of the system is that the *axles* of the cars are individually steerable, which enables them to take tight curves smoothly. Accordingly, the route includes at least one tight curve. The cars are about the size of buses, with two sets of sliding doors on each side. They seat 30 and are supposed to have standing room for 80 at a crush. Each car has a cab at one end and they will run in coupled pairs, which in turn can form trains of up to 6 cars in total, giving about the equivalent of half a subway in crush carrying capacity. There is equipment under the seats, so the seating plan is fixed. Passenger emergency alarms are fitted, much as on the TTC subway cars. The car bodies are aluminum and fiberglass. I thought they ran very nicely in the preview (which continues each Saturday and Sunday until August 14, 10 am - 4 pm). I do not care to predict how well they will stand up in regular service, though. Mark Brader From: frank@avsdS.UUCP Subject: Steam.Calif Date: Mon, 30-Jul-84 10:20:25 EDT This past weekend I went up to Sacramento Calif. to the train museum. To my surprise they were running a steam locomotive. It was a 0-6-0 number 4466. It seems that they will be running this throughout the summer on weekends. The ride is a pleasent 40 minutes along the Sacramento River. The cost is just $3.00 for adults and $2.00 for children 17 and under. I was suprised at how many rode the train. There were a total of four cars and they were pretty much full all day long. They start at 12:00 noon and end at 4:00 pm. It runs every hour on the hour. One enteresting thing is that this is a SP engine but it burns coal. If anyone can give me information on this particular locomotive I would be grateful. The word that I got about the operation is that they would like the museum to be more than just a static display of engines and rolling stock and to be a living operating display. The future plans include longer trips (17 miles) and trips to a steam ferry for people to spend a whole day on train and ferry. If your in the area another good trip would be on the Sierra RR which is in Jamestown Calif ( about a hour and a half from Sac). This ride is longer and through some very pretty country. The engine is usually SRR #28 but the last time I rode it, we were pulled by #28 in one direction and a Shay ( I believe #8 ) in the other. They have wine and cheeze trips during the fall and spring and these are very nice. From: chaltas@uiucdcsb.UUCP Subject: Re: American Coal Enterprises Date: 14 Oct 84 13:56:00 GMT > Also, any GG1 fanatics out there? Pant - pant (ograph) -- You bet. They have always been rather scarce in the boondocks of Illinois though. I finally aquired an N scale model of one of these giants last summer -- even though I model neither Pennsy, nor Conrail, nor NJ transit, nor (ugh) Penn Central, nor Amtrak (northeast corridor). In fact, I haven't the faintest idea how to justify running a GG1 on a railroad set in the White Mountains, and I don't care. I remember seeing them in New Haven as a teenager (me, not the GG1's) and being thrilled. I was amazed that something so huge and powerful could be all but silent. I still am. (I know that they aren't really silent, but to someone who grew up with B&M geeps they sure seemed that way). Anyway, I'll miss them. George Chaltas chaltas!uiucdcs From: chaltas@uiucdcsb.UUCP Subject: Re: info on tracks Date: 14 Oct 84 14:04:00 GMT Shinohara track generally is excellent in both appearance and mechanics. It is also rather expensive. The switches have uninsulated metal frogs, which means more work for you in installation, but better operation of your locos. If you just install them like you do with plastic - frog switches you will have short circuits all over the place, but with the proper use of insulated rail joiners you'll have something really nice. See one of the many how-to-do-it books on tracklaying for details. Get thee to a hobby shop and look over their track selection -- I know of one in your area -- Erich Fuch's, about a block from Goverment Center (on Tremont St. ?). George Chaltas chaltas!uiucdcs From: res@ihuxn.UUCP (Rich Strebendt) Subject: Re: American Coal Enterprises - (nf) Date: 22 Oct 84 04:33:07 GMT Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Naperville, IL | They [GG-1's] have always been rather scarce in the boondocks of | Illinois though. NOT ANY MORE !!! The Illinois Railway Museum in Union, Illinois ('way west of Chicago) has acquired a GG-1. Anyone in the Midwest who is a train enthusiast or a trolley enthusiast and who has not visited Union has missed a fine museum with many restored and operating pieces of equipment (from a shay to a Zephyr). It is especially fun to visit on Members' Day when anything that can operate does. Rich Strebendt ...!ihnp4!ihuxn!res From: wjm@whuxl.UUCP (MITCHELL) Subject: RR Museums Date: 26 Oct 84 18:14:31 GMT Distribution: net Organization: Bell Communications Research, Inc. The museum in Branford, CT is the Shoreline Trolley Museum (formerly the Branford Electric RR Association). They have a large collection of ex-BMT equipment from NYC as well as much New Haven trolley equipment. It is about 75 miles north-east of NYC, not too far from I-95 (and there are signs giving directions from the Interstate). You can also take Metro North or Amtrak trains to New Haven and then take a local bus to the museum (I think its the F-2 line). For those of you in Southern California, you haven't been neglected since you can visit the Orange Empire Railway Museum in Perris (off of I-15E about 90 miles from LA and 90 miles from San Diego). Their collection specializes in LA area trolley equipment, and they also have cars from San Francisco, San Diego, and New Orleans. They also have operating diesel main line railroad equipment. Both of these museums are Operating museums, and you can ride the equipment on weekends and on holidays. Interurbans published a book "Trolley to the Past" which I bought from the OERM bookshop (admitted vested interest - I'm a member of OERM) that describes all the operating trolley museums in the US and Canada. For you GG-1 fans in the Midwest, Union RR Museum has a GG-1. I'd like to know if it is operational, and if so how did they do it - string up 11KV catenary and put in a frequency changer (GG-1's were designed to run on 25Hz, and 60Hz upsets their digestion :-)), or modify the GG-1 to run on 600 vdc?? Also, on the subject of GG-1's, I wish NJTransit would keep several fixed up for fan trips. Regards, Bill Mitchell From: chaltas@uiucdcsb.UUCP Subject: Re: RR Museums Date: 29 Oct 84 01:25:00 GMT I'm told the GG-1 at Union is NOT operational, as it has had its tranformer(s?) removed. The tranformers in GG-1s contain PCBs, currently on everyones Least Favorite Chemical of the Year list. (Last year's was dioxin), and for this reason GG-1's are not popular in working condition. (can you say paranoia? I knew you could) George Chaltas uiucdcs!chaltas From: nucomp@ihuxb.UUCP (cjw) Subject: INFO ON TRACKS Date: 29 Oct 84 23:55:06 GMT Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Naperville, IL Is this line still necessary? ***Repeat of original article follows*** I'm fairly new at model railroading, I have been in the process in constructing a layout and need infomation on tracks. I don't have the time to hand lay tracks so I'm looking for per assemble track that looks real and easy to work with. I have used the ATLAS tackage but it looks very unrealistic and does't go together very good. I read a little on PECO trackage, it seems that this trackage looks realistic and that switches can be mounted under the tracks without very little problems but I have not used this type. Could any one give some kindly advise about trackage for this starter outer PLEASE. By the way I my layout is in HO scale. *** My reply follows. *** Since you said that the Atlas track doesn't go togeather very good I assume you were using sectional track. The flex track is better, howevever you have to aquire a track gauge to make curves and you have to cut into the tie plates to allow the rail joiners to slide on. Also there are problems making smooth curves unless you keep the joints staggered. This can be done because one of the rails slides through the spike heads and you just slide the rail from another piece of track in to the end of the track being sure that the rail goes under neath the molded on spike heads. I always recommend soldering the rail joiners onto the ends of the rails. This is the only way to assure trouble free operation. I also always use nickel silver track. If the brass track is used be ready to clean it very often. The plastic tie track looks better if you spray paint the entire track flat black. To remove paint from the top of the rails simply take a rag, get some thinner on it and wipe the top of the rail with it. I haven't had any experience with the Peco track so I won't say anything about it. The most realistic track is made by Tru-scale. It can be bought all ready to slide togeather with the use of rail joiners. It is basicly sectional track. It is made by taking milled roadbed with ties and spiking a pair of rails to it. It is simillar to home laid track but it comes in sections and some one else already did the work for you. They have curves in radiuses of 18" to 36", straight track in 2' or 3' lengths, and #4, #6, #8 and Y type turnouts. The major drawback to this type of track is the price. It is quite expensive. It isn't sold in very many hobby shops. It usually has to ordered by mail. If any one is looking for anything in model railroading, I suggest "The World of HO Scale". It is Walthers model railroad catalog and it is over 700 pages of model railroad supplies. It is expensive at a list price of $11.95, but if it helps you find what your looking for more easily it is usually worth it. Most hobby shops can order anything from the catalog and have it for you in a couple days. They also publish N scale, O scale and decal catalogs. Before any says, "What about JMC/Con-Cor", I will say their last HO scale catalog was published several years ago and is very much out of date. Also Walthers carries more manufacturers. The usual disclaimer follows: I have no connection with any of the above firms and the opinions expressed in the above article are mine and only mine. Clayton James Wootton AT&T Bell Labs Naperville Illinois From: friedman@uiucdcs.UUCP Subject: Re: RR Museums Date: 29 Oct 84 18:39:00 GMT Indeed, the GG-1 at Illinois Railway Museum, Union, Illinois, is not operational, and is not planned to be. Right now, it's on display in Amtrak black livery; it is planned to restore it to PRR colors. But no one wants to fuss with 25 hertz or 11Kv problems, so there has been no intention of operating it. Union does have other "new" cars that are operational. Our Little Joe from South Shore has a new paint job, and can be operated over part of the system. And there are two of the old maroon and orange South Shore passenger coaches that were operated about a month ago, on Members' Weekend. It was clumsy, since most of the overhead is not pantograph compatible; they had to tow them by an electric loco out to the new mainline extension, which has catenary overhead, and then switch the power system over, reversing the procedure on return. But those 1500 vdc cars ran fine on the Museum's 600 vdc system, just slower (speed limit's 45 mph, anyway). From: kcm@cybvax0.UUCP (Keith C. MacKinnon) Subject: Re: Bay Colony RR Date: 7 Nov 84 21:11:17 GMT Organization: Cybermation, Inc., Cambridge, MA > Anybody know anything about the Bay Colony railroad? > Operates to the south-east of Boston (at least -- maybe elsewhere). > Rumour has it that it is operated by the same management > as the Cape Cod and Hyannis RR. Can anyone confirm, controvert? > -- Kenn (...decvax!)goutal As I recall about a year ago the Boston Globe ran an article on page 2 about the Bay Colony railroad. I can't remember if it was run by the Cape Cod and Hyannis RR. I think it was a couple of business men that bought out some unused conrail trackage, I'm not to sure. It might be now runed by them now I haven't heard anything about the railroad since then. I think I might have the article at home, I will check, but if not the libary should carry a copy of the that paper. I think it was about a year or more ago, sometime in the spring for fall. I will check at home for that piece, if you need anymore info on the line I might be able to find out for you. ..!mit-eddie!cybvax0!kcm Keith C MacKinnon CYBERMATION INC. Cambridge MA. From: stevel@haddock.UUCP Subject: Re: Boston<-->Ottawa Date: 9 Nov 84 04:51:01 GMT The problem with the Montrealer, Washington-NY-Montreal, is that it goes through the beautiful green mountains at about 4:00AM. If you get up at sunrise you will catch a little of them. Steve Ludlum, decvax!yale-co!ima!stevel, {amd|ihnp4!cbosgd}!ima!stevel From: benk@inmet.UUCP Subject: Re: Boston<-->Ottawa Date: 9 Nov 84 06:27:59 GMT Re: rail service from Boston to Ottawa. As I see it, you've got a few options: 1.) the Amtrak Boston to Chicago train to Worcester, and then wait to make connections with the Washington-NY-Montreal train to Montreal, and then take VIA-Rail-Canada to Ottawa. (The ride through the Green Moutatins of Vermont is supposed to be lovely.) 2.) take Amtrak from Boston to NY, then take the Washington-NY- Montreal train to Montreal, and then VIA-Rail-Canada to Ottawa. (The ride through the Green Moutatins of Vermont is supposed to be lovely.) 3.) take Amtrak from Boston to New York, and then take the Amtrak New York State service that connects with VIA-Rail Canada to Toronto, and then take VIA-Rail-Canada to Ottawa. (I understand that this is a particularly beautiful route; the ride up the eastern shore of the Hudson River being especially delightful.) 4.) take the Amtrak Boston to Chicago train to Buffalo, or some place thereabouts where you can make connections with VIA-Rail-Canada. -- Ben Krepp (inmet!benk)