I thought you experts said a full 2 story train is not possible. Scroll to the bottom of the page.
Posted by Mr. Toy (Member # 311) on :
I don't know what fly-by-night outfit is hosting that site, but it crashed the browsers on two computers a total of four times.
I did get through once, by typing in the URL directly, but it failed to load completely. What I saw was a photoshopped Colorado Railcars bi-level DMU inserted into some photos of the New England countryside. There was also an interior image of a luxury bi-level lounge car. The latter I had seen before in a proposal for a transcontinental luxury cruise train.
They might work in parts of New England, but they're too tall to fit into New York tunnels, if that's the issue you're concened about.
Posted by sbalax (Member # 2801) on :
Worked fine for me, Mr. Toy, although a tad slow to load. From what I read they are trying to start service from Montreal to Portland, ME.
Frank in "June Gloom" SBA
Posted by George Harris (Member # 2077) on :
I tried it and got it to load up, but after what Mr. Toy said, did it a work where I can call for help if it infects my computer.
Also, as Mr. Toy said, these are simply the Colorado Railcar vehicles. They are two story in the same sense that the Superliners are two story, even though they are a little taller. They are almost identical to the Superliner in width. The top pictures are simply photoshopped with a New England looking background and the New England sounding names added to the vehicles. They did not even modify the colors of the vehicles from those used in Colorado Railcar's advertisements. The bottom pictures are some of the equipment built by Colorado Railcar for the Alaska Railroad.
This little dab of promotional literature proves nothing. To know whether or not these vehicles could be operated on the lines they claim,you would have to ask the likes of New England Central and Guilford, or Canadian National / Canadian Pacific. Maybe a check of Railway Line Clearances could give you some idea, but they usually do not cover passenger stations and passenger only lines, so seeing clearances that will allow this stuff to get over the lines does not mean it can get into the Montreal station.
The Colorado Railcar web site gives dimensions and other information on these vehicles:
Height: (rail to roof) 18'-0" Width: (over side sheets) 10'-0" Length: (over body) 83'-6.5" Length (over couplers) 85'-0" Step height (above top of rail) 16" Truck centers: 60'-0" Truck wheelbase: 8'-6" Minimum horizontal curve radius: 250' Empty weight (trailer car) 157,000 lbs Empty weight (cab car) 163,000 lbs Seating capacity (trailer car) 190 Seating capacity (cab car) 185 Aisle width (lower deck) 24" to 32" Aisle width (upper deck) 24" to 32" -- I am guessing that the range of width depends upon the width of the seats installed. Given the high number of people per level, this sounds like commuter density seating on the order of the New Jersey Transit cattle car density.--
By the way, to operate at reasonsble speeds between these points will require a lot of work on the tracks.
The Colorado Railcar information is well known. They have advertized extensively in the trade press, and have built a demonstrator car that has toured extensively. I did not even have to go to their web site to find teh information I copied in above. I downloaded it from their web site in late 2002.
George
Posted by Mr. Toy (Member # 311) on :
While we're on the subject of Colorado Railcars, I might note that they recently bought out American Orient Express and renamed it GrandLuxe Railtours.
It so happens that I got to meet a woman this week who promotes their rail tours to travel agents. She has worked for AOE for six years, and for Amtrak six years before that. I set up the a/v equipment for her presentation at our hotel, and when I identified myself as "a bit of a foamer" I became her best friend for the evening.
In her presentation she indicated that Colorado Railcars is planning to add a brand new bi-level sleeper to their GrandLuxe tour train, similar to the one shown here. The upstairs rooms will be under a dome, with special film on the glass to keep heat buildup to a minimum.
You might note that this car has the pass through door on the lower level, to make it compatible with single level equipment. But in order to do that it needs to be taller than a Superliner. That may have been the point of the original post in this thread.
Posted by Geoff M (Member # 153) on :
quote:Originally posted by gp35: I thought you experts said a full 2 story train is not possible.
I thought you read the reasons why. Obviously not. Of course a two storey train is possible - or even a three or a four storey train. What is NOT possible is making it fit into the existing surroundings which is where the problem lies.
Firefox stated that the website had additional plug-ins it needed to download. But it is a rather cheap'n'nasty attempt at a website, unbecoming of an established, professional company, which suggests that this it is not.
Geoff M.
Posted by George Harris (Member # 2077) on :
Geoff: I think he missed the difference between not possilbe and not practical. 18 feet is practical in some areas, but not generally, and I am not in the least sure that this New England Railroad is at all a practical proposal. For stuff like this my usual thought is call me when you have the cash to start doing something. This is just one of many passenger service schemes bouncing around, and seems less likely to happen than most of the others, none of which have gone beyond planning documents as yet.
I looked up Portland to Montreal in a 1952 Official Guide I have. There was one slow train on the Grand Trunk - Canadian National, which appears to be their proposed initial route and one slow train on the Maine Central connecting to Canadian Pacific, which appears maybe be the other in the future route they were talking about. I really do not know much about what railroad tracks are left in New England.
I just have trouble seeing enough demand to make the scheme practical.