HOTRAIL PRODUCTIONS: May 2023

Sunday, May 7, 2023

B&O Color Position Light SIGNALS at Cairo, Ohio 9.26.19

NS GEVO and CN SD70m-2 at Ainsworth, IN 10/15/18

Friday, May 5, 2023

Chicago-St. Louis trains begin 110-mph running

By Bob Johnston | May 3, 2023

Schedules to be shortened to reflect higher speed at a later date

Short passenger train with beat-up locomotive — An Amtrak test train speeds through Chenoa, Ill., during 90-mph testing on June 25, 2020. Speeds were first raised to 90 mph before separate tests recently certified Wabtec’s IETMS positive train control system for 110 mph. Bob Johnston

CHICAGO — Starting today, Amtrak’s Lincoln Service trains will begin operating at 110-mph maximum speeds over Union Pacific’s former Gulf, Mobile & Ohio speedway between Laraway Road, south of Joliet, Ill., and the Alton, Ill., Amtrak station.

Shortened schedules will be established at a later time “to ensure everything on the system is running properly and to monitor the actual travel time between stations,” says John Oimoen, Illinois Department of Transportation deputy director, rails.

The state and federal investment in Chicago-St. Louis corridor speed increases has totaled about $2 billion over more than 20 years. Infrastructure upgrades include installation of four-quadrant crossing gates, fencing in populated areas, complete roadbed rehabilitation, and installation of more passing sidings with high speed turnouts.

Phone showing 88-mph speed in train window — A smartphone app shows the train’s speed as 88 mph as northbound *Lincoln Service* train No. 300 passes traffic on Interstate 55 at Gardner, Ill., on April 30, 2023. The route is now cleared for speeds up to 110 mph. Steve Smedley

Reaching the upgraded corridor’s design speed has been a struggle, primarily because finding a functional train control signal system has been elusive. Trains first reached 100 mph north of Springfield, Ill., during a 2002 media demonstration, and 110 mph over a short stretch of track south of Bloomington-Normal, Ill., beginning in 2015, but neither of those systems proved to be reliable.

The current installation, Wabtec’s I-ETMS positive train control system, has required more than three years of Federal Railroad Administration certification testing. Speeds were first raised to 90 mph following tests in 2020 and 2021, and recently to 110 mph after a similar round of tests. A unique component in the Illinois corridor’s PTC installation is an overlay of Alstom’s Incremental Train Control System, which monitors approaching highway grade crossings for obstructions.

Chicago-St. Louis trains use Canadian National tracks between the Windy City and Joliet, where maximum speeds are 79 mph. Union Pacific and Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis trackage limits south of Alton are also 79 mph, but both of those segments have numerous speed restrictions.

Trains News Wire has determined from recently released tables issued to Amtrak engineers that about 150 of the 221 miles between Joliet and Alton permit 110 mph operation, or about 67% of the route. However, many of the segments are peppered with intermediate speed restrictions that would limit the amount of maximum speeds. These range from 30 to 100 mph.

The longest stretches of 110-mph running are about 19 miles both north and south of a 50-mph speed restriction at Dwight, Ill. and two 20-mile segments south of Springfield, Ill. The Texas Eagle also traverses the route, but its Superliners are limited to 100 mph.

People lined up to board passenger train — An Amtrak conductor scans Lincoln Service passengers’ smartphone tickets tickets in Joliet, Ill., on April 30, 2023. Lincoln Service trains are now cleared to operate at 110 mph on some portions of their route. Steve Smedley

What happened to EMD’s Triclops locomotives?

By Chris Guss | April 20, 2023

Once limited to a few railroads, the second-hand market has spread these unique locomotives far and wide

Triclops locomotives

four yellow EMDs — Triclops locomotives: Four SD60Ms, all with the three-piece windshields, power a Wisconsin & Southern train near Rondout, Ill. Chris Guss

At the beginning of the comfort cab revolution in the United States, EMD constructed its first “North American cab” SD60M for customer Union Pacific. Numbered 6085, it was a similar design to what Canadian National had been using for years, with one visual difference. The new cab featured three front windows instead of the four-window design on CN’s orders.

Nicknamed “triclops“ by railfans, this design would only last for a handful of years beginning in 1988 and would be replaced by EMD’s refined design that used a two-piece windshield on future comfort cab-equipped freight locomotive orders. Only four EMD models — the passenger F59PH and freight SD40-2F, SD60M, and SD60MAC — were so equipped, and only one model, the SD60M, would continue to be built with a North American cab with two windshields. It should be noted the successor to the F59PH, the F59PHI, also had three front windshields, but uses a significantly different design and never carried the triclops moniker.

All 73 F59PH passenger locomotives were built for two customers, GO Transit and Metrolink, while 25 SD40-2Fs went to Canadian Pacific, and 240 three-piece windshield SD60Ms were built for Union Pacific, Soo Line, and Burlington Northern. The four SD60MACs were test beds for EMD and never sold.

While some of these unique locomotives found new homes years ago, many of Union Pacific’s large group of 185 three-piece windshields SD60Ms have been entering the second-hand market recently, increasing the number of railroads operating them. With the exception of Soo Line and Burlington Northern SD60Ms, all freight and passenger railroads still roster some of their original purchases today, with BN’s and Soo Lines units folding into BNSF’s and CP’s rosters, respectively. Also of note, the North Carolina Department of Transportation converted five of its F59PHs into unpowered cab control cars for push-pull service.

Current owners of three-piece windshield EMDs: