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Guest_Ben_*
Guest
Is it just me, or has the ride quality of Amtrak's equipment, particularly the Superliners and the California Cars gone down in recent years? If it is going down, what can be done to improve the suspension on the equipment?
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What do you mean by "ride quality?" Please explain.
had8ley
Engineer
I think a lot of what you are referring to is track quality. The freight RR's are running so many trains that MoW has little track time to keep the track in good shape for a smoother ride. A good example was the Powder River basin tracks that were shut down because the RR's just couldn't find the time to give them to MofW.
RailFanLNK
Conductor
I by now means am complaining about track quality, but the tracks the Capital Limited are on were very rough. All of us the next day was talking about "geez, was that a rough batch of tracks!" :lol: I always chow Tylenol PM when I sleep on a train, (or plane or car) but those tracks were sumthin'!
Al
Al
OlympianHiawatha
Engineer
I've always figured if the train is doing a little more rocking, then any babies on board are doing a little more sleeping and a lot less crying 
Its interesting, but if you look at photos of mainline tracks back in the 1950's and then go to the same spot today and take a photo, there is a visible difference in the track......you can just see where the dips and bumps will be!
Wasn't it the New York Central that offered complete comfort along the Water Level Route????
Level is a thing of the past it seems!!!!!!!
Wasn't it the New York Central that offered complete comfort along the Water Level Route????
Level is a thing of the past it seems!!!!!!!
ThayerATM
OBS Chief
My wife drove a 1999 Buick Regal with GS suspension. Excellent road car. (the car died an untimely death in 2006 due to an unfortunate encounter with an Escalade). I drive a 2003 Buick Rendezvous.
Both the Regal and Rendezvous ride quite smoothly over flat, well maintained roads. When traversing "bumpy" roads, the Regal was far superior.
But why would I expect anything different? Both cars were built to do entirely different things while driving over entirely different roads.
I would expect that the difference in "feel" while on an Amtrak car is probably due to the condition of the track, rather than the condition of the "car." I change automobiles a lot more often than Amtrak changes it's cars.
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Tony
Guest
I thought I was about to agree with you, but then I think you changed directions.
IMHO, it is indeed Amtrak responsibility to have their passenger cars designed to provide a smooth ride for its passengers, even under the worse track conditions. Amtrak needs Regals, not Rendezvouses, in this regard.
From my very limited knowledge of RR cars, I would think that we are talking about the trucks, right? They should be designed with long soft springs, and nice shocks. Achieving a smooth ride even on bad tracks, should be real easy to do, because the mass ("weight") of either a Superliner or a Viewliner car is pretty substantial, and should want to not bounce around alot.
ThayerATM
OBS Chief
Yeah, were talking about the design of the trucks. That's my Dad's area of expertise, but he's no longer around (since '65) for me to ask.I thought I was about to agree with you, but then I think you changed directions.
IMHO, it is indeed Amtrak responsibility to have their passenger cars designed to provide a smooth ride for its passengers, even under the worse track conditions. Amtrak needs Regals, not Rendezvouses, in this regard.
From my very limited knowledge of RR cars, I would think that we are talking about the trucks, right? They should be designed with long soft springs, and nice shocks. Achieving a smooth ride even on bad tracks, should be real easy to do, because the mass ("weight") of either a Superliner or a Viewliner car is pretty substantial, and should want to not bounce around alot.
The design of the suspension for a railroad passenger car's trucks, IMHO. has to be able to handle the mass of a really reallly heavy bunch of equipment. (aka "car"). Then the condition of the tracks comes into play. There's no way for the builder (contractor) to predict what the conditions of the track will be at any one particular stretch of tracks, so the engineers come up with a compromise. They design the suspension of the trucks to be able to safely handle all circumstances.
As the infrastucture in America deterioates, due to lack of money (click your cursor on the the appropriate reason
I don't anticipate any remarkable improvements on the horizon.When I road the Lake Shore Limited last may the CSX tracks were very rough. So much so that the viewliner car I was in would bottom out going over the road crossings. It was impossible to sleep.
A retired Sante Fe engineer lived across the street from me. He has since died, but he always said that he was embarassed by the condition of the track when he traveled.
That is a pretty good indication that things are not as they used to be.
That is a pretty good indication that things are not as they used to be.
Green Maned Lion
Engineer
Thats the problem with Americans today. They change cars too frequently. You should keep your car on the road for the rest of your life, dude.
While I am not a technical engineer, I can tell you from my own experience that, in general, a soft ride varies inversely with durability and ruggedness, at-least within the curve of reason. Amtrak should design its cars to competently haul people. In anycase, the Superliners were designed 30 years ago. The world was different then.
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If you want a smooth ride, sit in the middle of the car.
sky12065
Conductor
I was in the lower level of my sleeper in my recent trip on the SWC. The constant loud bam bam bam of what I am now convinced was a suspension or shock problem that was so bad that I made a toung-in-cheek comment to the attendant asking if there was an unavertised basement on this double decker car and was Emeril LaGasse in a room below ours? His comment to me about it was that it was caused by the tracks and I let it go at that!
On the later trip back east there was not a single bam (Emeril must have had a different schedule than me) so I was then sure that a problem did exist on the west bound car. I contacted customer relations when I returned home and voiced my opinion that it was so bad that Amtrak should be checking out that particular car and complained that I'm so tramacized now that I can no longer watch Emeril! :huh:
On the later trip back east there was not a single bam (Emeril must have had a different schedule than me) so I was then sure that a problem did exist on the west bound car. I contacted customer relations when I returned home and voiced my opinion that it was so bad that Amtrak should be checking out that particular car and complained that I'm so tramacized now that I can no longer watch Emeril! :huh:
Maybe a flat wheel?
EDIT: When standing by a passing freight train it's pretty easy to hear flat wheels. Bam bam bam. Nothing to do with track, suspension, or shocks. Back in the day, before roller bearings, one looked out for hotboxes; overheated journals that could destroy an axle and cause a wreck.
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Tony
Guest
But passenger railcar truck design isn't much different.
Passenger railcar trucks don't look all that different in design from freight car trucks. And they don't look all that different from ones in use back in the middle of the last century.
In another thread, we talked about a redesign of a Viewliner. In that we focused mostly on floor plans. Maybe we need to "wish list" truck suspension design too. A nice active suspension that gives passenger railcars a nice "boulevard ride" even on the roughest tracks.
sky12065
Conductor
It wasn't the wheel! I think that I misled your thought by using the wrong description for the bamming. My bad! I should have said that it was intermitting or frequent rather that constant. I guess I'm still shook up (pun intended) over the thought of not being able to watch Emeril again!
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Ghost
Guest
Rail joint?
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Guest_TransAtlantic_*
Guest
California Car suspensions are much "tighter" than those on Amfleet or even Superliner equipment, so certain track conditions feel rougher; add to that the fact that ridership is up by OVER 100% on CERTAIN trains compared with two years ago, and you'll experience the feeling of "bottoming out", when the springs are fully compressed...ouch...
Try "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives." Guy Fieri is pretty entertaining. Off the hook!
Long Train Runnin'
Engineer
I hate to sound stupid here but umm how does a steel wheel go flat???
Rail Freak
Engineer
LOL :lol:
I asked that very same question 6 months ago!
Now there are 2 of us!!!! B)
Long Train Runnin'
Engineer
did u ever get an answer cause i am dying to know lolLOL :lol: I asked that very same question 6 months ago!
Now there are 2 of us!!!! B)
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I don't know the technical details of why wheels go flat or out of round, but believe me, they do. They can be turned and ground back into round, but only to a certain point. During the Gathering tour of the Amtrak car shops at Chicago last October we were shown wheels that were beyond repair. Not pretty. I'm sure somebody has a picture.
Long Train Runnin'
Engineer
oh so they dont go flat in the classic sense more like the wheel looses shape after it has been on the tracks to long
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