Recording Amtrak
Apr. 22nd, 2022 06:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kevin_standleeThere is a Facebook group for Friends of the California Zephyr that I follow. This morning, I spotted a post from someone riding today's #6 (eastbound) out of Emeryville making their fresh-air stop at Sacramento. I promised the poster that we'd try to get photos and video of the train as it passed Fernley.
Lisa got out the big Panasonic and set up on the pile of old concrete grade crossings in the yard. I kept a lookout for the train and gave her the high sign when I saw the approaching headlight, which gave us about 90 seconds warning before the train tore past at 70-plus MPH.
At that speed, you don't get much of a look at the train, although you may have noticed an unusual looking "locomotive" behind the two conventional Genesis locomotives.
This is "cabbage" (cab-baggage) car 90221, an ex-F40PH converted to a Non-Powered Control Unit (NPCU). When the locomotive was decommissioned, they removed the diesel engine, put in a concrete floor for ballast, and cut a roll-up door in the side so that it can be used as a baggage car. It retains the controls that allow it to control the train. Its normal use is at the opposite end of a train in push-pull service. It presumably is headed back east to be used on trains back there, or possibly for servicing at the Amtrak Beech Grove shops.
I posted the video and still photos to that FB group and tagged the person who made the original post. She was following along on Facebook, but said she didn't see us. I told her that was not surprising with the train traveling at speed: blink and you would have missed us.
Lisa got out the big Panasonic and set up on the pile of old concrete grade crossings in the yard. I kept a lookout for the train and gave her the high sign when I saw the approaching headlight, which gave us about 90 seconds warning before the train tore past at 70-plus MPH.
At that speed, you don't get much of a look at the train, although you may have noticed an unusual looking "locomotive" behind the two conventional Genesis locomotives.
This is "cabbage" (cab-baggage) car 90221, an ex-F40PH converted to a Non-Powered Control Unit (NPCU). When the locomotive was decommissioned, they removed the diesel engine, put in a concrete floor for ballast, and cut a roll-up door in the side so that it can be used as a baggage car. It retains the controls that allow it to control the train. Its normal use is at the opposite end of a train in push-pull service. It presumably is headed back east to be used on trains back there, or possibly for servicing at the Amtrak Beech Grove shops.
I posted the video and still photos to that FB group and tagged the person who made the original post. She was following along on Facebook, but said she didn't see us. I told her that was not surprising with the train traveling at speed: blink and you would have missed us.
