Re: Lack of long tunnels
| October 18, 2014 02:11PM |
the bernina is the highest alpine pass railway not in a tunnel at the summit, and the views you get there are stunning. The only dual powered locos were diesel/DC electrics (they can run as diesel electrics on the rest of the system, but straight electrics on the bernina) 801 and 802 (until the new allegra units arived a couple of years ago). There used to be one road in pontresina where they could switch the supply between 11KV AC and 1000V DC, but I'm not sure if they still have that arrangement as it's been remodelled since then.
The earliest Bernina railcars (numbered in the 30s by the Rh
were built with 300hp, but rebuilt to about 530hp when the RhB took over the bernina (it was originally a separate company, hence the different voltages). The intermediate ones built in the 1960s (40 series) have 910hp, whilst those which handle the traffic today are the 50 series Abe4/4 III and they've 1360HP, so two of them provides 2700HP, which is not to be sniffed at. The different voltages don't cause as much of an issue as the coaches for the bernina line are much shorter than the standard RhB ones due to the severe curvature (min radius is 148ft). The RhB had several DC voltage lines, but the Chur-Arosa was converted to AC (involving some realignment to get the normal locos round the curves) and the others were closed, leaving just the bernina. The RhB has recently bought several 3 car railcars (called Allegras) which are dual voltage. They're rated at 3200hp on DC. Though the extra horsepower isn't that much use as the rated tonnage for 2 of the 50 series railcars was higher than the maximum permitted load for the line (150 tons towed).
If you are going over the bernina, try and get in the bike van! its often a converted coach, but has drop windows and there's nobody else in there to complain about you causing a draught. This allows you to get fantastic pictures from the train of the various glaciers and mountains. The newer units and coaches have aircon and they don't let you open the windows to see the world outside properly.
The earliest Bernina railcars (numbered in the 30s by the Rh
were built with 300hp, but rebuilt to about 530hp when the RhB took over the bernina (it was originally a separate company, hence the different voltages). The intermediate ones built in the 1960s (40 series) have 910hp, whilst those which handle the traffic today are the 50 series Abe4/4 III and they've 1360HP, so two of them provides 2700HP, which is not to be sniffed at. The different voltages don't cause as much of an issue as the coaches for the bernina line are much shorter than the standard RhB ones due to the severe curvature (min radius is 148ft). The RhB had several DC voltage lines, but the Chur-Arosa was converted to AC (involving some realignment to get the normal locos round the curves) and the others were closed, leaving just the bernina. The RhB has recently bought several 3 car railcars (called Allegras) which are dual voltage. They're rated at 3200hp on DC. Though the extra horsepower isn't that much use as the rated tonnage for 2 of the 50 series railcars was higher than the maximum permitted load for the line (150 tons towed).If you are going over the bernina, try and get in the bike van! its often a converted coach, but has drop windows and there's nobody else in there to complain about you causing a draught. This allows you to get fantastic pictures from the train of the various glaciers and mountains. The newer units and coaches have aircon and they don't let you open the windows to see the world outside properly.
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488 stops for water at Los Pinos tank on closing day Oct. 1979. Photo courtesy Don Richter
The NGDF was started by Don Richter and is currently operated in his memory by Nathan Holmes and others. Others who have contributed to the upkeep of this board are (in no particular order): Charles McCandless, Everett Lueck, Ted Wilton, Cole Adams, James Bane, John Moellmer, Jon Bentz, Linn Moedinger, lloyd lehrer, Rod Jensen, John Craft, Steven Forney, Herb Kelsey, Bill Ramaley, Russ Sperry (El Russo Loco), Josh McNeal, John West, Jim Armstrong, Bob Bergstrom, Greg Scholl, Blake Forbes Doug van Veelen and Mark Fuller.