A tilting train is a train that has a mechanism enabling increased speed on regular rail tracks. As a train rounds a curve at speed, objects inside the train experience centrifugal force. This can cause packages to slide about or seated passengers to feel squashed by the outboard armrest, and standing passengers to lose their balance, or in such excessive speeds, could even cause the train to derail. Tilting trains are designed to counteract this by tilting the carriages towards the inside of the curve, thus compensating for the g-force. The train may be constructed such that inertial forces cause the tilting, or it may have a computer-controlled powered mechanism.
The New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, commonly known as The Consolidated, or simply as the New Haven, was a railroad that operated principally in the New England region of the United States from 1872 to December 31, 1968. Founded by the merger of the New York and New Haven and Hartford and New Haven railroads, the company had near-total dominance of railroad traffic in Southern New England for the first half of the 20th century.
A streamliner is a vehicle incorporating streamlining in a shape providing reduced air resistance. The term is applied to high-speed railway trainsets of the 1930s to 1950s, and to their successor "bullet trains". Less commonly, the term is applied to fully faired upright and recumbent bicycles. As part of the Streamline Moderne trend, the term was applied to passenger cars, trucks, and other types of light-, medium-, or heavy-duty vehicles, but now vehicle streamlining is so prevalent that it is not an outstanding characteristic. In land speed racing, it is a term applied to the long, slender, custom built, high-speed vehicles with enclosed wheels.
Talgo is a Spanish manufacturer of intercity, standard, and high-speed passenger trains. Talgo is an abbreviation of Tren Articulado Ligero Goicoechea Oriol.
A passenger railroad car or passenger car, also called a passenger carriage, passenger coach, or passenger bogie is a railroad car that is designed to carry passengers. The term passenger car can also be associated with a sleeping car, a baggage car, a dining car, railway post office and prisoner transport cars.
The ALCO RS-3 is a 1,600 hp (1.2 MW), B-B diesel-electric locomotive manufactured from May 1950 to August 1956 by American Locomotive Company (ALCO) and its subsidiary Montreal Locomotive Works (MLW). A total of 1,418 were produced: 1,265 for American railroads, 98 for Canadian railroads, 48 for Brazilian railroads, and seven for Mexican railroads.
The SDP45 is a six-axle, C-C, 3,600-horsepower (2,680 kW) diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors' Electro-Motive Division of La Grange, Illinois. It was a passenger-hauling version of the SD45 on a stretched locomotive frame with an extended, squared-off long hood at the rear, aft of the radiators, giving space for a steam generator for passenger train heating. This steam generator placement followed the pattern set by the SDP35 and SDP40.
The Consolidation Line was a series of diesel-electric railway locomotive designs produced by Fairbanks-Morse and its Canadian licensee, the Canadian Locomotive Company. Railfans have dubbed these locomotives “C-liners”, however F-M referred to the models collectively as the C-Line. A combined total of 165 units were produced by F-M and the CLC between 1950 and 1955.
In rail transport, head-end power (HEP), also known as electric train supply (ETS), is the electrical power distribution system on a passenger train. The power source, usually a locomotive at the front or 'head' of a train, provides the electricity used for heating, lighting, electrical and other 'hotel' needs. The maritime equivalent is hotel electric power. A successful attempt by the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway in October 1881 to light the passenger cars on the London to Brighton route heralded the beginning of using electricity to light trains in the world.
The FM H-12-44TS was a light road switcher version of the Fairbanks-Morse H-12-44 yard switcher locomotive. Only three of the 1,200-horsepower (890 kW), six-cylinder opposed piston engine locomotives were manufactured especially for the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway in May, 1956. The units had an extended frame to accommodate the addition of a short hood behind the cab, and were configured in a B-B wheel arrangement and mounted atop a pair of two-axle AAR Type-A switcher trucks with all axles powered. H-12-44TSs also came equipped with steam generator units as they were acquired solely for shuttling passenger cars in and around the Dearborn Station terminal in Chicago, Illinois.
The Erie-built was the first streamlined, cab-equipped dual service diesel locomotive built by Fairbanks-Morse, introduced as direct competition to such models as the ALCO PA and FA and EMD FT. F-M lacked the space and staff to design and manufacture large road locomotives in their own plant at Beloit, Wisconsin, and was concerned that waiting to develop the necessary infrastructure would cause them to miss out on the market opportunity for large road locomotives. Engineering and assembly work was subcontracted out to General Electric, which produced the locomotives at its Erie, Pennsylvania, facility, thereby giving rise to the name "Erie-built."
The P-12-42, also known as the Speed Merchant, was a streamlined, 1,200 hp (890 kW) locomotive built between 1957–1958 by Fairbanks-Morse, specifically to operate on each end of the Talgo train produced by American Car and Foundry. This model represented F-M's attempted entry into the lightweight locomotive market, but only four of the low-slung units were produced: the first pair was purchased by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad for their John Quincy Adams train, while the second pair went to the Boston and Maine Railroad for their Speed Merchant train.
The EMD LWT12 was a diesel–electric power car that was built in 1955 by General Motors Electro-Motive Division (EMD), to pull a lightweight passenger trainset. The General Motors Company developed both components under the project name, Train Y, but later marketed them as the Aerotrain. Diesel power was provided by an EMD 567C 12-cylinder engine, which produced 1,200 hp (890 kW). Two other GM Diesel engines provided current for train-heating, lighting and air-conditioning.
Ferrocarril de Langreo or FC de Langreo (FCL) was a Spanish railway company which operated a 1,435 mmstandard gauge line, in the Autonomous Community of Asturias, in northern Spain. It was the third train line constructed in Spain and was built during the 1850s.
The RP-210 was a streamlined 1,000 hp (750 kW) locomotive built in 1956 by Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton, specifically to operate with the experimental, all-aluminum Train-X coaches that were built by the Pullman-Standard Car Manufacturing Company. The model represented Baldwin's attempted entry into the lightweight passenger locomotive market, but only three of the low-slung diesel-hydraulic units were produced. The first RP-210 was built for the New York Central Railroad to power their Ohio Xplorer train between Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati, and a pair was purchased by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad to double-end their Dan'l Webster, running between New York City and Boston.
The Roger Williams was a six-car streamlined lightweight DMU passenger train built by the Budd Company in 1956 for the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. The train was based on Budd's successful RDC DMU cars. The end two cars were equipped with streamlined locomotive style cabs and noses, resembling those on the Fairbanks-Morse P-12-42 Diesel locomotives. The four intermediate cars lacked operating controls and cabs.
The John Quincy Adams was a named train of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad, between New York, New York and Boston, Massachusetts. The John Quincy Adams was an attempt by the New Haven to modernize rail travel and lure people out of their cars. The train was built by American Car and Foundry to a lightweight Talgo design, and was powered by two Fairbanks-Morse P-12-42 Diesel-electric locomotives, one at each end of the train, connected by multiple unit control. It was nearly identical to the Speed Merchant operated by the Boston and Maine Railroad.
The Dan'l Webster was a named train of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, between Grand Central Terminal, New York, New York, and South Station, Boston, Massachusetts. The Dan'l Webster was an attempt by the New Haven to modernize rail travel and lure people out of their cars. The train was built by Pullman to their lightweight Train-X design, and was powered by two Baldwin RP-210 diesel-hydraulic locomotives, connected by multiple unit control, through the train.
The Boston and Maine Railroad Talgo Train consisted of five, three-segment articulated passenger cars and was powered by two Fairbanks-Morse P-12-42 engines at either end. It was called the "Talgo Train" by B&M employees. The builder called the locomotives "Speed Merchants", but the B&M never used this moniker in its advertising. After making a single round-trip to Portland, Maine, during which it ignited a trackside fire, the train served in commuter service on the railroad's Eastern and Western routes until 1965. Two separate fires in 1963 and 1965 caused two of the three articulated cars to be removed from service, after which it sat idle in the yard adjacent to the Boston Engine Terminal in Charlestown, Massachusetts. In its last year of service, the trainset was renowned for constant breakdowns, consequently spending an inordinate amount of time in the shops. Thus, the decision was made to remove it from active service. Eventually, eight segments of the passenger cars were sold to a private restaurateur in Chelsea, Massachusetts, who incorporated three segments into his restaurant and stored the remaining five on the property. The two locomotives were sold to National Metal Converters of Leeds, Maine, for use as power sources. They were eventually scrapped.
An electro-diesel multiple unit (EDMU) or bi-mode multiple unit (BMU) is a form of a multiple unit train that can be powered either by electric power picked up from the overhead lines or third rail or by using an onboard diesel engine, driving an electric generator, which produces alternating current (AC) or direct current (DC) electric power.
