Engines of Amtrak - Turboliner

[Music] oh the turbo liner trainsets what a strange-looking thing they were as you can tell today's edition of engines of Amtrak is all about the turbo liner train sets now aside no any mention of an RTG or RTL is just another name for the turbo liner in case you get confused later on with the names our TG is a French built turbo liner and an RTL is an American built careful liner during the early 1970s Amtrak was already looking for new locomotive designs to replace their than rustic fleet of v8 sandy nines the turbo liner originated out of France where the train sets were referred to as the turbo train the turbo train sets were used on Frances nationalized railway at the National Railway Company of France or SNCF in 1967 SNCF converted a two car X 4,300 class D mu into a prototype version of the turbo train known as the XR 85-75 train set or special gas turbine unit shortened to TGS the train set would use a gas turbine engine placed into the trailer car and have a new cab bill for the levian all while retaining its original diesel motor and transmission the prototypes gas turbine system was fairly similar to the United Aircraft Company or you a C's turbo train operating in the US and Canada test runs of the TGS were conducted starting April 25th 1967 and the TGS reached a speed of 157 miles an hour during a test on October 15 1971 this led to the first generation of turbo trains the class t1000 gas turbine element or e TG the e TG was produced from 1969 to 1972 by ANF industry these train sets consisted of four coaches accommodating 188 seats while being powered by a single diesel engine and gas turbine engine the e TG used a 1,100 horsepower turbo mecha termo 3 F 3 voice hydraulic gas turbine and used a 430 horsepower Sauer sdh our diesel mechanical engine the e TG was primarily used in the east and northeastern regions of France a second generation of turbo trains were produced by an industry called the class T mm gas turbine row or RTG 41 of these are TVs were produced from 1972 to 1976 the RTG could reach speeds of 99 miles an hour the RTG uses a 1,100 horsepower gas turbine for units with odd-numbered cabs back in the united states amtrak noted the class t 2000 RTGS and decided in August of 1973 to lose two train sets from a n F at a price of 85,000 dollars a month equivalent to 4.8 million dollars today initially Amtrak based the RTG train set out of Chicago being placed into service on a Chicago to st. Louis Corridor line Amtrak heralded the turbo liner's is the biggest travel news since the 747 trains magazine editor-in-chief David P Morgan was on board the first run out of Chicago on September 28th of 1973 he praised the large windows making for easy viewing in contrast to the rifle slot sized windows used on the blood and metroliner he also praised the smooth riding of the trains even unruffle Morgan also commented on the narrow aisle ways and limited seat comfort Amtrak found the advantages of the RTGS would be increased availability higher speed on curves and the decreased weight of the RTGS would emit less wear and tear on the tracks Amtrak was quickly impressed with the trains and ordered four sets to entered service in 1975 on a Chicago to Milwaukee corridor and Chicago to Detroit corridor six of these train sets cost eighteen million dollars equivalent to 94 million dollars today am Jeric proposed ordering 14 more trainset rather than partially electrified Northeast Corridor this would have caused the need to increased passenger fares in the United States Department of Transportation block the proposal em tracks sets came with five cars to power cars and a basic cafe car the RTGS are fitted for American standards by equipping the train sets with a Nathan P 1 2 3 4 a 5 air horn a variation on the Nathan P 5 here are a few samples the power cars had a knuckle coupler but in between the coaches as they are built in France had buffer and turnbuckle European couplings the six turbo liner units bought were used exclusively in Michigan Illinois Ohio and Wisconsin later in the 1970s the RTG turbo liners were fitted with the middle headlight as apparently some motorists confused the turbo liner for an automobile the RTGS proved much more reliable compared to the u-ace t turbo train which experienced tilting and mechanical issues the turbo liners also took over Midwestern duties from the failing sdp 40 F the success of these turbo liners and increased passenger ridership brought am check to the decision to purchase seven more sets being delivered between 1976 and 1977 rather than being built by A&F in France they were manufactured by Rohr industries in Chula Vista California the newly ordered turbo liners were classified as RTLS one RTL SEC could accommodate 264 passengers and sometimes an extra coach would be added to the con cysts the RT ELLs would be the last gas turbine train set purchased by Amtrak as conventional diesel electric locomotives proved cheaper to operate the RT ELLs were fitted for third rail operation in Grand Central Terminal and Pennsylvania Station in New York City as well under third rail operation the train sets were limited to 45 miles an hour the RTLS could operate up to 950 miles without needing to be refueled though the turbo liners are meant for high speed service they never could reach their full potential due to the track condition they operated on during the the 1981 due to high operating cost midwest service of the turbo liners are tired and f40 ph's took over turbo liners were then fixed to service in the northeastern US alongside the new RTL three RT G's were rebuilt to join in on service on the Empire corridor in 1988 that stretched from New York City to Buffalo New York insufficient maintenance in the early 1990s led to reduce reliability and Sam Trek then retired the RTG two's after one caught fire in Pennsylvania station on September 11 1994 this action officially retired all French built turbo liners otherwise known as RTGS the aforementioned events left seven RTL turbo liner train sets in use in 1995 amp check in the state of New York began a combined effort to rebuild a single RTL turbo liner train set at a cost of two million dollars equipping the set with a new turbine producing 1600 horsepower the interiors were renovated and the paint scheme was changed the newly designed RTL 2 was able to reach a top speed of 125 miles an hour and consumed less fuel than its predecessor in 1998 Amtrak in New York State began cooperating once again and started the high-speed rail Improvement Program 185 million dollars would be allocated to improve service on the Empire Quarter by rebuilding 7 RTL turbo liners into RTL three standards over due to multiple delays production didn't start until April 2003 only one out of five additionally scheduled turbo liner sets that were expected to enter service in 2002 wherever completed but never entered Revenue Service 7 turbo liners were then painted into the new Acela paint scheme and re numbered in 2001 one rebill RTL 3 that was tested reached 125 miles an hour in February of 2001 Delaware Joseph H Boardman then commissioner of the New York State Department of Transportation in a later future president of Amtrak accused the rail corporation of stealing the train sets and threatened to find a new buyer for inner city state rail service Amtrak placed and fleets into the Empire Corridor service to replace the turbo liners in April of 2005 New York State reach to deal with super steel the company commissioned to rebuild the turbo liners to close the rehabilitation project for 5.5 mm million dollars super-steel would also have to move the for unfinished sets into a storage at a nearby industrial park in 2007 Amtrak and New York State finally settled their lawsuit by auctioning off their turbo liners in 2012 for four hundred twenty thousand dollars for spare parts scrapping of the spare turbo liners began in 2013 and just like that an air conditioning problem in a lawsuit with the state of New York officially ended the 30-year career of the turbo liner range all turbo liner train doubts are presumed scrapped while the turbo liner had an extensive running life this seemed to be overlooked oftentimes in Amtrak's history will always be remembered by those who road built and drove them they will always be a part of the history book of Amtrak the National Railroad passenger corporation thanks for watching thank you to all the following people and sources for providing information photos and videos for the production of this video I will be progressing further into the history of Amtrak's motor power next time when I discuss the general electric East 60 stay tuned and thank you again for watching [Music] you

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Keywords: Amtrak, Amtrakguy365, Engines of Amtrak, Amtrak Trains, Trains, Train, Amtrak Train, Amtrak derailment, AMTK, Amtrak acela, Amtrak high speed train, Amtrak vacation, Amtrak F40PH, Amtrak cab ride, Railfanning, Railfanning 2017, Amtrak crash, Amtrak Chicago, Amtrak Empire Builder, Amtrak Southwest Chief, Amtrak engineer, Amtrak pacific surfliner, Train videos, Railfanning 2016, Turboliner, Amtrak RTL, Amtrak RTG, Turbotrain, Amtrak Turboliner

Id: h9Kx5LBznuA

Length: 9min 34sec (574 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 08 2017