Lights Out
Christopher Allen
> And on a much wider far away question. Does anyone know why on VIA
> trains in Canada they turn the lights off as the train is entering the
> station and then turns them on again when the train stops? The people I
> was travelling with found it very amusing.
(Ah hah, finally a question this ex-pat Canadian can (kind of)
answer!)
I was only aware of this being done in Montreal. For those of you who
haven't seen it, the station has platforms underground connected by
stairs/escalators with a large hall above - vaguely like, say,
Birmingham New Street, only less ugly[1].
As I understand it, the problem is that fumes from the diesel
locomotives come up the stairwells into the main hall of the station,
causing the atmosphere to become rather unpleasant. To reduce this,
trains approaching the station turn off all unneeded equipment,
including lights, ventilation, tilting system, and so on, and more or
less coast into the platforms.
I don't really know what happens beyond that; I think they connect to
track-side power, but I don't know how they extricate the locomotive
to turn it around. (I only just realized that Montreal isn't a
terminal station: the tracks continue NW under Mt. Royal, but the 5km
tunnel appears to be served by electric trains.)
Perhaps someone in rec.railroad or m.t.r.a can supply further details
and/or corrections - and set Followup-To: appropriately, once this
question is answered!
[1] See: http://www.finditinmontreal.com/visions/vmtl2408.jpg Note
just-visible stairway descending to tracks near centre of photo.
Hope that helps.
Christopher
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James Robinson
>
> I was only aware of this being done in Montreal. ...
>
> As I understand it, the problem is that fumes from the diesel
> locomotives come up the stairwells into the main hall of the station,
> causing the atmosphere to become rather unpleasant.
Exactly right, and it is only done in Montreal. The problem started
with the TurboTrain in the late 1960s, where its exhaust would percolate
up through the stairwells and find its way into the ventilation systems
of nearby office buildings and hotels. Everything smelled like an
airport around the time of the train's departure.
The solution was to leave the train plugged into shore power until just
before departure, then unplug the shore power and start up the turbines
to provide on-board electrical power. Since there were no on-board
batteries, except for emergency lighting, all lights and ventilation
would shut off during the change-over. The reverse exercise was the
normal routine when the train arrived.
Smoke was not a particular problem with older diesel locomotives, since
their engines were at idle while standing in the station, and weren't
producing much exhaust smoke. However, newer locomotives require the
main engine to be at full RPM to provide hotel power to the train, so
exhaust smells are again a problem.
VIA therefore connects the train to shore power while standing in the
station, and the locomotives' engines are either shut down entirely or
left at idle. Just before departure, the engine is started if it was
shut down, and the shore power is disconnected. As an additional
pollution reduction measure, hotel power is not supplied from the
locomotive until it has moved out from under the station canopy. This
keeps the engine RPM low until it is in open air, and can be increased
to full RPM where the additional smoke from extended idling won't pass
up into the station concourse.
Because of this, the lighting and ventilation in the cars might be off
for a couple of minutes on departure. On arrival, it is only shut off
as the train comes to a stop in preparation for the changeover to shore
power.
CJ Graham
<cpcalle...@ruah.dyndns.org> writes
>I was only aware of this being done in Montreal. For those of you who
>haven't seen it, the station has platforms underground connected by
>stairs/escalators with a large hall above - vaguely like, say,
>Birmingham New Street, only less ugly[1].
>
>As I understand it, the problem is that fumes from the diesel
>locomotives come up the stairwells into the main hall of the station,
>causing the atmosphere to become rather unpleasant. To reduce this,
>trains approaching the station turn off all unneeded equipment,
>including lights, ventilation, tilting system, and so on, and more or
>less coast into the platforms.
>
>I don't really know what happens beyond that; I think they connect to
>track-side power, but I don't know how they extricate the locomotive to
>turn it around. (I only just realized that Montreal isn't a terminal
>station: the tracks continue NW under Mt. Royal, but the 5km tunnel
>appears to be served by electric trains.)
>
>Perhaps someone in rec.railroad or m.t.r.a can supply further details
>and/or corrections - and set Followup-To: appropriately, once this
>question is answered!
No they did it at Quebec and Montreal as well. Maybe its just me......
Although at New York Penn Station they have the platforms below and
steps/esclators leading down to the platforms. But the lights stay on.
Maybe they are electric trains.
--
CJ Graham
Hudson Leighton
<News...@nospam.com> wrote:
> >
> >As I understand it, the problem is that fumes from the diesel
> >locomotives come up the stairwells into the main hall of the station,
> >causing the atmosphere to become rather unpleasant. To reduce this,
> >trains approaching the station turn off all unneeded equipment,
> >including lights, ventilation, tilting system, and so on, and more or
> >less coast into the platforms.
Chicago Metra plugs in the trains at night to reduce noise
-Hudson
bras...@despammed.com
hud...@skypoint.com (Hudson Leighton) wrote:
> Chicago Metra plugs in the trains at night to reduce noise
It's not just to reduce noise. It costs a lot less money to plug the
train into the shore power than to run those diesel generator sets.
--
-Glenn Laubaugh
Personal Web Site: http://users.easystreet.com/glennl
Philip Nasadowski
> Although at New York Penn Station they have the platforms below and
> steps/esclators leading down to the platforms. But the lights stay on.
> Maybe they are electric trains.
NY Penn is served only by electric, or dual mode diesels, which run in
electric mode in Penn. Unless it's a special movement or circumstance,
diesels aren't run in Penn.
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