4 ms·

Much of the side-to-side jerking is a combination of the poor suspension on the trucks (bogies) of the older Gallery train cars and fast running over track swit

by nhf 7y ago

Much of the side-to-side jerking is a combination of the poor suspension on the trucks (bogies) of the older Gallery train cars and fast running over track switches. The Gallery cars are the ones that look like steel toasters. If you take a ride in one of the "newer" Bombardier cars (the octagonal ones) the ride is much smoother and the bumps are almost imperceptible with little swaying. I'd imagine the new trains post-electrification will also be much better on the suspension front.

carlob 7y ago
> I'd imagine the new trains post-electrification will also be much better on the suspension front. So right now this is still Diesel?
- amluto 7y ago
  Yes. It’ll be a couple years before Caltrain has electric trains.
- inferiorhuman 7y ago
  Yep. Towns along the peninsula (looking at you Atherton) are fighting electrification (as well as grade separation) tooth and nail.
  - Symbiote 7y ago
    Why? What's the disadvantage for them? Just the installation cost?
    - inferiorhuman 7y ago
      Mostly they don't want to mingle with the hoi polloi. Atherton (not Belmont – all those shitty little peninsula towns blend together in my mind) sued because they didn't want trees removed to make way for overhead wires (the claim was that "cleaner" diesel would be better than electric)[0]. Then they sued because the poles were going to be 10 ft higher than promised[1]. Another Atherton resident[2] sued because he wanted Union Pacific to explicitly approve everything beforehand. More dreck[3]. Caltrain's getting sued left and right over the electrification, starved for money by BART, and generally ignored by politicians. If you're ever curious about why Bay Area transit is as bad as it is, Caltrain is a great case study. 0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrification_of_Caltrain#Lawsuits https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrification_of_Caltrain#La... 1: https://www.almanacnews.com/news/2017/12/21/atherton-battling-caltrain-over-electrification-poles https://www.almanacnews.com/news/2017/12/21/atherton-battlin... 2: http://www.cahsrblog.com/2009/08/another-peninsula-nimby-lawsuit/ http://www.cahsrblog.com/2009/08/another-peninsula-nimby-law... 3: https://caltrain-hsr.blogspot.com/2009/08/atherton-et-al-lawsuit-decided.html https://caltrain-hsr.blogspot.com/2009/08/atherton-et-al-law...
      - deleted 7y ago
        [deleted]
      - winkeyless 7y ago
        Not hard to see what their real intent was. When some have the freedom of protecting their private land, others end up with the freedom of riding diesel only, underfunded trains. The liberty of some seems greater than others’.
        inferiorhuman 7y ago
        I wonder a bit though as advocating for diesels service seems a bit like they're shooting themselves in the foot, at least in terms of air quality.
      - winkeyless 7y ago
        Belmont at least has some density and Main Street. Atherton’s density is 1/4 of Belmont’s and it occupied the very center of SV. Atherton 1,438.97/sq mi (555.53/km2) Belmont 5,843.98/sq mi (2,256.45/km2) San Mateo 8,570.40/sq mi (3,309.14/km2)
      - inferiorhuman 7y ago
        To make matters even more frustrating, Atherton starved their Caltrain station to death: https://www.almanacnews.com/news/2020/01/17/atherton-signs-off-on-caltrain-proposal-to-permanently-close-its-train-station https://www.almanacnews.com/news/2020/01/17/atherton-signs-o...
inferiorhuman 7y ago
Much of the side-to-side jerking is a combination of the poor suspension on the trucks (bogies) of the older Gallery train cars and fast running over track switches. The Gallery cars are the ones that look like steel toasters. I imagine there's also quite a bit of hunting / side-to-side movement as well. BART tried to solve this with flat wheels, and after forty years of complaints came to the conclusion that flat wheels wear the track down more and cause significant noise. They've since cut a conical profile (like most rail operators) into the wheels under the guise of reducing noise. I can't hear much difference but the side-to-side motion is quite a bit more dramatic than I remember. If you take a ride in one of the "newer" Bombardier cars (the octagonal ones) the ride is much smoother and the bumps are almost imperceptible with little swaying. I'd imagine the new trains post-electrification will also be much better on the suspension front. It's been almost a decade since I've ridden Caltrain with any regularity but I don't remember being particularly enamored with how the Bombardier cars rode. If anything they rode firmer than the Nippon Sharyo cars over the bumps but had less lateral movement as a consequence. I remember there being quite a bit of variation (there are three distinct batches of them after all) – something you used to see with Muni buses. The German ones (Neoplan) touted their complex (independent) front suspension, and there was a huge variation in ride comfort with some being downright scary. The Hungarian (Ikarus) ones with their simpler solid axle up front seemed more consistently comfortable.

by nhf 7y ago

Much of the side-to-side jerking is a combination of the poor suspension on the trucks (bogies) of the older Gallery train cars and fast running over track switches. The Gallery cars are the ones that look like steel toasters. If you take a ride in one of the "newer" Bombardier cars (the octagonal ones) the ride is much smoother and the bumps are almost imperceptible with little swaying. I'd imagine the new trains post-electrification will also be much better on the suspension front.

carlob 7y ago

> I'd imagine the new trains post-electrification will also be much better on the suspension front. So right now this is still Diesel?

amluto 7y ago
Yes. It’ll be a couple years before Caltrain has electric trains.
inferiorhuman 7y ago
Yep. Towns along the peninsula (looking at you Atherton) are fighting electrification (as well as grade separation) tooth and nail.
- Symbiote 7y ago
  Why? What's the disadvantage for them? Just the installation cost?
  - inferiorhuman 7y ago
    Mostly they don't want to mingle with the hoi polloi. Atherton (not Belmont – all those shitty little peninsula towns blend together in my mind) sued because they didn't want trees removed to make way for overhead wires (the claim was that "cleaner" diesel would be better than electric)[0]. Then they sued because the poles were going to be 10 ft higher than promised[1]. Another Atherton resident[2] sued because he wanted Union Pacific to explicitly approve everything beforehand. More dreck[3]. Caltrain's getting sued left and right over the electrification, starved for money by BART, and generally ignored by politicians. If you're ever curious about why Bay Area transit is as bad as it is, Caltrain is a great case study. 0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrification_of_Caltrain#Lawsuits https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrification_of_Caltrain#La... 1: https://www.almanacnews.com/news/2017/12/21/atherton-battling-caltrain-over-electrification-poles https://www.almanacnews.com/news/2017/12/21/atherton-battlin... 2: http://www.cahsrblog.com/2009/08/another-peninsula-nimby-lawsuit/ http://www.cahsrblog.com/2009/08/another-peninsula-nimby-law... 3: https://caltrain-hsr.blogspot.com/2009/08/atherton-et-al-lawsuit-decided.html https://caltrain-hsr.blogspot.com/2009/08/atherton-et-al-law...
    - deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
    - winkeyless 7y ago
      Not hard to see what their real intent was. When some have the freedom of protecting their private land, others end up with the freedom of riding diesel only, underfunded trains. The liberty of some seems greater than others’.
      - inferiorhuman 7y ago
        I wonder a bit though as advocating for diesels service seems a bit like they're shooting themselves in the foot, at least in terms of air quality.
    - winkeyless 7y ago
      Belmont at least has some density and Main Street. Atherton’s density is 1/4 of Belmont’s and it occupied the very center of SV. Atherton 1,438.97/sq mi (555.53/km2) Belmont 5,843.98/sq mi (2,256.45/km2) San Mateo 8,570.40/sq mi (3,309.14/km2)
    - inferiorhuman 7y ago
      To make matters even more frustrating, Atherton starved their Caltrain station to death: https://www.almanacnews.com/news/2020/01/17/atherton-signs-off-on-caltrain-proposal-to-permanently-close-its-train-station https://www.almanacnews.com/news/2020/01/17/atherton-signs-o...

inferiorhuman 7y ago

Much of the side-to-side jerking is a combination of the poor suspension on the trucks (bogies) of the older Gallery train cars and fast running over track switches. The Gallery cars are the ones that look like steel toasters. I imagine there's also quite a bit of hunting / side-to-side movement as well. BART tried to solve this with flat wheels, and after forty years of complaints came to the conclusion that flat wheels wear the track down more and cause significant noise. They've since cut a conical profile (like most rail operators) into the wheels under the guise of reducing noise. I can't hear much difference but the side-to-side motion is quite a bit more dramatic than I remember. If you take a ride in one of the "newer" Bombardier cars (the octagonal ones) the ride is much smoother and the bumps are almost imperceptible with little swaying. I'd imagine the new trains post-electrification will also be much better on the suspension front. It's been almost a decade since I've ridden Caltrain with any regularity but I don't remember being particularly enamored with how the Bombardier cars rode. If anything they rode firmer than the Nippon Sharyo cars over the bumps but had less lateral movement as a consequence. I remember there being quite a bit of variation (there are three distinct batches of them after all) – something you used to see with Muni buses. The German ones (Neoplan) touted their complex (independent) front suspension, and there was a huge variation in ride comfort with some being downright scary. The Hungarian (Ikarus) ones with their simpler solid axle up front seemed more consistently comfortable.