SEPTA's New locos

Dan Padova posted:

There was a short piece, on NPR this morning about SEPTA's new electric locomotives.  In the report the present locos were mentioned.  They did not mention the AEM-7s by name, but I believe they are the ones being talked about.  Apparently the AEM-7 locos have been giving SEPTA alot of headaches.  I had always thought they were very reliable and quite powerful for their size.  Am I missing something ?  

Yes. The age of the AEM-7 electrics, is probably well past 30 years, and is the reason that Amtrak is replacing all of their AEM-7s.

Before anyone points out the obvious void between my ears, let me be the first to acknowledge the fact.....LOL

I must admit, however, that I have no clue what the "new locomotives" on SEPT are called, or when they began receiving them, i.e. they are NOT "AEM-7".

The newbies are ACS-64's.

Rusty

Should have been painted Eagle green with a bird on the front.

Gerry

What routes will these be used on? 

Nah Gerry; if they were a real Iggle fan they’d be painted green and “flipping  the bird”.  😉

Curt

Say, Amtrak should borrow one and run it on a train to SOUTH STATION!

I'll have to see if I can dig up NPR the article, but Amtrak retired their AEM7's last year due to age and heavy mileage  Average service life was in the range of 35 years.  To put it in perspective the average service life of the GG1 was about 40 years.  Not a bad record.  Septa still has a few operational ones, but having been in commuter service with shorter distances between stop's I'm sure they are well past their prime even though they were purchased later than Amtrak's.  

The replacement Siemens ACS-64 is same locomotive powers all non-Acela Amtrak electric trains reliably.  At a 6,700 hp continuous rating and short term overload rating of 8,600 hp, these are pretty powerful motors.

gmorlitz posted:

Should have been painted Eagle green with a bird on the front.

Gerry

I agree with Gerry,

Dave

Btw, I saw some of them near 30th street near downtown Philly about a month ago. 

Is there some sort of contract that the electric locomotives SEPTA uses are of a type Amtrak uses?  Who maintains them?  Amtrak or SEPTA?

How about a loco wrapped for Rocky???  No question that the loco is strong now!

Based on the photo, not a bad looking locomotive !