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Colorado Railcar DMU's

Posted by Dutchrailnut on Sun Dec 14 18:00:11 2008

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About those wonderfull Colorado Railcar DMU's, or another rail blunder.
Colorado trimet had to bail out Colorado Railcar Company

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(720164)

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Re: Colorado Railcar DMU's

Posted by Train Man Paul : Metro-North's Best Conductor FOR ALL 3 LINES!!! on Sun Dec 14 18:17:22 2008, in response to Colorado Railcar DMU's, posted by Dutchrailnut on Sun Dec 14 18:00:11 2008.

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Sounds like a blunder to me!! Could be worse.....MTA could have been interested in, and purchased, some, and been in yet another financial fracas, while owning yet another bunch of lemons (ala DE/DM 30)!!

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(720170)

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Re: Colorado Railcar DMU's

Posted by WillD on Sun Dec 14 18:35:10 2008, in response to Colorado Railcar DMU's, posted by Dutchrailnut on Sun Dec 14 18:00:11 2008.

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Hah, could have built an LRT extension and given those people real service into Portland as opposed to a change at Beaverton without tying themselves to one railcar supplier. I kinda wonder how long the DMU operation will last before it is overwhelmed and they just build the LRT next to it.

Gee, the ridership numbers, the creation of an unneccesary two seat ride, kinda reminicent of a certain project out here. Maybe the agency planning that project should look carefully at TriMet's DMU experience when considering an LRT extension or new DMU line for their route to say, Tenafly.

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(720183)

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Re: Colorado Railcar DMU's

Posted by oaksmodelrr on Sun Dec 14 19:18:34 2008, in response to Colorado Railcar DMU's, posted by Dutchrailnut on Sun Dec 14 18:00:11 2008.

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NJT tried the DMU on the Princeton Dinky

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rPNsy7qdbw

They did a dog and pony show at 30th Street trying to get SEPTA to bite

http://www.trainweb.org/phillynrhs/RPOTW040418.html

Fortunately neither did



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(720207)

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Re: Colorado Railcar DMU's

Posted by trainsarefun on Sun Dec 14 20:04:02 2008, in response to Colorado Railcar DMU's, posted by Dutchrailnut on Sun Dec 14 18:00:11 2008.

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It's scary how far lobbying got CRC.....

Thankfully, AMTK and NJT, among others, didn't swallow that poison pill.

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(720353)

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Re: Colorado Railcar DMUs

Posted by Olog-hai on Sun Dec 14 22:49:00 2008, in response to Re: Colorado Railcar DMU's, posted by trainsarefun on Sun Dec 14 20:04:02 2008.

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Rader's a piece of work, but the DMU concept isn't. Not like BBD or others can't build 'em.

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(720758)

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Re: Colorado Railcar DMU's

Posted by Jersey Mike on Mon Dec 15 17:37:25 2008, in response to Colorado Railcar DMU's, posted by Dutchrailnut on Sun Dec 14 18:00:11 2008.

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They could have tried falling back on Delaware Railcar :-)

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(721177)

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Re: Colorado Railcar DMU's

Posted by Chris R16/R2730 on Tue Dec 16 12:32:04 2008, in response to Re: Colorado Railcar DMU's, posted by trainsarefun on Sun Dec 14 20:04:02 2008.

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However, Amtrak was holding down the state of Vermont, trying to force them to swallow said pill.



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(721179)

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Re: Colorado Railcar DMU's

Posted by Chris R16/R2730 on Tue Dec 16 12:35:43 2008, in response to Re: Colorado Railcar DMU's, posted by oaksmodelrr on Sun Dec 14 19:18:34 2008.

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What could SEPTA possibly do with DMU's? Their lines all use the CC tunnel and must use electricity.

NJT, OTOH could use DMU's for many of it's short haul diesel runs out of Hoboken.

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(721194)

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Re: Colorado Railcar DMU's

Posted by trainsarefun on Tue Dec 16 13:06:32 2008, in response to Re: Colorado Railcar DMU's, posted by Chris R16/R2730 on Tue Dec 16 12:32:04 2008.

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Amtrak was probably best described as ambivalent. You had John Mica - the principal beneficiary of CRC's largesse, as I recall - pushing their leadership to buy CRC, but you had career people at Amtrak raising questions.

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(721195)

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Re: Colorado Railcar DMU's

Posted by Chris R16/R2730 on Tue Dec 16 13:11:21 2008, in response to Re: Colorado Railcar DMU's, posted by trainsarefun on Tue Dec 16 13:06:32 2008.

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Well SOME people were pushing Vermont to purchase CRC's DMU's for the Vermonter route. Good thing the state resisted.

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(721203)

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Re: Colorado Railcar DMU's

Posted by trainsarefun on Tue Dec 16 13:24:25 2008, in response to Re: Colorado Railcar DMU's, posted by Chris R16/R2730 on Tue Dec 16 13:11:21 2008.

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Good thing, indeed.

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(721253)

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Re: Colorado Railcar DMU's

Posted by chuchubob on Tue Dec 16 14:09:06 2008, in response to Re: Colorado Railcar DMU's, posted by Chris R16/R2730 on Tue Dec 16 12:35:43 2008.

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SDEPTA could use DMU's for their Reading-Norristown service with same-platform transfer to the R6 to Center City.

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(721300)

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Re: Colorado Railcar DMU's

Posted by oaksmodelrr on Tue Dec 16 16:15:13 2008, in response to Re: Colorado Railcar DMU's, posted by Chris R16/R2730 on Tue Dec 16 12:35:43 2008.

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Over the past decade or two, DMU service has been proposed for the Schuylkill Valley Metro to Reading, Quakertown Shuttle between Quakertown and Lansdale, even for the resurrection of the Crusader Service to Jersey City and north of Fox Chase on the Newtown Branch, basically everywhere the Reading RDC's used to run.

Right now the SVM and the QS proposals are still alive, barely.

The Quakertown Shuttle
http://www.rushbus.org/tmawebsitetemp/bctma/BCTMA%20Business%20Plan%20FINAL.pdf

Schuylkill Valley Metro
http://www.svmetro.com/svm/


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(721303)

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Re: Colorado Railcar DMU's

Posted by kp5308 on Tue Dec 16 16:21:28 2008, in response to Re: Colorado Railcar DMU's, posted by chuchubob on Tue Dec 16 14:09:06 2008.

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SDEPTA could use DMU's for their Reading-Norristown service

That service would do better with a Reading-style consist of a locomotive on each end of an, oh say 8 to 10 car consist, which could be covered with shorter trains of the same equipment for lighter ridership. If the Reading/Pottstown route ever gets up & running, it's gonna get heavy usage. When it was discontinued, ridership was on the rise despite no advertising & dirty equipment.

I still think it should run down the Norristown line to the 16th St/N Broad connection on the NEC. A little track reconfiguration at the ex-PRR Chestnut Hill-NEC junction gets the train to the lower level of 30th St.


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(721306)

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Re: Colorado Railcar DMU's

Posted by kp5308 on Tue Dec 16 16:39:27 2008, in response to Re: Colorado Railcar DMU's, posted by oaksmodelrr on Tue Dec 16 16:15:13 2008.

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Right now the SVM and the QS proposals are still alive, barely.

SVM IS dead. There was this in the October 15th Reading Eagle that is a more realistic goal:

"Establishing passenger train service from Wyomissing to the Philadelphia suburbs would cost about $500 million, according to transportation studies. The service would provide seven round trips a day.

The current light-rail proposal is a trimmed-down version of the Schuylkill Valley Metro, a failed effort to create passenger rail service from Wyomissing to Philadelphia. At an estimated cost of $2 billion, the metro project never got off the drawing board."

I think they should get off the light rail kick, begin negotiations with NS, and actually start making some progress.


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(721354)

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Re: Colorado Railcar DMU's

Posted by The I Man on Tue Dec 16 19:16:33 2008, in response to Colorado Railcar DMU's, posted by Dutchrailnut on Sun Dec 14 18:00:11 2008.

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There are plenty of models of successful DMU's, to be purchased from foreign builders to make a good case for their use here in the United States. Hell, the technology is 50 years old(older if you count RDC's)

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(721456)

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Re: Colorado Railcar DMU's

Posted by Olog-hai on Tue Dec 16 22:25:20 2008, in response to Re: Colorado Railcar DMU's, posted by The I Man on Tue Dec 16 19:16:33 2008.

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Hell, the technology is 50 years old (older if you count RDCs)

Older still if you count diesel doodlebugs. As well as DMUs from other countries.

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(721457)

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Re: Colorado Railcar DMUs

Posted by Olog-hai on Tue Dec 16 22:26:35 2008, in response to Re: Colorado Railcar DMU's, posted by trainsarefun on Tue Dec 16 13:06:32 2008.

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You had John Mica - the principal beneficiary of CRC's largesse, as I recall

If CRC is indicative of Mica's support, imagine where "privately-funded HSR" is headed, if indeed any ever gets built.

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(721460)

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Re: Colorado Railcar DMUs

Posted by Olog-hai on Tue Dec 16 22:33:33 2008, in response to Re: Colorado Railcar DMU's, posted by Chris R16/R2730 on Tue Dec 16 13:11:21 2008.

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The Vermonter needs to become the Montrealer again. Sad that RR-rebuilding is not really in vogue and we're still into rail-trailing these days.

As for DMUs, Amtrak has been there and done that, certainly. These ones even were dual-mode. (Dunno if they ever ran into NYP, though.)



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(721479)

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Re: Colorado Railcar DMUs

Posted by NIMBYkiller on Tue Dec 16 23:21:57 2008, in response to Re: Colorado Railcar DMUs, posted by Olog-hai on Tue Dec 16 22:33:33 2008.

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WOAH! Those are awesome. Any of those units still exist?

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(721483)

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Re: Colorado Railcar DMUs

Posted by R30A on Tue Dec 16 23:36:00 2008, in response to Re: Colorado Railcar DMUs, posted by NIMBYkiller on Tue Dec 16 23:21:57 2008.

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Yup. At DRM.

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(721531)

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Re: Colorado Railcar DMU's

Posted by The I Man on Wed Dec 17 00:59:39 2008, in response to Re: Colorado Railcar DMU's, posted by Olog-hai on Tue Dec 16 22:25:20 2008.

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Most of the Doodlebugs that I'm aware of were gas powered.

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(721553)

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Re: Colorado Railcar DMU's

Posted by Olog-hai on Wed Dec 17 01:40:38 2008, in response to Re: Colorado Railcar DMU's, posted by The I Man on Wed Dec 17 00:59:39 2008.

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There were indeed gasoline-powered doodlebugs, and there were a plethora of diesel-powered ones too.

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(721557)

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Re: Colorado Railcar DMUs

Posted by Olog-hai on Wed Dec 17 01:50:32 2008, in response to Re: Colorado Railcar DMUs, posted by NIMBYkiller on Tue Dec 16 23:21:57 2008.

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They have the restored Roger WIlliams RDCs at the Danbury Railway Museum. They look unique even when put next to "normal" RDCs in the same McGinnis colors (not my fav) . . .





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(721616)

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Re: Colorado Railcar DMU's

Posted by chuchubob on Wed Dec 17 07:50:05 2008, in response to Re: Colorado Railcar DMU's, posted by Olog-hai on Wed Dec 17 01:40:38 2008.

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There were indeed gasoline-powered doodlebugs, and there were a plethora of diesel-powered ones too.


The standard gauge gasoline powered doodlebugs were banned after a grade crossing collision and subsequent fire killed passengers; the gas-electrics were converted to diesel or were taken out of service.
That's how the East Broad Top three-foot gauge M-1 became the only operating gas-electric doodlebug in North America, since the law specified standard gauge.

photos at Orbisonia, PA, from Oct 11, 2008



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(721619)

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Re: Colorado Railcar DMU's

Posted by Avid Reader on Wed Dec 17 08:29:23 2008, in response to Re: Colorado Railcar DMU's, posted by chuchubob on Wed Dec 17 07:50:05 2008.

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Hey Bob, didn't you have some outstanding shots of some pennsylvania doodlebugs about one year ago?

avid

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(721636)

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Re: Colorado Railcar DMU's

Posted by chuchubob on Wed Dec 17 09:17:18 2008, in response to Re: Colorado Railcar DMU's, posted by Avid Reader on Wed Dec 17 08:29:23 2008.

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Wow, what a memory!
Wilmington & Western, Sept 22, 2007











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(721767)

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Re: Colorado Railcar DMU's

Posted by NIMBYkiller on Wed Dec 17 14:23:13 2008, in response to Re: Colorado Railcar DMU's, posted by chuchubob on Wed Dec 17 09:17:18 2008.

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I can't get over the fact that they retired cars like these with no active replacements. It came down to if a line couldn't support a full train, service was terminated. There's no operating of single car trains like these despite the fact that they could be used to provide service to low ridership lines.

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(721796)

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Re: Colorado Railcar DMU's

Posted by WillD on Wed Dec 17 15:21:53 2008, in response to Re: Colorado Railcar DMU's, posted by The I Man on Tue Dec 16 19:16:33 2008.

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Yeah, like the GTW 2/6s the Riverline uses. Oops, sorry, those are a sensible design as opposed to an FRA tank.

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(721800)

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Re: Colorado Railcar DMU's

Posted by kp5308 on Wed Dec 17 15:30:59 2008, in response to Re: Colorado Railcar DMU's, posted by chuchubob on Wed Dec 17 09:17:18 2008.

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That was a good trip.........



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(722271)

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Re: Colorado Railcar DMU's

Posted by The I Man on Thu Dec 18 06:39:30 2008, in response to Re: Colorado Railcar DMU's, posted by chuchubob on Wed Dec 17 09:17:18 2008.

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Great pics.

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(722273)

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Re: Colorado Railcar DMU's

Posted by The I Man on Thu Dec 18 06:47:03 2008, in response to Re: Colorado Railcar DMU's, posted by chuchubob on Wed Dec 17 07:50:05 2008.

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I do not remember the track gauge, but in August I rode the Skunk Train out of Fort Bragg, California. Riders can opt for a full days ride and transfer from the steam train to a gas powered car about midway through the line. The car got its nickname from the stinky emissions that come out of the exhaust.

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(722308)

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Re: Colorado Railcar DMU's

Posted by chuchubob on Thu Dec 18 08:27:19 2008, in response to Re: Colorado Railcar DMU's, posted by The I Man on Thu Dec 18 06:47:03 2008.

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The Skunk Train M-80 is a Mack rail bus, not a Doodlebug.
More locally, the 1930 Brill M-55 motor car, is gasoline powered, having been re-engined with a Chevy V-8.
photographed on the Black River & Western at Ringoes and Flemington, NJ




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(722311)

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Re: Colorado Railcar DMU's

Posted by SUBWAYMAN on Thu Dec 18 08:44:03 2008, in response to Re: Colorado Railcar DMU's, posted by chuchubob on Wed Dec 17 07:50:05 2008.

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TMNY has a doodlebug gas car originally from Remington Arms. The car is in the barn being repaired. It is expected to be in running soon.

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(722328)

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Re: Colorado Railcar DMU's

Posted by kp5308 on Thu Dec 18 09:14:59 2008, in response to Re: Colorado Railcar DMU's, posted by chuchubob on Thu Dec 18 08:27:19 2008.

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having been re-engined with a Chevy V-8.

Not just any Chevy V-8, but a worked "Rat" 396!


The LO&S car at Strasburg is powered by a Chrysler 440!
(this photo from Hector's file)


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(722562)

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Re: Colorado Railcar DMU's

Posted by Olog-hai on Thu Dec 18 17:55:32 2008, in response to Re: Colorado Railcar DMU's, posted by kp5308 on Thu Dec 18 09:14:59 2008.

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That's quite an advertisement for big-block motors. "If they can power this 100,000+ lb doodlebug, imagine what they'll do under the hood of your car" . . .

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