Well, last things first -- the pantograph on the wire train is probably to guarantee grounding in the event of accidental wire energizing. Second -- I would have to wonder if "most" European railroads are electrified. A lot are, to be sure, but I suspect more miles of route are not. And last, but most assuredly not least -- why go to France for a wire train at all? What do they offer that we couldn't do here just as well? We used to use old passenger cars and flat cars with platforms. Seems to me that a couple of old Comets and a trilevel or two would suffice. Your tax dollars at work? (I live in New Hampshire, where we just recently decided to spend several million of my tax dollars to study returning passenger traffic on rails which already exist using passenger equipment which already exists . . . but, I digress.) Randy Brown - -------------------------------------------------------------- While waiting for the train @ Berkeley Hts last week, the Wire Train was parked on the siding across from the station. One thing that I noticed is that the data plate said that it was built in Colmar, France. That doesn't surprise me all that much, since European Railroads are almost entirely electrified, so one would expect that they have more experience building/using this type of equipment. What did surprise me is that just ahead of the work platform to gain access to the catenary, was a pantograph to obtain power from the catenary. If workers are on the platform, working on the catenary, I'm assuming that the power to the catenary is off. If that is the case, how is the Wire Train getting any power via the pantograph? Does it also have a diesel engine in it or is it moved by a diesel locomotive? Mark Bushnell mbushnell_@_mindspring.com The Erie Lackawanna Mailing List http://EL-List.railfan.net/ To Unsubscribe: http://Lists.Railfan.net/erielackunsub.html ------------------------------
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