SAN CARLOS, Calif. — Caltrain has retired 32 of its bilevel gallery commuter railcars to make room for coming electrified equipment, sending them to Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit for storage until a buyer can be found, the agency has announced.
The nearly 40-year-old cars were built in San Francisco by Nippon Sharyo and entered service in 1985 when service was still operated by Caltrans. The move was necessary to create space at the agency’s Central Equipment Maintenance and Operations Facility, a 20-acre facility built on the former site of Southern Pacific’s Lenzen Street roundhouse. Just eight of what will eventually be 23 electric trainsets are on hand; the departure of the Nippon Sharyo cars, which were not in service, will insure enough room for the new equipment and that used for current operations.
The agency hosted a small event for the public and rail fans at the Santa Clara Station Historic Rail Museum to send off the equipment. The Nippon-Sharyo cars which remain in service are slated to be retired with the start of electrified operations this fall.
I am now officially old, I remember when these where the new cars for Caltrain and they replaced the old SP pre-ww2 commuter cars.
Welcome to my world. I remember when the E-L Rwy finally replaced their old Stillwell commuter coaches pulled by Alco RS2s, with NJ Transit state-of-the-art push-pulls, circa 1970s. One could watch the ties go by looking down the Stillwell coachs’ toilets. I’ll bet those 1970s push-pulls are now ancient history as well. Ehh sonny…lol!
i hope these gallery cars find new homes
I’d be willing to wager Metra will pick them up as a stopgap measure until their new cars from Alstom are delivered. The VAST majority of Metra’s coach fleet are decades older than these cars.
Maybe Amtrak could buy some to use on the Saluki and Illini so the current Superliners operating on those trains can go into long distance trains.
Not likely. Parts for certain critical functions are getting harder to locate. One specific issue (for these cars) is the compressor/condenser system for the air conditioning system. Being 40 years old they use a legacy refrigerant that is extremely expensive now. Replacement of just that system alone would run 6 figures per car.
As for luxury use, by the time you strip it down and gut the interior for an all new install, you are getting into serious dollar. What would be better is if someone came along and bid out to upgrade *all* of them to cut the costs and time per car. RailXpress proposed this for their LA-LV service before they sold out to Brightline West.
John Rice; if all they need is wheel sets to trip the track circuits there is no need for HVAC systems. Just in gauge wheels and brakes.
Then any flatbed or old gondola can do that. Don’t need a gallery car just to trip a circuit.
Perhaps several will be repurposed for the luxury overnight trains between SF and LA?
Don’t doubt they’d be looking at these. These so-called premium trains often repurpose worn-out equipment of sometimes dodgy structural condition.
Snomoa- Using your lawnmower to clear snow from your driveway.