Surfliner is still very much Cooked - The 5008 Show |S2|E3|

[@BettyAcheampongthirdchannel]

Something tells me that if the Pacific Surfliner is going to get canceled then they need to bring back the amfleets horizons and f59phi locomotives.

[@GamingRailfanner]

Daily reminder this is Amtrak's second best corridor.. **And it's dying**

[@marcocampos2332]

And if dies then San Joaquin is gonna take it's place as 2nd best

[@GarbageTrucksofOxnard]

Every single day, we're one step closer to having no Surfliner service, not even a single train passing by

[@GarbageTrucksofOxnard]

And the crazy part is I clicked the word Surfliner, and showed the previous video of Surfliner is cooked

[@LuisUrbieta]

What locomotives & cabcars are completely perfect​@@GarbageTrucksofOxnard

[@GarbageTrucksofOxnard]

​​@@LuisUrbietaThe last time I heard a problem of a cabcar was 6907 with a broken window, the last time I heard a problem of the Siemens Chorger was 2119 needed vague repairs. 2121 has been dead for probably more than a year and 2118 took a shit and decided to die

[@LuisUrbieta]

@@GarbageTrucksofOxnard I was asking, what type of locomotives are 100% problem free or cabcars that are perfect? Plz reply

[@GarbageTrucksofOxnard]

At some point, the cabcars had an issue

[@maas1208]

If I had a Nickel for every time an F40PH that has the number 215 caught on fire, I'd have 2 Nickels which isn't a lot but it's weird it happened twice

[@FreedomtowerStudios]

Those Comets are ex-NJ Transit Comet 1Bs. As much as i wish they were still on NJ Transit, im glad to see they are still alive!

[@TrainsTrashTrucks]

1:58 the train equivalent of taking a bath with a toaster is the right phrase to use nice one🤣🤣

[@ThePacificRailfan777]

That’s not the train equivalent that’s the whole railroad equivalent

[@SleepTrain456]

As usual, I found this quite informative! I've seen a Comet set a couple months ago (I have a video about it on my channel), and I found it interesting. Now, I know that Comets, P42DCs, P32-8WHs, etc. are very common, and why: the regular equipment is having so many problems! Thanks for the video!

[@Frank-c6p]

This is the greatest episode I have ever seen.

[@railtechadventurer]

The rolling stock calamity for the Pacific Surfliner seriously needs to come to an end. Those Comet coaches have already entered their own era of preservation, and we need these Chargers and other modern lower emitting locomotives for rail progress. Siemens needs to help out with their SC-44 fleet, and soon the service will have a few more trains added back plus more in the future for service expansion. The Dash 8's and F40PH-NPCU's have been used since the 1970's and 90's, and they will need replacements too plus the P42's being phased out since the older diesels produce more emissions. 2117, 2118 and 2121 need to be inspected and maintained properly for the upcoming schedule changes, and Caltrans still needs to purchase new double-decker coaches for the Amtrak California routes.

[@djmasterty2309]

That’s well said.

[@dexecuter18]

The problem is how you meet T4 emissions standards on a two stroke motor kills it pretty quickly. Its either electrify or use something that isn't forcing unburned exhaust back into the engine.

[@djmasterty2309]

@ or diesel exhaust fluid added to the locomotive prime mover. Like that of what the newer semi trucks use I would like to think.

[@brianhubert8418]

I live on the Hudson Line portion of the Empire Corridor and on a quick trip to Rensselaer the other day I noticed a whole rake of Horizon Fleets have shown up at the yard at The Rensselaer facility. I was wondering which are worse these California Comets or the Horizon Fleets? I’ll say the Horizon’s are the worst Amtrak equipment I’ve ridden. Also they don’t mess around with NPCUs here just two P32 AC-DMs one on each end and both online. Having two does seem to help a bit with the P32s anemic acceleration. Who knows maybe we’ll even get the Hippo NPCUs?

[@AmtrakNerd42]

The comments may be pretty common down there, but up here I’ve just been praying they come up the same day I’m railfaning. All I’ve seen so far, was a commet straggler in July, 90225 covering for 6907 in September, and 509 idling in November. I haven’t seen a full set yet :(.

[@AmtrakFunkandDiscoFan]

I guess either Metrolink, Metra, Sounder, Caltrain, GO Transit, or even New Jersey Transit should lease to lease their older equipment to the Pacific Surfliner.

[@RailsofCaliV2]

I think Amtrak California would be nice

[@AmtrakFunkandDiscoFan]

@@RailsofCaliV2 Bro, Amtrak California would NOT want their F59PHIs outside of NorCal because the San Joaquins and Capitol Corridor need them.

[@GamingRailfanner]

GO wouldn't be leasing any out right now, they're in the middle of refurbishing coaches. Also GOs BiLevels have a higher voltage input than regular coaches. So unless GO would be willing to send down some of their locomotives (Absolutely not), they wouldn't.

[@TheAmtrakSpartan]

@@AmtrakFunkandDiscoFanWHY DID CDTX 2007 GO OUT OF NORCAL LIKE 3 TIMES? Oh well, I guess we need CDTX 2007, some NorCal Coaches and 8309 to be on the Surfliner.

[@AmtrakFunkandDiscoFan]

@TheAmtrakSpartan Well, I mean CDTX F59PHIs had led a few Coast Starlights a few times. Even a Caltrain F40PH-2 and an MPI MP36PH-3C helping a Coast Starlight back in August of 2004.

[@oberkuhl4077]

The common denominator is Amtrak's pathetic attempt at maintenance.

[@OfficialCRR-Fan3625]

As part of the Cummins family, I'll say once and only once, CDTX 2117 is coming for ya!

[@TexasSoCalRailfan9021]

Yep!

[@M_Miles]

very important 3pm glass of milk

[@hollistherailfan]

it’s a good day to be in the midwest

[@LongIslandRailfanner]

it's either Surfliner gets a maintenance contract, or they stop buying shit from Siemens and they better start choosing

[@citxsd70m-2]

Something tells me that Amtrak should just ignore the “equipment is old” part, if they really want to get newer stuff working properly. If the old stuff works, it works, just use it for now until proper maintenance is done on newer equipment.

[@gdrriley420]

They got their interior entirely gut and redone a decade ago. Much of the mechanical systems were upgraded to be like horizons at the same time.

[@MarioYoshi4723]

It's clear there needs to be a MAJOR overhaul for the Surfliner's maintenance. Things like Brightline's equipment run near flawlessly daily. I'm not suggesting privatization, far from it, but SOMETHING needs to be done before all trains are put out of service.

[@InventorZahran]

If I remember correctly, Brightline have a contract with Siemens for maintenance, so their trains are serviced by experts from the company that built it. Whereas Amtrak mostly does their own maintenance, and works their equipment harder between service intervals.

[@FanoftrainsfromCA]

The fact the stuff like the Dash-8's and NPCU's arent that speical anymore is both not bad and pretty bad at the same time

[@Metrolink936]

Well it’s kinda a common thing to see 3 P42’s and 1 comet car set a day

[@dexecuter18]

If you have maintenance issues with a motorless F40PH. Its a skill issue. -NJT and Metra gang.

[@maestromecanico597]

When was the last time the Comet/Arrow 1s in service? IF they were sidelined for over 30 days with no inspection THEN they would need a single car air test, one per car, prior to return to service. If so then, who pays the labor for that? As for the QSK95, never had one “blow up” on me. That is a sign of improper maintenance.

[@zhiracs]

clearly the solution is to switch to Bombardier bi-levels and GEVOs

[@AroyalOfficalYT]

How to fix ur surfliner: uhhhh idk 90225 go Brrrrrr

[@ThePacificRailfan777]

What are odds that a NPCU caught on fire?

[@InventorZahran]

Santa Barbara County wanted to get more train service but Surfliner doesn't have any spare trains, so they had to make a deal with Metrolink instead!

[@TheMilwaukeeRoad]

6:25 amtrak cascades sent in 90340 because of one singular axle that caused a ride to be slightly abnormal and it took a full calendar year to finish the repairs. pretty crazy since they didnt take 90250 out of service after the left side of the nose basically caved in after slamming into a truck

[@Hahlen]

7:05 it’s so cute. It doesn’t know that it shouldn’t exist.

[@Bayarearailphotos]

Honey 5008 posted a new video!!

[@ASoCalRailfanner]

Amtrak is about to go back and ask metra for their f59s back again.

[@InventorZahran]

Why do you think Metra only buys EMD? 'Cause they don't break like these goddarn chorgers!

[@TheRandCrews]

@@InventorZahranseems like a Amtrak problem if Via Rail and Brightline isn’t having any problems like these

[@Fullerton_Railfan7706]

I’d be happy to see even 503 trailing any day of the week :D

[@gdrriley420]

It’s time to lease the 5 full horizon cafe cars, 16 horizon coaches to make 5 sets of 6 cars and 1 cafe one set can be a maintenance spare. Those aren’t even battery FLIRTs those are hydrogen FLIRTs. So far we haven’t seen any diesel, battery, OCS tri mode flirts which might make sense for some service

[@alexrobison19]

The 215 is the worst cabbage in the fleet. Rough ride, Speedo and PTC losing sync, super loud in the cab when setting air and blowing the horn the list goes on. Ran it once last summer and we wrote it up for ride quality. then it sat in the yard until yall took it. Not cash money at all that they sent it back up here and seems to still not be working it’s been sidelined again 😂

[@de-fault_de-fault]

So the "Comets," for anyone who doesn't know, are ex-NJ Transit Comet 1B's, which is another way of saying they are ex-ex Penn Central Arrow 1's. The way this is going there might still be Arrow 1's still on the rails (albeit long since de-electrified) when the Arrow 3's are retired. It's kind of a race to see which repeatedly-delayed retirement comes first. The real loser is the Arrow 2's, which were straight up scrapped once NJT had enough Arrow 3's and push-pull sets not to need them anymore.

[@seantoris1763]

Guess the old stuff is just better 😅

[@Surfliner-Studios]

As long as 2113 doesn’t brake down… Also how do you know if they’re broken down/out of service?

[@davidjackson7281]

Good informative video again. I have subscribed. Question please. It sounds like Oakland Mechanical is very competent. Where does the Surfliner usually have the repairs and maintenance done? Were the Surfliner to continue north beyond SLO the service could be relocated perhaps.

[@FireBuffAndRailfan]

5:30 I think that’s a tamle not a burrito 😭🙏

[@MakeItWithCalvin]

California: Buy this new "Tier whatever engine" Surflier: Buys new engine. California: SIKE! Turns out the new "Tier whatever engine" is low emissions since it never works! HA HAAAA! If only we had trains that ran reliably, then maybe ppl would ride it. What a concept!

[@TysonIke]

Ik its a big investment, but they gotta just bite the bullet and start electrifying the corridor and adding tunnel bypasses so it will be fine in 10-15 years. In the short term get some of Caltrain’s stuff they don’t need 9 diesel engines

[@mrvwbug4423]

But CalTrans refuses to string up wire, they're obsessed with battery and fuel cell trains. Trying to techbro Californias rail network is clearly not going to work.

[@randomtransitadventures]

i like the chargers

[@mrvwbug4423]

Unlike P42s and F40s, the Chargers do not thrive on neglect haha, and even then P42 turbo seals might leave the chat with too much deferred maintenance haha. And they have to likely make this stuff last until after 2030, since they sure as hell aren't getting any federal money for new rolling stock, and CalTrans is probably going to put 100% of their rail budget into CAHSR as they're not getting any more federal help for that project either.

[@Rainy_Sky2004]

Shouldn’t have gotten rid of the f59phis lol

[@FerromexGEVO]

fr

[@ludwigtails]

Wait so I am not familiar with the US rail scene here. But I am just curious. Massively used equipment breaking like the… surfliner cars (correct me if I am wrong on their names) and the chargers constantly breaks down (why and how? Are they not maintained well or are they simply poorly looked after?) and old stuff are here to replace them. What’s with the issue of fixing that cab unit within 12 hours? It sounded like is a problem or is said problem that it didn’t sound like they had a proper through check? And caltrains addiction with batteries trains is it? Tbh are they getting any new carriages? And not BMU/EMUs to boost their existing fleet?

[@JINX_Was_Taken]

Welp idk how comets are normalized now

[@CDTX2052offical]

2117 is the one who sidelined me!!!!!!!

[@MichaelRailfan2808]

What..

[@CDTX2052offical]

Yeah as I think

[@CDTX2052offical]

I can't remember

[@MichaelRailfan2808]

@@CDTX2052offical why are you speaking like the actual engine a piece of metal did something to you.

[@CDTX2052offical]

Yeah I am a locomotive. serial no is 46838. I was build in 1991. I actually don't know who sidelined me. I was running a Surfliner in 2018 and then my engine broke. I was really in a good condition. But somehow my engine broke. They didn't even repaired me!!!!!! I HATE my life being on a storage yard!!!!!!

[@stationshunter]

It's going to go one of two ways they're going to draught in rolling stock from across the system borrow equipment from the commuter lines they run with or just go screw it. Also the battery electric stabler flirts even if they're not the best it's something they are probably going to be the Pacers of the network.

[@mrvwbug4423]

Pacers would launch off the rails on a US rail line haha. They ain't called the bouncy bus for nothing, even on much better maintained UK rails.

[@NorthbayTransit43]

COOKED 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥noooo

[@mamarussellthepie3995]

Gotta love it when the old reliable (Cabbages and P42s) still slap harder than will smith 😂 Maybe if there were some big pool of like 20 something up to date F40s and some sort of fleet of reliable and religeously used passenger cars (ideally going to us transit instead of other countries) somewhere nearby that could be used for pennies on the dollar for what they were bought for, than they could use those ;)

[@mrvwbug4423]

California isn't about to let CalTrans use F40s which have lived their entire lives in California. And gallery cars ... on surliner ... haha.

[@mamarussellthepie3995]

@mrvwbug4423 ironic 😉 Tbh, while the pursuit of instant net0 is noble, in the meantime, the instantaneous dumping of existing mobility such as F40s that are relatively up to date and fully functional passenger equipment should not be allowed to be forgotten. Even in the aim of helping other countries with cheap infrastructure updates, we should put emphasis on using existing tech in a resourceful way while ours is still flawed due to shortages of equipment here or there.

[@michaelfitzgeraldnet]

i will say, qsk engines work well... in the right situation, which is generally marine use but i diegres... someone made a video compairing brightline chargers to amtraks and made comment that the amtraks are set to a higher HP rating the brightline but brightline also run theres is pairs which is ways not the case with amtrak, as a result brightlines qsk engines do not run under the same load and therefor are cooler than amtracks

[@cornkopp2985]

What's up with southern california transit just being managed more poorly than northern california transit

[@Kingofk5la507]

What the hell happened?

[@socalrailfan6952]

very important 3pm glass of milk