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Philly Railfan Pictures of the Week
Philly Railfan Pictures of the Week
 
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Railfan Pictures of the Week - 08/12/2018
 
Presented for your enjoyment: a couple weeks of chasing SEPTA Sprinters
 
SEPTA RL1A 61 picks up the newest engines, SEPTA Sprinters ACS-64 909, 910, 911, 912 and 913, here passing Langhorne on July 23 2018.
On the revenue side, SEPTA Sprinter ACS-64 SPAX 901 finally made its debut on the West Trenton Line on July 25 2018, and of course it was raining.
Returning on July 27 2018 just north of CP Wood.
That evening it was SEPTA Sprinter ACS-64 902's first appearance on the West Trenton Line in revenue service, pictured here at Philmont in a downpour.
Unfortunately, after a weekend snooze in West Trenton yard, SPAX 902 woke up dead on July 30 2018 and RL1A SPAX 61 was back again, this time bringing the set back to Wayne Electric, pictured here at Langhorne.

SPAX 901, here at Langhorne the next day, stepped in to pinch hit for 902 while reportedly a circuit board was replaced.

Update September 6 2018: I have been told the problem was with the battery, and was not mechanical but rather a training issue. Apparently the new engines have sensors that drop the pans in the event of a possibly dangerous power fluctuation. There is also a switch that controls whether the battery power is supposed to engage in the case of power interruption. One would assume when the train is in normal operation, the battery power switch is on and a momentary loss of power would result in the battery kicking in until the pan is raised again by the crew and power was restored. However, if the train were parked and unattended, there would be no one to raise the pan. While the pan was left up when the train was parked Friday evening, a subsequent power spike triggered the pan to drop and, with the switch left in the on position, the engine ran on battery power until it was completely drained. When the Monday morning crew tried to start the engine, they could not even get the system to reboot, so it was taken down to Wayne Electric, MUed to another engine and with the pan once again raised, allowed to recharge, and 902 was in fact running again that evening. However, since the trains are frequently left running during the summer and winter months to provide air conditioning and heating respectively, this could be a problem down the road.

And the next day, July 31 2018, SPAX 902 was back on the job, here north of CP Wood.
Finally, on August 3 2018, got the shot of SPAX 902 at Langhorne sans diesel helper.
To finish out the week, SEPTA Sprinter SPAX 904 was still running out its 500 miles in shakedown mode with a couple runs up to Lansdale and back on August 4 2018. SPAX 903 is already in service on the Paoli Line, so 904 should be earning its keep shortly.
Update: SEPTA Sprinter ACS-64 903 showed up on the West Trenton Line on August 10 2018, this time an inaugural run in SUNSHINE!
 
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Website created January 1, 2017
 
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