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A couple of years ago, Cascades trainsets were running with the power on the south end of the train and the non-powered cab unit on the north end. Then they switched, and were consistently running with the power on the north end. Now today, all the trains again have the power on the south end.
Why the changes?
My first guess would be to equalize mechanical wear on the equipment. I haven't paid attention to the pattern you note, but I'll keep that in mind for the future.
I was riding the Cascades just a week ago and both 500 and 509 had the power on the NORTH end of the consist.
Seems like south end would make more sense, as in Seattle and Vancouver riders have to walk past the north end of the train in boarding and deboarding. In Portland passengers have to walk past the south end, but only because Amtrak likes to park their trains north of the crosswalk - for those trains that terminate or originate in Portland they use Tracks 1 and 2 that must park north of the crosswalk (not enough room south), but for through trains that continue to Eugene they can stop anywhere and thus keep passengers away from the locomotive.
I was riding the Cascades just a week ago and both 500 and 509 had the power on the NORTH end of the consist.
Seems like south end would make more sense, as in Seattle and Vancouver riders have to walk past the north end of the train in boarding and deboarding. In Portland passengers have to walk past the south end, but only because Amtrak likes to park their trains north of the crosswalk - for those trains that terminate or originate in Portland they use Tracks 1 and 2 that must park north of the crosswalk (not enough room south), but for through trains that continue to Eugene they can stop anywhere and thus keep passengers away from the locomotive.
Since the trains currently run with non-powered cab cars, it really wouldn't matter which end of the consist the actual "power" is on, there's stilll a "locomotive" on either end.
Since the trains pull into a mostly stub-ended Seattle station, would seem they'd want to keep the running power away from the depot there for noise/smell issues.
What i heard was that people in Vancouver BC were complaining about the noise of the engines sitting there so they turned the sets.
First southbound
Cascades of 2013 approaches Portland Union Station led by a squeaky-clean #5:
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