>>453973 (OP)
Goddamn those are some shitty areas that trains going through. the guy who took that shit has some balls

>>453973 (OP)
Damn that shit sounds like its from the 60s jesus how is that shit still running?

why did i just watch so much of this? strangely interesting... i couldnt imagine living in one of those houses right next to the line. shit must get annoying, especially at night.

>>453997
you get used to it after a while. Just like the sound of owls and crickets, you get used to the sound of the trains passing by

Holy fuck... 28:00 - 29:30
All that track is elevated... wow

>>453973 (OP)
Thats those R42s. Old ass trains from 1969 saved from retirement because shitty ass R44 cars had cracked frames.

>>454012
1969 wow.... to keep shit running for that long..

>>453973 (OP)
That shit is mesmerizing as fuck

>>453973 (OP)
thats one loud ass brake valve damn

>>453973 (OP)
I am setting this as my screensaver... shiiitt

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>>454039
40-50 years seems to be the upper limits of a rail car's lifespan. SEPTA here in Philadelphia had a class of commuter EMUs that were built in 1963. The last of them were retired only last year.

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>>454039
electric vehicles can last quite long. Mexico City has 30 year old trolleybuses in regular service, and it's original subway cars from 1969 are still running as well.
I live in Barcelona now, and my subway line has some of the oldest rolling stock in the country, with the oldest trains turning 30 this year. The only older trains run un main lines, and are commuter trains rebuilt as regional trains. We even have a tram line from 1901, with cars from 1906 in regular operation, and a working car from 1901 for special occasions.
It's one of the big advantages of electric transport, the technology is simple and durable.

Pic related, from L to R, original from 1901, original from 1906, and an open tram from around 1920 (which originally ran on a different line, hence the color).

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>>454039
Japan has units from 1964 that are still running too

>>454039
It's easy and economical to pull with train cars. The things are large enough that everything beside the chassis frame can be made replaceable with little overhead. The chassis frame itself can and should be made tough for passenger safety, so it lasts through decades of vibration and cracks fine.

>>454177
Doesn't even look bad

>>454039
not that difficult to imagine. lots of railroads across the united states are still using equipment from the 1960s/1970s having been rebuilt several times already

OP Here
>>454132
Yeah I heard your Silverliner II and III cars got replaced by those shitty Silverliner V cars from Rotem.
I can't fucking believe they blocked off those seats in the front where you could see out the window. Pure fucking bullshit.

>>454438
some bullshit by the engineers who feel entitled to have the seats next to them clear so that their faggot conductor buddies could sit next to them

>>453973 (OP)
Holy shit thats a long ride

>>454132
Reading Blueliners and PRR MP54s lasted at least 60 years, from the 30s to the 90s.
>>454438
Personally I think the second row view is just as good. At least they abandoned the full width cab retrofit

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>>453973 (OP)
>>454012
The Brightliners! I'm obsessed with these shiny beasts. They were basically built when JFK was president, and have outlived something like 5 different subway designs that were introduced into service and retired during their lifetime.

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I worked in NYC during the summer of 2001 (yeah, right before 9/11) and I got to ride the Redbirds on the 7 train.

These cars are now artificial reefs off of the Jersey Shore.

>>453978
lol I rode that train every day to high school to manhattan and back to woodhaven. Then I rode it to work in wall st. Now I'm in portland and it blows. Anyway the areas are bad, but I've never been mugged. [spoiler]i'm white[/spoiler]

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1968

Looks brilliantly kept

>>454132
the S-Bahn in Berlin used the ET165 build from 1928 till 1931 all the way untill 1997, when they replaced them with new units perpetually having all kinds of retarded problems possible. Their ancestros lasted 69 years without mayor trouble and the new ones are always broken, mainly due to mechanical failure. Despite the age the old ones were actually better.

>>455086
London's Routemaster busses.

>>454616
They still have a lot of redbirds left in work service, and they preserved a couple for the NY Transit Museum in operational order.

>>454600
Aren't those supposed to last until 2017? Thats a nice lifespan... 1964-2017

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>>455108
I see them often on garbage duty late night. One of the best times for a /n/erd to experience the NYC subway is after midnight when they break out all the odd rolling stock. Redbirds, yellow construction cars of the same vintage, shiny windowless cars that (I think) operate as worker break rooms, and the stinky compact diesels dragging cranes behind them.

A railcar in the US is usually used around 50, service span can be increased by a rebuild though. Norfolk Southern is buying locomotives built in the 70s to rebuild, I like them

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Entered service in 1907, still going strong.

>>455206
those windowless shiny cars are called R127s or R134s (Depending on if they in the 1st or 2nd half of the order)

They were built by Kawasaki using the same car shells used for the R62 cars that run on the 3, but with only one set of doors instead of 3.

They are basically big powerful electric locomotives that carry crewmen too.

>>455307
Where is this?

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>>454600
Budd stainless steel never fades.

>>455552
Stockholm.

>>455572
A pantograph for each car seems wasteful on both the wire and the contact pad
Not to mention the pantograph assembly

>>455630
More pantographs = less current across each pantograph = less sparking

Learn2Engineering

>>455630
It was the 1960s, ridership is low, SEPTA constantly runs 1, 2, 3 car trains as needed on certain lines. Flexibility is paramount.

>>453973 (OP)
Damn... brings back memories from when I lived in nyc in the 90s

>>455636
many pantographs = excited oscillation in the catenary = pantographs losing contact = a lot of sparking and broken pantographs

So essentially they did it for flexibility, as >>455650 said.

>>455680
Actually, good catenary design provides for dampening so oscillation is not a problem. iirc, all of SEPTA's electrification was recently upgraded for this.

>>455636
Current doesn't necessarily mean more sparks

On the japanese 0 series high speed train, 16 car sets would have 8 pantographs in total and spark frequently at speeds over 200km/h
On another side, the 10 car E5 series runs with only one pantograph raised such as in European high speed railways and only ever noticeably sparks at speeds >275km/h when it runs with just one under icy wire (two would be used with the first raised but offline to scrape the ice off for the second to collect)

But of course this is not high speed operation so it may not matter as we can assume with standard contact pressure the oscillations are only small
However, the point on wear does still stand. More rubbing = more wear and maintenance

>>453973 (OP)
Nice... 50th Street.
I miss when the E line had R32s.

>>455657
There's still around 400 cars with RFWs left, come back before 2017 or you'll never experience it again.

>>454616
fuck yeah redbirds whoop ass

>>455630
I don't think the waste is so much the pantographs as a superfuous drivers' cabin in each car.

While you free up space for 1-4 seats depending on design, you also reduce the overall complexity of the design.

But as mentioned later in the thread, flexibility was the priority.

>>455909
Exactly. Those Regional Rail trains the SEPTA runs are often spit up during midday to provide service in 1 or 2 car sets.

The saved costs of this operation may outweigh the benefits of having only one pantograph per train.

>>455910
*split, not spit

>>454177
why is that windshield so small?

>>455905
Go to the 9th Avenue (D) line station late at night, they have a shitload of them running in and out of 36th street yard

>>453973 (OP)
damn that must have eaten a shitload of memory

>>455923
You have to be there at the right time. They schedule the garbage trains to come out of there around 11:00PM on weekdays

>>455968
goddamn i have to get my ass all the way out to 9th ave at 11:00PM and not get anally raped

>>456086
It's a risk one has to be willing to take.

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>>455549
thanks man, I figured they couldn't have been older cars that were customized because the stainless looks too good. They're impressive to see when they roll by.

As far as other endangered transportation items goes, I present this example.

>>455549
>R134
like the refrigerant in your car's air conditioner.