As the "young 'uns" say, +1

Hold on.

Look at all the 1200-1500V equipment many museums have, which they have hacked (sometimes blatantly) to run on 600V. How many carbodies are retrucked completely wrong? Wrong controls bolted on for the car? Or trailers were built for one MU scheme and were fitted for another? How about push-pull operations, where the "push" end is an M.U. coach with brake stands and controllers, that are completely ignored while the conductor holds a backup hose? That assumes the control stand hasn't been ripped out completely! How many times has complete re-engineing been contemplated on GE-44 or other critter? And all our excursion coaches, retrofitted with tightlocks, HEP and sealed windows? You talk like bawlderization of equipment is some crime... yet we ALL do it. A LOT.

"Oh no", you protest. "That's not fair, we HAVE to butcher THAT stuff, or we wouldn't have operational stock to carry the public! Our purpose is to present to the public, the accurate look, feel and experience of the equipment, as it originally was, and what we did is as faithful as was practicable."

To which I say: EXACTLY.

You can't grok riding a Birney until you ride a Birney. Some are running around without any safety-car features at all, but they do wonderfully convey the visitor experience: "This is a rattletrap." Call it theatercraft if you will, but it's as historic as is practicable (Safety Car equipment not exactly growing on trees). So why not. By golly, if you're going to show a BART train, the visitors should grok the experience, and if it takes a little stagecraft to get there, keep it as historic as practicable. People should note the bright lighting, feel the gentle smush on the floor from the airbag suspension... hear the hums and buzzes.... in a perfect world, see the doors doing their twitchy thing they did on the A1 and B1 cars... hear the "BDOOOOM-uh?" of the doors about to close, etc. The whole point of a BART train is to feel different than the 1916 interurban you just rode. Or the graffiti-covered subway cars you heard about from NYC. Sure, save a set of perfect, as-retired 2013 cars, gum in the upholstery and all. But also, have some cars made able to tell the story of BART in a way that's as meaningful as your Birney's tale.

So why the double standard?

Were those cars 75 feet long?

While looking for something else, came across this PR photo, from the early days of the system:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rooneyloon ... /lightbox/

To answer Mr. Mitchell's question "Were those cars 75 feet long?", I suggest viewing this clip on you tube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Y9IuSV_cmM


The move seen in the clip was 45 miles to the Northern Ohio Railway Museum. The car is 70ft long. Another car, #163, was moved from Trolleyville (Olmsted Township, Ohio) approximately 125 miles to the Ohio Railway Museum (Worthington, Ohio) in 2006 using the same method. Big cars can be moved over the highway.

Steve Heister
http://www.northernohio.railway.museum

72 feet, Sandy. BART cars are extremely squat and light. You simply will not need to worry about bridge heights or overweight. The car's weight is something like 30-35 tons on trucks.

Though sealed window, they are more practical to use than you think. BART uses one expensive 1000V->480VAC inverter, so they can use cheap commonplace industrial motors and devices for all auxiliary systems. This will make activating those systems easier. I could easily see a BART car sitting at a museum, wired into shore power, with HVAC and traction motor blowers being able to be turned on for visitors. A little bit of stagecraft to simulate their platform markings...and a mirror at the end to make the train seem longer, and there's a lit up, inviting BART car. How many transit cars can you fully power up for tours?

I just drove home last night alongside two BART trains. They looked real nice all lit up and moving fast. Be a shame.

The new cars... one condition of Federal funding is that new cars must be uglier than old cars by a wide margin.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:BARTRendering.png
http://cache.io9.com/assets/images/8/20 ... omsday.jpg

New thread, linked for reference.

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=42899