Hello All,

I have searched for a little bit though this site but have not really come up with anything, I am with the WCRA in Squamish, BC and we have 7 operating coaches that we use throughout the year for events like Thomas, Polar Express, this year a dinner train and so on. We recently started looking at the Air Conditioning systems to see whats involved with getting them going again if we run events in the summertime.

Here is a list of what we have currently:

BC Rail 'Hudson' Coaches

- WCXX 5596 (Paul D Roy) - 480V AC Compressor running on R2R. Coach still on DC battery system (pumping out 36VDC, all fans still retain DC motor)

- WCXX 5652 (Capilano) - 480 A/C Compressor on R22 (unsure if serviceable) Coach still on DC battery system (low DC output, all fans still retain DC motor)

-WCXX 5623 (Porteau) - 480 A/C Compressor on R437a, coach has battery system removed and transformer running the DC side, all fans still retain DC motor

Waterloo Cars:
CN 5569 / CN 5573 / CN 5635
Battery system removed and transformers put in place, still on old 110VDC Motor running A/C compressor

The question I have is what are the options out there for slowly upgrading the HVAC side of things, I am more looking at the Waterloo cars as everything is still DC for the most part, no thermostats work, heating is by construction heaters on each end of the car and so on, Our business car HVAC was done by Northwest Rail Electric, while I guess that wold be the cream of the crop that is one option to go with?

I am interested in hearing what everyone else has done.

Thanks in advance,
Christian

Northwest Electric builds their HVAC systems to stand up to the railroad environment. They will build a system to fit your needs. It does come at a price.

At Mid Continent we modified the Waukesha Ice engine system to run an A/C compressor from an old Thermo King trailer refrigerated trailer with a 3 phase electric motor. We ran a new "HEP" line from our generator car to this car. We also built a new control system that utilizes a new thermostat. The air handler motor is still the original 32 volt DC motor supplied by a transformer in the generator car transmitted through the original D/C trainline connection. We utilized the existing evaporator and condensor coils. For heating, we put in an electric heating element into the air handling system to handle the mild heating needs. We still utilize the steam heat system in all of the cars that have a working system with steam supplied by a boiler in the train for the really cold times of the year.

We are looking into possibly changing out the Thermo King compressor with a hermetically sealed compressor. We are dealing with a slow leak in the system. Be sure to have someone that is very knowledgeable with setting up air conditioning systems. We were fortunate to have one of our members that did this work as their regular job.

Ed