Mechanical Liaison Officer's reports by Paul L. DeVerter II Amtrak's Assistant Chief Mechanical Officer (John W. Hutchison) letter of March 16, 1995 indicates private cars may continue to use the AAR condemning limits for wheels. The Amtrak standards for wheels apply to Amtrak equipment only (not private cars moving on the Amtrak system) and are a conservative approach for the high mileage cars on Amtrak. Although Amtrak wheels must have a minimum of 1 1/8" (18/16") tread thickness at the...

Mechanical Liaison Officer's reports by Paul L. DeVerter II The mounting of the required AEI transponders has been covered in prior reports, such as that of 7/17/01, 5/15/01, and particularly 5/27/93. See the drawings in this last report.Here are three simple additional methods of placement. 1. Simply use self tapping drill screws ( say 3/16" or # 10) and place the transponders against the side of the smooth sided car, in the required location. The advantage is it is quick and done. The...

Mechanical Liaison Officer's reports by Paul L. DeVerter II   Here are some thoughts and hints from John Godfrey, garnered from some recent private car activities on VIA Rail Canada. When you take your car to Canada, the HEP used by Via Rail Canada is different from that used by Amtrak, so you will need an adaptor to work on VIA's system and to plug into ground power, in most instances. If car owners expect to have their cars work on Via shore power at most locations where available, they...