Arrow (railcar): Difference between revisions

The Arrow IIIs were built in 1977 and 1978 by [[General Electric]]<ref name="Under Pennsy Wires">{{cite book|last=Carleton|first=Paul|title=Under Pennsy Wires|year=1982|publisher=D. Carleton Railbooks Publication|pages=246}}</ref> in the same fashion as the Arrow IIs. They consist of 200 cars built as married pairs (1334–1533) and 30 single cars (1304–1333).<ref name="njtro" /> These cars were initially ordered as part of a plan to rehabilitate the NJDOT (Later NJ Transit's) Hoboken division, converting the 3,000 volt DC system to a 25 Kv 60&nbsp;Hz AC system. However, due to the retirement of the Arrow I MUs, and the Arrow IIs frequently being leased to Amtrak and MARC, as well as delays to the rehabilitation of the Hoboken electrification, the Arrow IIIs were assigned to the former Penn Central electrified lines instead.<ref name="njtro" /> As a result, the Arrow IIs and only a portion of the Arrow III fleet were devoted to the Hoboken division when the electrification work was finally finished in 1984, with the remaining Arrow IIIs being assigned as the only MUs in service on the Northeast Corridor and North Jersey Coast Line.<ref name="njtro" /> Due to the lack of an automatic transformer [[tap changer]], the Arrow IIIs cannot switch between line voltages while in service. To prevent confusion, a triangular orange sticker is affixed under the front window of each car, with the current voltage the unit is set to: "12K" for the Newark Division and "25K" for the Hoboken Division. After the [[North Jersey Coast Line]] was changed to 25 kV south of Matawan, MU service to Long Branch was replaced by push-pull trainsets only. Since then Arrow IIIs only operate trains to Hoboken Terminal on the [[Montclair Boonton Line]], [[Morristown Line]], and [[Gladstone Branch]] and they are commonly used on the Bay Street Shuttle from Hoboken on the [[Montclair Boonton Line]]. While on rare occasions, Arrow IIIs can be seen on the [[Northeast Corridor Line]] from New York to Trenton, and one Arrow III specifically no. 1319 was also given a lackawanna railroad sticker.