jmm346 - what your talking about are called "Cab Cars" they have them in the Arrow MU trains and in the Comet coaches, its basicly a cab for the engineer to run the train from. What you saw was the radio panel, which is only activated by a coach key, that engineers and conudctors, as well as maintenence and management people have. They jam this key in the panel and turn it, and the Radio / Intercomm / PA lights up and is useable. Normaly youd have an 8 car train, with 7 coaches and one cab car, on the tail end of the train, with the loco at the opptosite end. Same would go for a 4 car train, one cab car with 3 coaches.
Since transit has a tough time keeping the equipment runing, ocasionaly they put a cab car in the center of a train, instead of on the end, to replace a normal coach car. Sometimes you will have a 4 car train, all cab cars! So the cab car is coupled inside the train, unused. FYI the difference between the Intercomm and PA, well the conductors use the PA to tell the passengers "Dover, Denville, Mount Tabor, Morristown, Morris pains .... " where as the IC is only broadcast in the vestibules between cars where the conductors stand when theyre done punching tickets (Read hiding from the obnoxious public) and in the cab car / diesel or electric locomotive where the engineer sits. This way when the train "Takes a Dump" (yes thats radio slang! listen for it!) the engineer can call the conductor, without informing the passnegers, who in their usual patient and amicable state, rush the trian crew and swear at them, make statements about their family and martial preferences, throw food at them, threaten them, and always ALWAYS threaten to report them to customer service!
All transit conductors, as well as slAMTRACK conductors, are reqired to have hand held radios on them at all times. This way they can communicate with the engineer, and if the train radio dies, the engineer can have the conductor call for help on the hand held. So if your on the train, being inside that big mettle can, you will probably only hear the conductor, engineer, and the NJ rail dispatcher / slAMTRACK dispatcher depending on the territory. When i say all conductors, I dont mean every guy in a funny hat. Train crews are made up of an engineer, a conductor, a rear brake man, and any number of collectors. The collector/rear brake wear the same uniforms as the conductor, the conductor is just a "qualified conductor" and is technicaly in control of the train. So the guy with the radio, is usualy the conductor, and the others you see are either the rear brake, or collectors. If a 2 qualified conductors bid the same job, one becomes the conductor, and the other works as the rear brake.
NJ rail has a number of repeaters, but they are land line repeaters that go to the dispatcher. The repeaters can simulcast, all at once so the dispatcher can be heard anywhere on the property, and he can hear anyone within range of the repeaters. Mechanical desk can use this system also. BUT dont think that if a train in Dover keys up, his message is repeated in summit, hoboken, gladstone, port jervis, and port morris.... they arent that kind of repeater system. Its interesting, because the dover yard master can be talking, at the same time the hoboken yard master is talking, at the same time the port jervis yard master is talking ect. and they cant hear each other because of the extreem distances, BUT the ME dispatcher, hears them all.
So, dont bother looking for mircrowave relays, inputs, tone settings, talk groups, because this is a much more simple land line system. And it only works if your sitting in the ROCK with the ME dispatcher.......
