NEC Equipment Moves and Test Trains

Yesterday (10/7) at about one p.m. or so, I was on the westbound platform at New Brunswick. There was an eastbound train of bi-levels stopped in the station
At that time, a train consisting of an ALP-46 locomotive, a Comet V coach and a Comet VI bi-level came roaring eastbound through the station on the eastbound express track. The bi-level which brought up the rear was not a cab car. Its end communicating door was open and a red flag dangled from the chain, in lieu of marker lights. Also, the side vestibule doors were open.
Obviously, this train was not in passenger service, and was probably a deadhead. I don't know how fast it was going, but an Acela had come through a few minutes before and I'll wager that this train was going faster than the Acela.
Anybody know what the story was of this train?

keyboardkat wrote:Yesterday (10/7) at about one p.m. or so, I was on the westbound platform at New Brunswick. There was an eastbound train of bi-levels stopped in the station
At that time, a train consisting of an ALP-46 locomotive, a Comet V coach and a Comet VI bi-level came roaring eastbound through the station on the eastbound express track. The bi-level which brought up the rear was not a cab car. Its end communicating door was open and a red flag dangled from the chain, in lieu of marker lights. Also, the side vestibule doors were open.
Obviously, this train was not in passenger service, and was probably a deadhead. I don't know how fast it was going, but an Acela had come through a few minutes before and I'll wager that this train was going faster than the Acela.
Anybody know what the story was of this train?

Equipment move to MMC.

keyboardkat wrote:Yesterday (10/7) at about one p.m. or so, I was on the westbound platform at New Brunswick. There was an eastbound train of bi-levels stopped in the station
At that time, a train consisting of an ALP-46 locomotive, a Comet V coach and a Comet VI bi-level came roaring eastbound through the station on the eastbound express track. The bi-level which brought up the rear was not a cab car. Its end communicating door was open and a red flag dangled from the chain, in lieu of marker lights. Also, the side vestibule doors were open.
Obviously, this train was not in passenger service, and was probably a deadhead. I don't know how fast it was going, but an Acela had come through a few minutes before and I'll wager that this train was going faster than the Acela.
Anybody know what the story was of this train?

The EQ move can't go faster then the Acela. The Multi-level fleet is capped to 90MPH. The Acela can travel 125MPH through New Brunswick.

That doesn't necessarily mean either train was moving at top speed, does it? If Acela were going 80 and NJT 90, the above would be possible.

srock1028 wrote:

keyboardkat wrote:Yesterday (10/7) at about one p.m. or so, I was on the westbound platform at New Brunswick. There was an eastbound train of bi-levels stopped in the station
At that time, a train consisting of an ALP-46 locomotive, a Comet V coach and a Comet VI bi-level came roaring eastbound through the station on the eastbound express track. The bi-level which brought up the rear was not a cab car. Its end communicating door was open and a red flag dangled from the chain, in lieu of marker lights. Also, the side vestibule doors were open.
Obviously, this train was not in passenger service, and was probably a deadhead. I don't know how fast it was going, but an Acela had come through a few minutes before and I'll wager that this train was going faster than the Acela.
Anybody know what the story was of this train?

The EQ move can't go faster then the Acela. The Multi-level fleet is capped to 90MPH. The Acela can travel 125MPH through New Brunswick.

Is this a new restriction for the MLV's? I thought they were cleared for 100.

All ML's were dropped back to 90 when the new fleet arrived. This was done (scuttlebutt on this board) because it was deemed better than trying to make trains of MLI only and MLII only.

A few years ago while i was waiting for a train to trenton at levittown, an ACL shop move with 4303 on point was going at east 75 on track 4.

At those speeds, 10-15 mph is not really noticeable trackside.

Because the acela tend to be slowed far distances from potential move conflicts, perhaps it was such a situation?

This just passed through Metuchen heading south,2 Metro North(NJT) F40 cats with about 5 comet V's,Ive never seen these this far down from there stomping ground

Test train.

ns3010 wrote:Test train.

For what?

Not sure was hard to see,I could only make out the MN stripes on locos,no control cab on tail end,equipment moves go by 2 to 4 times a day,they usually consist
of Geeps,multilevels,arrows,but first time I saw these

FYI, I went through the the forum and I merged a whole bunch of threads together involving discussions regarding NEC equipment moves and test trains into here.

At 1:36 PM this afternoon in Linden ALP46 with 9 cars went by westbound from MMC to Morrisville, PA, the last car of this equipment move had a Comet IV trailer with a red flag on it.

This afternoon at 12:12 PM GP40-2 #4301 towed 2 Multi-Level Cars past Metuchen station headed to Morrisville.

The other night was the 4618 plus 22 pieces for the MMC from Morrisville. Was two 46s in the lead online, a 3rd dead. Bunch of comet cars, looked like a whole train, some multilevels, the 4301, and then about 6 arrow cars.