Rode the Acela for the first time yesterday

Yesterday was my first time ever on the Acela. I took it from Philly to Washington. I was in first class (definitely not cheap). You need to be wealthy to ride the train regularly. I was impressed with the big windows, and the train was very clean and spacious. The food was ok. I wasn't really full after my meal, but the quality was better than the airlines. The speeds though were very up and down, and parts of the track were quite bumpy. Most times it felt slower than 135. Operating the Acela must be a cool job. I wonder how you get that job. The responsibility must be hudge.

I don't think Acela stops at Wilmington, does it? And the meal must have been a quickie!!

Rockingham Racer wrote:I don't think Acela stops at Wilmington, does it? And the meal must have been a quickie!!

ALL trains stop at Wilmington.

ABC825, Which train did you ride?

abc8251 wrote: Most times it felt slower than 135. Operating the Acela must be a cool job. I wonder how you get that job. The responsibility must be hudge.

You have to ride up north (R.I & MA) for the 150 stretches! How do you get the job of running an Acela you ask? Apply to Amtrak and become a locomotive engineer!

AmtrakLocomotiveEngineer wrote:

Rockingham Racer wrote:I don't think Acela stops at Wilmington, does it? And the meal must have been a quickie!!

ALL trains stop at Wilmington.

Except the round-trip "super express" WAS-PHL-NYP operating between January and April 2008.

AmtrakLocomotiveEngineer wrote:

Rockingham Racer wrote:I don't think Acela stops at Wilmington, does it? And the meal must have been a quickie!!

ALL trains stop at Wilmington.

Thank you for that emphatic clarification!

This seems totally related to this topic. Anyone else like to play "one drink per state" on the train? Great way to make friends in the cafe car!

[quote="FP10"]This seems totally related to this topic. Anyone else like to play "one drink per state" on the train? Great way to make friends in the cafe car![/quote]

Everybody knows that 7 drinks per state is the REAL game to play on Amtrak trains.

theseaandalifesaver wrote:

FP10 wrote:This seems totally related to this topic. Anyone else like to play "one drink per state" on the train? Great way to make friends in the cafe car!

Everybody knows that 7 drinks per state is the REAL game to play on Amtrak trains.

Try doing that in Rhode Island.

Rockingham Racer wrote:

theseaandalifesaver wrote:

FP10 wrote:This seems totally related to this topic. Anyone else like to play "one drink per state" on the train? Great way to make friends in the cafe car!

Everybody knows that 7 drinks per state is the REAL game to play on Amtrak trains.

Try doing that in Rhode Island.

Or on the Downeaster. (WEM to HHL - Maine to New Hampshire to Massachusetts in an hour!)

Looks like Acela has some new competition:

http://zeroemissionstravel.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Where did I learn of this? From a banner ad displayed at this Forum!!!

Oh well, so much for "targeted" advertising.

Gilbert B Norman wrote:Looks like Acela has some new competition:

http://zeroemissionstravel.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Where did I learn of this? From a banner ad displayed at this Forum!!!

Oh well, so much for "targeted" advertising.

I would hate to be stuck in traffic on I-95... and have the Tesla's battery die... Also the Northeast regional/Acela is just as "socially aware", both are electric.

Having an electric car's battery die is the same as running out of gas: if you're smart, it won't happen. I love the way people treat electric cars so poorly in that respect. If you're dumb, you might run out of gas or electicity. Don't be dumb.

In fact, as electric motors use no power when not moving, one is somewhat less likely to run out of electrcity when standing still vs. idling in a gasoline pwoered car.

The 95 corridor has literally hundreds of available charging stations, many of which are high speed DC chargers that provide a near-full charge in 20 minutes.

My wife and I own a Nissan Leaf, which her employer was nice enough to install a fast charging station for (free of charge). It's been nothing but wonderful in the role it was designed for, commuting.

About the Tesla service...it seems a little wierd to me to be honest. It would be nice to see Tesla pursue heavy buses with lithium ion batteries for use by Bolt or Greyhound or Martz or whomever rather than up using precious highway capacity with medium sized sedans.

Yeah and about those targeted ads: kinda sick of the "should congrss fight Obama on gun control".

For a forum with moderators who hand out verbal warnings every few minutes about staying away fromm politics, I find it odd that we should be subject to low-information-voter-targetted ads.

Back to electic trains and cars!