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Fan Railer wrote: ↑Sun Apr 11, 2021 10:24 am
Counting frames says otherwise. The train takes 2.9 seconds to pass through the left side of the frame, giving a speed of 165 MPH. They are not going to be testing faster than 165 due to the Cant Deficiency limitations placed on them by the FRA.

Well that's all they need to run in-service at 160 so they are there.

west point wrote: ↑Sun Apr 11, 2021 11:05 am My point about the CAT is that some passes there is no CAT movement others have some mainly up and down.. I do not understand the math of catenary. The power companies have to deal with it ongoing from local lines to major high voltage lines. It is apparent that PG&E did not understand it enough and had many fires caused by the lines contacting burnable fuel in California.

Back to Amtrak. It is well known that the PRR style CAT has problem if an EMU train has too many PANs that bounce can cause problems.. All the Acela-2 passes have just one pan up. I am still uncertain if one pan can supply both locos or if the one loco is able to push or pull the whole train ?.

Interestingly, they are running with the rear up sometimes and the front up other times. A single pan can power both power cars. They are all connected with an internal power line.

I believe in regular service they will operate with the rear pantograph up so that if the train snags catenary the damage will be behind the train and the front pantograph will still be usable to rescue the train.

west point wrote: ↑Sun Apr 11, 2021 11:05 am My point about the CAT is that some passes there is no CAT movement others have some mainly up and down.. I do not understand the math of catenary. The power companies have to deal with it ongoing from local lines to major high voltage lines. It is apparent that PG&E did not understand it enough and had many fires caused by the lines contacting burnable fuel in California.

Back to Amtrak. It is well known that the PRR style CAT has problem if an EMU train has too many PANs that bounce can cause problems.. All the Acela-2 passes have just one pan up. I am still uncertain if one pan can supply both locos or if the one loco is able to push or pull the whole train ?.

Yes, a wire harness in the Acela II sends power the length of the train to the trailing locomotive. If the front pantograph fails, it can raise the trailing one and use that. The trucks are also interesting; it's a more unified trainset than the old Acela (see the video below).

As for the catenary, this Amtrak manger goes into great detail at 1:08:

The video was posted on these forums recently by Mass Bay RRE. There are two types of cat on the NEC. And the Amtrak manager doesn't see that changing.

The Avelie Liberty crossing the Hell Gate on 4/5:

IMG_8328 by GojiMet86, on Flickr

IMG_8331 by GojiMet86, on Flickr

IMG_8333 by GojiMet86, on Flickr

Interesting video. I haven't seen him in a number of years, but I met Chris Jagodzinski when we were both at Northeastern University.

bostontrainguy wrote: ↑Sun Apr 11, 2021 11:38 am

west point wrote: ↑Sun Apr 11, 2021 11:05 am My point about the CAT is that some passes there is no CAT movement others have some mainly up and down.. I do not understand the math of catenary. The power companies have to deal with it ongoing from local lines to major high voltage lines. It is apparent that PG&E did not understand it enough and had many fires caused by the lines contacting burnable fuel in California.

Back to Amtrak. It is well known that the PRR style CAT has problem if an EMU train has too many PANs that bounce can cause problems.. All the Acela-2 passes have just one pan up. I am still uncertain if one pan can supply both locos or if the one loco is able to push or pull the whole train ?.

Interestingly, they are running with the rear up sometimes and the front up other times. A single pan can power both power cars. They are all connected with an internal power line.

I believe in regular service they will operate with the rear pantograph up so that if the train snags catenary the damage will be behind the train and the front pantograph will still be usable to rescue the train.

For the purposes of testing, they are running with the same pan up, ie, they are not switching pans each time they change directions. This allows them to gather data on pantograph behavior for both directions of travel (leading pan up + trailing pan up). In service, the standard practice will be to operate with the rear pan up, but I suspect that due to faults, etc, we'll be seeing them running with the forward pan up a lot more often than would be expected.

Test Extra 2102 on its 165 MPH westbound run @ Wickford JCT earlier today:

Acela go NYOOOOM!

Fan Railer wrote: ↑Tue Apr 13, 2021 2:58 pm Test Extra 2102 on its 165 MPH westbound run @ Wickford JCT earlier today:

Okay, I'm with everyone, I HATE THAT HORN! It sounds like a euro-siren.

Yes, it sounds like Chief Inspector Clouseau is on the way.

I guess the important thing is that it appears to be running properly.

Jeff Smith wrote: ↑Wed Apr 14, 2021 7:24 am

Fan Railer wrote: ↑Tue Apr 13, 2021 2:58 pm Test Extra 2102 on its 165 MPH westbound run @ Wickford JCT earlier today:

Okay, I'm with everyone, I HATE THAT HORN! It sounds like a euro-siren.

Since it's just a digital sample, can't they use pretty much anything else?
Classic 5 chime, yoko ono yodelling, a distorted Deep Purple Organ riff, whatever

Deep Purple Highway Star!

eeeuuu eeeuuu ... Either that or the Ruptured Duck noise I heard on one recording.

scratchyX1 wrote: ↑Wed Apr 14, 2021 11:32 am

Jeff Smith wrote: ↑Wed Apr 14, 2021 7:24 am

Fan Railer wrote: ↑Tue Apr 13, 2021 2:58 pm Test Extra 2102 on its 165 MPH westbound run @ Wickford JCT earlier today:

Okay, I'm with everyone, I HATE THAT HORN! It sounds like a euro-siren.

Since it's just a digital sample, can't they use pretty much anything else?
Classic 5 chime, yoko ono yodelling, a distorted Deep Purple Organ riff, whatever

I keep telling folks. Do something appropriate. The O'Jay's Love Train, just the backing track of the first few seconds.

At least it's doesn't sound like a flatuent spastic duck anymore. It now sounds like someone squeezing the **** out of a group of angry Canadian geese. (aren't Canadian geese always angry?)

Tilt VS No Tilt. Pay close attention to the lines on the coaches and the power cars.