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  • Acela II (Alstom Avelia Liberty): Design, Production, Delivery, Acceptance

  • Discussion related to Amtrak also known as the National Railroad Passenger Corp.
Discussion related to Amtrak also known as the National Railroad Passenger Corp.

Moderators: GirlOnTheTrain, mtuandrew, Tadman

 #1608408  by ctclark1
 
videobruce wrote: Mon Oct 10, 2022 12:21 pm It went by Fairport according to the shot from the Fairport VRF camera.
I'm assuming it was on the West Shore at the time at Fairport. If that is correct what connection between the old EL Southern Tier and the WS is there left? Unless someone else has a better handle of it.
It was not on the West Shore, which is the track closest to these cameras. As was mentioned, they've been running these deliveries all the way to Buffalo on the NS Southern Tier and back onto CSX territory at CP-437.
The only other viable option would have been to run up the Rochester Southern (ex B&O) from Silver Springs to Lincoln Park near CSX CP-373, but I don't think track conditions on that line are exactly great. From an old G&W ETT (2002) - MP 7.6 (about 1.5 miles TT South of Genesee Jct) TT North to Lincoln Park was considered "Other than Main Track" and limited to 10mph. I don't know what improvements have been made since then, but I can't imagine the track conditions would be great for such an expensive train.

Edit to add: Regarding double-ending the locomotives, I'm pretty sure this only happened on the runs to/from Pueblo, and not on the actual deliveries, so the extended reversing/change of direction likely happened on an interchange somewhere between Buffalo and Pueblo, since they'd be able to get out onto the Chicago line in either direction at Buffalo (Howard St Runner to CP-437 or Bison Runner to CP-DRAW). Still not sure why the double locos on the current delivery runs - maybe just as a backup to prevent breakdowns since a lot of the Southern Tier is single track?
 #1608414  by Gilbert B Norman
 
Why couldn't these equipment deliveries been routed Eastward over the ERIE to Binghamton, thence DL&W over Tunkhannock to Scranton then ??? to Philly as were the V-II's?

Is there some kind of "gap", such as a Short Line with barely Class 1 track, on the ERIE between Elmira and Hornell?

OR

ERIE to "Bingo", D&H, to Albany, and thence NYC to PRR "somewhere in New York"?

Still enough sets to be delivered for the "intrepid" to chase out "photo ops" on the existing routing; again, the Genessee River and how 'bout one taken from the New Haven's bridge at Poughkeepsie?

Also lest we forget, there is a whole order for 83 sets of (I'm going to call them) RailJets (they'll be named something else, OBB would want royalties) which I will observe from "six feet down below".
 #1608415  by johnpbarlow
 
This Avelia delivery that ran via CSX Chicago line across upstate NY apparently was observed passing through Peekskill on the east side of the Hudson River meaning it was taken to NY Penn. Does anyone know what happened to the train at that point? I'm guessing a Sprinter was coupled on to the P42s to take the Avelia through NYP to the loop at Sunnyside Yard to then pass through NYP again heading for the NE Corridor. Was this the case?
 #1608418  by Gilbert B Norman
 
Having a photo (unless Mr. Google has decided to "call it his own") taken from the "Walk over the Hudson" Poughkeepsie Bridge of a Chessie Southbound train, there are "vistas" of her West Shore from up there.

No surprise as Mr. Barlow reports, the sets are being delivered via the "East Shore" (AMTK and MNR). Anyone care to rent a boat and get a shot along the cove immediately South of Bear Mtn? You could even have the bridge in the background.
 #1608428  by Railjunkie
 
johnpbarlow wrote: Sat Oct 15, 2022 7:07 am This Avelia delivery that ran via CSX Chicago line across upstate NY apparently was observed passing through Peekskill on the east side of the Hudson River meaning it was taken to NY Penn. Does anyone know what happened to the train at that point? I'm guessing a Sprinter was coupled on to the P42s to take the Avelia through NYP to the loop at Sunnyside Yard to then pass through NYP again heading for the NE Corridor. Was this the case?
The route NS-CSX(Mohawk)-AMT-MNRR-AMT is the same as the last. IF it was handled as the first it went into Penn on diesel, this time they would have had to loop it because of the positioning of the coach. The previous time the coach was between the locos and the set was run around in Penn then onto Philly under the wire via diesel. Also with this set there were no white hats on trip just a mechanical rider to baby sit the set. It would also depend on how much "work" Penn had going on at the time of arrival. It should have gotten down there 10:15 to 10:30pm.
 #1608490  by ctclark1
 
Gilbert B Norman wrote: Sat Oct 15, 2022 7:05 am Why couldn't these equipment deliveries been routed Eastward over the ERIE to Binghamton, thence DL&W over Tunkhannock to Scranton then ??? to Philly as were the V-II's?
<snip>
OR
ERIE to "Bingo", D&H, to Albany, and thence NYC to PRR "somewhere in New York"?
Biggest factor probably has to do with having less time with a pilot engineer in the cab. Hornell is closer to Buffalo where they can get onto an existing Amtrak route where crews are qualified. Sure there are points East where they could get onto Amtrak territory, but involving more time with a pilot (which I'm sure they pay for) and in most cases more than one pilot (multiple RRs, or even multiple divisions on the same RR)

I'm sure there was research involved very early in this project to verify the easiest way to get to "home" rails for Amtrak.
 #1617846  by dizelinr
 
I think the critique of the mismatched sides on the Acela 2 is a bit overdone however there is a relatively simple manner it could be mitigated which would not involve adding transitional body panels or modifying the profile of the power car.

Amtrak just needs to adopt the premise that there is no need for the paint lines of the power cars to align with the trailing cars. The problem with extending stripes across mismatched profiles is that stripes simply accentuate the difference. If on other hand the power cars were to have a mostly solid color the eye would not detect the irregularity as much. A lot can be done with simple visual tricks like that. It's like Visual Composition 101.

In reference to the current paint scheme imagine if the slab sides of the power car which are currently white with blue stripe and fade effect were simply the same tone of blue as the roof. The Acela name and logo would switch to white on a blue background. Everything else with the paint scheme would remain the same including the light grey nose. Now your mind just sees "blue power cars with blue and white passenger cars". The solid tone of blue is already marking that transition so the irregular shadow line of the mismatched profiles visually "dissolves".

I was hoping with time Amtrak would explain why the profiles do not match but I understand they have more important issues to deal with in brining this equipment to service. I assume the complications in getting the profiles to match is that you cannot simply add body panels to the power car to blend the profile as the upper portion of the trailing car is narrower than the power car. Instead Alstom would have to triangulate the profile of the power car shell to warp it to match the trailing cars. That might complicate the structural design of the shell or at least expose Amtrak to unnecessary risk or critique were there to be other compromises to the design as a result.

We can look at this as either "form follows function" or "form follows finance". If wind tunnel tests determine it is inconsequential why worry about it? Look back at the early days of aviation and take for examples the Junkers or Ford Tri-motors. Not exactly streamlined but given their speeds they could still fly.

Apart from gripes about the mismatched car profiles I actually think the Acela 2 is among the best looking new train sets in the world today. Some might call it traditional but I think it is extremely sharp in appearance and sets a nice contrasting tone from Acela 1 with its amorphous blob scheme which even Amtrak president David Gunn hated. I'm also a fan of the original British Rail branding so I have to admit that has some influence on me! In any case I think the current Acela 2 scheme makes Brightline's trains look totally "amateur hour".
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