early Amtrak vision of High-Speed service

Some early plans for the New York, New Haven & Hartford RR Turbo Train would have used it for Providence - Boston commuter service, with out Food Service facilities. Some of the earlier experimental trains from the 1930s were used there. It was built without provision for a fireman, in the hope that it was a multi-section Multiple Unit car. Since it was not a full time Electric MU, a fireman was used if there were more than 89,000 lbs. on the driving wheels, which seemed to be all the time. The fireman sat beside the engineer's compartment, where the Upper Level rail fan's position could have been.
Did the 2nd Amtrak Turbo Train, 2nd hand from Canada, have 3rd rail capabilities?
Who got the roller destination signs, over each side doorway? Mr. Naparano, the scrapper, said they were gone when he got the trains.

FatNoah wrote:

The point being, sensation of speed is just as important to our minds as speed itself

That's a very interesting point. On many parts of the NEC, the ride is so smooth it feels like the train is just puttering along, and then you come parallel to I-95 and realize that the train is passing cars in the fast lane.

One of my favorite Amtrak experiences when I was younger was riding some long distance train (I don't remember which, maybe the Broadway Limited) up through New Jersey in an old Santa Fe coach, and having the odd feeling of going REALLY fast even though the ride was smooth as glass. And I do remember looking out the window and seeing us passing cars on the highway like they weren't even moving, then turning my head to look at the interior of the car and it was like we were standing still. No motion of the car whatsoever, but I could still see the ground rushing by super-fast through the windows on both sides in my peripheral vision.

I guess we were probably going 105mph, which was the top speed of the heritage equipment at the time, I think. It felt really fast, although not for the usual reasons. I think part of it was that I knew how old those cars were.