Amtrak Tests New Electrics in the West and in the East
BY MID-AUGUST, FOUR of Amtrak’s new ACS-64 Amtrak Cities Sprinter electrics were un- dergoing testing and shakedown runs. Two were at the Association of American Railroads’ Trans- portation Technology Center near Pueblo, Colo., one was testing on the Northeast Corridor out of Wilmington, Del., and a third was undergoing static testing at an Alstom facility in Hornell, N.Y. After Nos. 600-602 were un- veiled at the Siemens Mobility as- sembly plant in Sacramento, Calif., in May (see June RAIL- NEWS), Nos. 600 and 601 were sent to the TTC in the consist of Amtrak’s California Zephyr be- tween Emeryville, Calif., and Denver, Colo. They arrived at Pueblo in early June and on July 27, R&R correspondent Nicholas D’Amato was able to attend an open house at the TTC where Amtrak and Siemens brass would watch one of the big double-en- ders being put through its paces pulling eight Amfleet cars. The high-speed TTC loop is a far cry from the short test track at the Siemens plant in Sacramento. Meanwhile, No. 602 was sent
east to Wilmington, Del., site of Amtrak’s main NEC shops, using the Zephyr to Chicago and the Capitol Limited to Washington, D.C. Beginning in the first week of August, the big motor got sev- eral nocturnal workouts under in- service conditions hauling Am- fleet cars out of Wilmington to
22 SEPTEMBER 2013 •
RAILFAN.COM
ABOVE: NICK DʼAMATO; BELOW: AMTRAK
Newark, Del., and Newark, N.J., on the Corridor On the New Jer- sey runs, the test train consisted of P42DC No. 15 on the east end, a single Amfleet coach, and No. 602 on the west end. The diesel pulled the consist east to Newark,
N.J., and the electric led on the westbound return under cover of darkness. Then on August 14, No. 603
was delivered via the California Zephyr and Lake Shore Limited to Albany, N.Y. Later, it was
moved between two P42DC’s to the Alstom plant at Hornell, N.Y., where it would be tested under extreme heat and cold conditions in the Alstom climate test cham- ber. That move would have been made over the Delaware & Hud-
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