Acela Speeds

The weights aren't energized! That being said, it's a bizarre anecdote. The ones I've seen look like far too much weight for a child, especially, to start swinging. Looks like several hundreds of pounds are usually on those. Besides they don't have much room to swing without banging against the pole to which the pulley is attached.

dt_rt40 wrote:The weights aren't energized! That being said, it's a bizarre anecdote. The ones I've seen look like far too much weight for a child, especially, to start swinging. Looks like several hundreds of pounds are usually on those. Besides they don't have much room to swing without banging against the pole to which the pulley is attached.

Ah, ok, I thought you meant the catenary itself.

Depending on the length of the tensioned section, curves, weight of the lines, the weights would vary. I dunno how much weight, but it'd have to be at least a thousand pounds. If its iron weights you wouldn't need that much.

25Hz wrote:Around NASSAU has constant tension as well. This is the "fastest" part of the NEC through nj.

The biggest difference to me of the legacy catenary is the constant tension has pulley cradles holding up the wires vs wrap-around bolt clamps.

There is no constant tension around NASSAU if by NASSAU you mean what used to be NASSAU Tower at Princeton Jct.

There is a two mile test section of constant tension catenary near Hamilton on track 3. That's about it as far as Constant Tension goes on the NEC south/west of New York.

Glad to see the testing will be conducted on the NEC starting in sept. however any news on how long this will be going on for as Im due for another trip to the NYC area around thanksgiving, also if the regionals will receive any speed bump while testing the acela's for a higher MAS?

Jishnu wrote:

25Hz wrote:Around NASSAU has constant tension as well. This is the "fastest" part of the NEC through nj.

The biggest difference to me of the legacy catenary is the constant tension has pulley cradles holding up the wires vs wrap-around bolt clamps.

There is no constant tension around NASSAU if by NASSAU you mean what used to be NASSAU Tower at Princeton Jct.

There is a two mile test section of constant tension catenary near Hamilton on track 3. That's about it as far as Constant Tension goes on the NEC south/west of New York.

It's not just one track, it's both inner tracks. Also, i don't know the landmarks north of hamilton station till princeton jct.

25Hz wrote:

Jishnu wrote:

25Hz wrote:Around NASSAU has constant tension as well. This is the "fastest" part of the NEC through nj.

The biggest difference to me of the legacy catenary is the constant tension has pulley cradles holding up the wires vs wrap-around bolt clamps.

There is no constant tension around NASSAU if by NASSAU you mean what used to be NASSAU Tower at Princeton Jct.

There is a two mile test section of constant tension catenary near Hamilton on track 3. That's about it as far as Constant Tension goes on the NEC south/west of New York.

It's not just one track, it's both inner tracks. Also, i don't know the landmarks north of hamilton station till princeton jct.

nooooooooo its a short test section on track 3 east of Hamilton, roughly inbetween the I-295 OH Bridge and the Quakerbridge Road OH bridge. You can clearly see the modified catenary supports and extra poles added on Google Earth. Its no where near Nassau (which is east of Princeton Jct)

Ok, you'd know better than I, thanks for the clarification! I have not been on the NEC since january 5 am on my canada trip, so i am bit rusty.

Dont plan on seeing these things fly by the platforms at 1pm on a weekday or weekend. The tests will be done in the middle of the night most likely when traffic and service interruption is minimal.

ApproachMedium wrote:Dont plan on seeing these things fly by the platforms at 1pm on a weekday or weekend. The tests will be done in the middle of the night most likely when traffic and service interruption is minimal.

Wouldn't middle of the night on weekends be the only rational time? After all, I'd imagine Amtrak would want all 4 tracks clear for this kind of testing. I'd also expect that they'd be instrumenting the track and catenary in places.

Didn't they test the Acela here at high speeds back when it was new, or was that testing up in Mass?

As to if the dates will slip out or not, I suspect Amtrak wants to keep a tight lip on everything going on, and I would expect that security would be *tight* around such testing. Then again, they might publicize it like the French do*.

*And I have my passport ready for then next time they decide to set a new world record....

CSX Conductor wrote:

NRGeep wrote:I wonder if they have plans to eventually increase the Mansfield Ma area (presently 150mph) to 165mph?

It would make sense as this is the longest straightaway on the entire NEC.

I always wished that when the original NEC project was envisioned they had planned to use the East Side Railroad Tunnel out of Providence station instead of the present slow winding route via Pawtucket. Then the straightaway would have been even a longer high-speed beeline!

bostontrainguy wrote:

CSX Conductor wrote:

NRGeep wrote:I wonder if they have plans to eventually increase the Mansfield Ma area (presently 150mph) to 165mph?

It would make sense as this is the longest straightaway on the entire NEC.

I always wished that when the original NEC project was envisioned they had planned to use the East Side Railroad Tunnel out of Providence station instead of the present slow winding route via Pawtucket. Then the straightaway would have been even a longer high-speed beeline!

Eh? Isn't the East Side Railroad Tunnel part of the old railroad to Fall River? Doesn't look like it's pointing the right way to Boston.

The East Side Tunnel served three different rail branches. The P&W branch which connects to the P&W mainline; the Providence, Warren, and Bristol which runs to Bristol and Fall River; and the Boston & Providence's East Providence Branch, which connected to the mainline at East Junction.

Running this route would have added 5.5 miles of perfectly straight running (on top of 10.9 plus another 3 of shallow curves into Sharon) and avoided the sharp curves at Pawtucket/Central Falls. We know that the tunnel can handle catenary - it did for the PW&B electrics.

One wonders. Perhaps the New Haven - Boston section of the NEC was not even considered until after the downtown tracks were moved in 1981. Perhaps the tunnel is too small for modern Amtrak trains (versus smaller PW&B electrics and slow freights). Perhaps the curve on the east end of the bridge is too sharp. But in the end, it wasn't to be.

Nasadowsk wrote:

ApproachMedium wrote:Dont plan on seeing these things fly by the platforms at 1pm on a weekday or weekend. The tests will be done in the middle of the night most likely when traffic and service interruption is minimal.

Wouldn't middle of the night on weekends be the only rational time? After all, I'd imagine Amtrak would want all 4 tracks clear for this kind of testing. I'd also expect that they'd be instrumenting the track and catenary in places.

Wouldn't the middle of the night on weeknights be rational too?

Nasadowsk wrote:

Didn't they test the Acela here at high speeds back when it was new, or was that testing up in Mass?

Then again, they might publicize it like the French do*. And I have my passport ready for then next time they decide to set a new world record....

Thats a good question as I believe the highest they tested the Acela before service was up to 160 mph? I could be wrong, however thats how I remember it. In respect to Acela toping out at 160 the turbos which were just shy of 171 mph on there test run holds the NEC speed record however I believe even the X2000 which made a limited engagement on the NEC was given the highball on a test run and maxed out at 164-165 mph, I'll have to dig in my old chest of VHS tapes ( remember those thing) in storage to find that old Pentax Documentary on it and look it up.

Also Nasadowsk I'll be on a bridge in France somewhere near you the next time France wants to break a rail speed record, I'm still upset I missed the last one.

buddah wrote: Thats a good question as I believe the highest they tested the Acela before service was up to 160 mph?

Yes, I think the FRA requires 10 over the top service speed. I'm just not sure where that was.

Also Nasadowsk I'll be on a bridge in France somewhere near you the next time France wants to break a rail speed record, I'm still upset I missed the last one.

Lemme know if you hear about a new run, i'll do the same!