Amtrak HHP-8 Discussion: Use, Reliability, Disposition

Sale/Leaseback was a pretty popular financing gimmick and tax strategy back in the late 90's. Can't say if that was the motive for this deal or not, or how it went down.

Sgt. Smith, from what I've learned, this(ese) transactions involving the Hippos were a straight lease - the lessor acquired the property and leased it to a user.

A "Sale/Leaseback" is where an owner of an existing piece of real or personal property enters into an agreement with another party to purchase that property from the owner and thence enter into a lease agreement under "whatever terms" the parties agree to.

Lets be clear:

Yes, they were owned by Phillip Morris on a lease-back agreement.
Yes, something happened to them and Phillip Morris found out.
Yes, Phillip Morris sued Amtrak.
No, they all settled out of court, and Amtrak now fully owns the HHP-8's.

And my question about which 8 units are going to be converted into the 975x series still stands. It’s only been in the Bulletin Orders since 6/5.

Jeff Smith wrote: ↑Wed Nov 01, 2023 2:34 pm Sale/Leaseback was a pretty popular financing gimmick and tax strategy back in the late 90's. Can't say if that was the motive for this deal or not, or how it went down.

It was a effort to meet the "glide path to self sufficency , Warrington era. assets including real estate were sold , and shown as revenue , or at least as less requirement for subsidy , they never made it anyway , and it all quietly went away .

nomis wrote: ↑Thu Nov 02, 2023 10:53 am And my question about which 8 units are going to be converted into the 975x series still stands. It’s only been in the Bulletin Orders since 6/5.

I’ll believe it when they are actually running in service, I’ve heard rumors that they were scrapping the project due to issues getting them to run correctly.

As I understand it, in addition to other things, it's a weight balancing matter/issue that also has to be mastered. Gotta get the right formula. Amtrak "got it" when they made the F40s into cab cars and cabbages. Very smart! But they gutted and took out the engine parts, for lack of better words, but then had to "add back" weight to compensate. Being simplistic here. Now they gotta do the same with the HHP8's. Can they get it right? Is it easy or is it hard considering these units? I had heard they operated an HHP8 in test service when testing out the extension of the Ethan Allen from Rutland to Burlington.......Never operated in service though, just testing.

I think I just saw one of the converted HHP-8s pass through Leaman Place on the Virtual Railfan livestream. It was coupled up to a Metroliner cab car and did not have a pantograph up; I couldn’t see if there was a pantograph present. The HHP-8 and one of the Strasburg steam locomotives had a short whistle/horn sound-off as the consist passed through Leaman Place at medium speed (?).

No pantographs.

Test train.

CNJGeep wrote: ↑Sat Jan 06, 2024 12:22 pm No pantographs.

Test train.

I’m curious about what was being tested. I remember reading about the myriad software problems that the HHP-8s had prior to their conversion; I’m curious if the comms system for remote control of the ACS-64 was one of the things being tested.

TheOneKEA wrote: ↑Sat Jan 06, 2024 12:33 pm I’m curious about what was being tested. I remember reading about the myriad software problems that the HHP-8s had prior to their conversion; I’m curious if the comms system for remote control of the ACS-64 was one of the things being tested.

It probably was just for viability. The control and comms weren't the problem. It was the cooling system being a convoluted mess.

I really hope they go in service. I personally caught the HHP-C at overbrook with the metroliner behind it. I still have high(ish) hopes for it.

quick question if anyone can answer this, 9750 was on 8910 last night do any of you guys know why?

word on the street is the HHP-C goes into service tomorrow. Could anyone allude to this, possibly giving more details and times?

robelybasis wrote: ↑Sun Mar 03, 2024 6:00 pm word on the street is the HHP-C goes into service tomorrow. Could anyone allude to this, possibly giving more details and times?

And are they likely to run on the Sunday afternoon trips down to DC and back? Or will they stay on the primary routing from Harrisburg to NYC?