Amtrak HHP-8 Discussion: Use, Reliability, Disposition

For such new equipment, always strikes me as odd that there are a high number of HHP-8s regularly out of service.....

Thank you all for your help, I have been on the amtrak site, but can't find anything about buying unresrved tickets? from Philly what is the best way to go for an HHP-8? was looking at Timetables, but they are written different to ours. how do you find out how many are in service? is there a site dedicated to whats in and out of service or are you lucky and have contacts in the right places? (that usually happens here, all about who you know, lol)

Trains on weekends are all reserved. On weekdays, certain trains are unreserved.

Contacts in the right places.

They must have fixed up a couple more HHP-8s, as there are now 10 good ones instead of 7.

Tiggerhappy1977 wrote:Thank you all for your help, I have been on the amtrak site, but can't find anything about buying unresrved tickets? from Philly what is the best way to go for an HHP-8? was looking at Timetables, but they are written different to ours. how do you find out how many are in service? is there a site dedicated to whats in and out of service or are you lucky and have contacts in the right places? (that usually happens here, all about who you know, lol)

There are some pages out that do have that type of info but it's hard to find accurate one's at times. They best way to get a train with an HHP-8 is hope for some luck and follow the advice of others for finding one because some people say they are assigned to some trains and others say they are randomly assignmed, but then again if you are in Philly you shouldn't have that much of a problem. I live up in Bos and have been looking for months of one that happened to be in South station at the time I have been there and had no luck but a friend of my noticed that a certain train had them leading more then an AEM-7 so I decided to set out to the station at the time the train arrived and I finally caught one after a few months of waiting.

Any power on the NEC is fair game. HHPs tend to be on longer hauled trains.

Given the latest Acela debacle and the necessity for more electric locomotive power on the NEC, I was wondering how the reliability of the HHP-8s has been in the last two months.

I've seen them more frequently for obvious reasons and I've always said to myself "Please don't fail Amtrak now", in reference to the HHP-8s.

Can anyone report on this?

I just traveled on Regional train 86 on Wednesday 6/8/05 which was powered by HHP number 650. The train was late and as I have mentioned in numerous threads concerning the HHP, I can only recall one time where my train actually made good time with an HHP up front.

Somewhere in "six roads" territory, near Rahway, NJ the train stopped and power was cut out to the train. I'm not sure if the engineer was given a penalty by exceeding the speed limit or ignoring a signal, but we were stopped for about 5 minutes without power and then the train started up again. I also want to mention that we came to a smooth stop. I would assume that a penalty break application would cause the train to come to a much rougher stop.

Because of the HHP's poor performance reputation I assumed that there may have been a problem in the locomotive. I couldn't make out what the conductor was saying regarding why we were stopped but with the power not on throughout the train, I could only assume it had to do with our train itself, unless there was a system wide failure which there apparently wasn't.

Now this may have been an isolated incident but the train was already late arriving in Philadelphia, and arrived in Stamford 2hrs late.

Any other similar experiences?

Guys: From the things that I have heard about the HHP8 ARMADILLOS (Ever notice the resemblance?) that they have turned out NOT to be the answer for Amtrak replacing the E60s. Would ALP44 or 46 have been a better move and how is MARC doing with ith group of locos? I am surprised that Amtrak only purchased 15 of these engines. Amtrak needs all the E motor help it can get! MACTRAXX

Mr. Traxx,
MARC units are not going so well either.

Amtrak Fan: It just makes me wonder about the armadillos....MACTRAXX

i saw 651 the other day and it was doing just fine pulling a 8 car train up here in Mansfield, MA

MACTRAXX wrote:Amtrak Fan: It just makes me wonder about the armadillos....MACTRAXX

Mactraxx,
MARC units were sitting for over a year waiting for Bombreider to fix them.

no the MARC units sat for a year since Amrak told Bombardier their ACELA's and HHP-8's had priority.
It had nothing to do with fixing but Amtrak insisted the modifications needed be done on their units first since the MARC units were a rider order on tail end of Amtrak order.
The HHP-8's are doing fine, just like the LIRR DE/DM they got a bad reputation in beginning and someting that perpetuates in railfan community despite being not true.

Speaking of the HHP-8's, I had a talk with some engineers the other day and they seem to be doing just fine, you can't see one and assume that is working or not. I don't think anyone that does not run them or work for a railroad should be complaining about them because if you don't run them or have inside information then how can you make any judgment. They may have had a rough start like some loco's will but once they work then they dig in.

Your response is the type I'm looking for. The purpose of starting this thread was due to the mixed reviews I've heard about them. I'd love to see the HHPs to succeed. I have mentioned the irony of being on late trains that have been pulled by HHPs but could not tell whether it may or may not have been a result of equipment difficulties or not.

Because more electric power is needed, HHPs have to pick up the slack and so it is interesting to see how they are doing while Acela is down.