Amtrak's Experiements and Trials

The other day when I was booking a trip on the Cascades, I remember thinking back to when Oregon DOT and WSDOT were considering of buying the Flexliners from Denmark and went thru a few tests with them in the NW, which lead to me thinking over the years of all the things Amtrak has tested major and minor that either didn't work out or lead to other things.

Siemens' ICE train at WUS in fall of 1993:



There were also borrowed LRC and X2000 trainsets in the Northeast in 80s-90s.

The LRC sets were a lease rather than a borrow, no?

Believe the LRC's were a lease from BBD,before the AEM-7's were designed,the ASEA RC-4 and a french motor were tested
on the NEC.

What qualifies as an "experiment"? Do you mean one-offs that ran in regular service briefly but weren't duplicated, or actual demonstrators?

Thinking in particular of the SPV-2000s in New Haven-Hartford-Springfield service.

Ridgefielder wrote:What qualifies as an "experiment"? Do you mean one-offs that ran in regular service briefly but weren't duplicated, or actual demonstrators?

Thinking in particular of the SPV-2000s in New Haven-Hartford-Springfield service.

The SPV's were CDOT-owned and were repurposed a couple different times--as Metro North shuttle trains, and as de-motorized Constitution Liner coaches for Shore Line East--by CDOT. I guess that's a gray area since those were state-owned lineage and Amtrak's ops-only involvement with those vehicles was a lot briefer than the vehicles' total operating lifespan in Connecticut.


But for list-fodder purposes it's not like there were so many new-equipment experiments total since '71 that the SPV's need any sort of asterisk because of intra-state use and ownership. There were still enough national future considerations to get Amtrak interested in shaking those things down. The common carbody lineage with the Metroliners and Amfleets would've provided attractive economy of scale for extending that equipment trial well beyond CT had they worked out alright. It just never got that far because they didn't work out. The reliability failures were so quick, immediate, and pervasive that they were D.O.A. as far as Amtrak was concerned.

The Turbo train used in NY Empire service was an interesting experiment. I believe the problem was they used too much fuel.

Mr. Palmer, however unintentional, you have used a banned word to address a banned topic. Further, the image copied is that of an ANF Turbo that was used in various Midwest services featuring a run-through of Chicago Union Station from Milw to Detroit or St Louis.

I think 2 of that model did move to New York, where the couplers disagreed with a switch in Grand Central.

Mod Note: There is no ban on mentioning turboliners in a historic context. There is a ban on discussing their return to service. This is because some folks just do not let go of the fact that we will never see the turbo fleet returned to service despite some remaining somewhere.

Good Topics:
1. Where did they operate?
2. What made them go?
3. What was a ride like?

Not allowed:
1. Why don't we return the stored turbos to service
2. NYS DOT is a bunch of bums for hiding them
3. We should order more

Do the Roadrailers count as an experiment?

The whole idea of running "mixed trains," especially those doing switching en route, should be regarded as an experiment--a failed one.

The Turboliners were notorious fuel hogs. That's why their gone. This per Mr. David Gunn.

Tadman wrote:Mod Note: ... There is a ban on discussing their return to service. This is because some folks just do not let go of the fact that we will never see the turbo fleet returned to service despite some remaining somewhere.

...but feel free to discuss returning a GG-1 to service!

Regardless, the turbos (and SPV-2000s) should not be considered 'experiments;' they were Amtrak-purchased equipment that performed in revenue service for many years. 20 years, I believe, for my beloved turboliners.

I beleive the OP was asking about non-Amtrak equipment borrowed (sorry...leased) for a trial like the Flexliners.

French electric locomotive X-996

Swedish electric locomotive X-995

EMD F-69 450-451

The French locomotive was simply "sent home"; so was the Swedish, but only after becoming the "guts" of the AEM-7, which some will contend was the most successful locomotive procurement Amtrak has made to date.

No further orders of the F-69's were placed, but the exterior appearance lives on with the fleet of F-40PHM-2's that METRA operates today.