New Amtrak Acela Train Passes Through NE Ohio

The new trainset built by Alstom for Amtrak’s Acela Express service in the Northeast Corridor passed through Northeast Ohio late Monday afternoon.

The train was en route from Hornell, New York, where it was built, to a testing center near Pueblo, Colorado.

It departed Hornell early Monday morning and reached Lake County east of Cleveland by mid to late afternoon.

A railfan chat list posting said it passed through Berea on the NS Chicago line at 5:40 p.m. and was in Elkhart, Indiana, at 11:30 p.m.

The ferry move used the Southern Tier line of Norfolk Southern to Buffalo, New York, where it picked up the route of Amtrak’s Lake Shore Limited to Chicago.

On Tuesday afternoon the train left Chicago on the route of the Southwest Chief bound for La Junta, Colorado.

The consist of the special as it passed through Northeast Ohio included P42DC Nos. 135 and 196, heritage fleet sleeper Pacific Bend, a Viewliner baggage car, the Acela trainset, a Viewliner dining car and P42DC No. 144.

The train set is expected to undergo testing for several weeks in Colorado before returning to New York for the installation of its interior appointments.

Rare Passenger Train on the NS Mon Line

The “Coal Goes to War” special navigates the street running in West Brownsville, Pa. When the trip was announced it was supposed to have been pulled by E units painted in Pennsylvania Railroad markings. But the motive power was changed to an Amtrak heritage unit.

I chased the Amtrak special down the Mon Valley Line in Pennsylvania on Sunday.  We started at the street running in West Brownsville and followed to Blacksburg, .W. Va. 

It seemed that every railfan in southwest Pennsylvania showed up to chase this train.  Seriously, you would have thought Nickel Plate Road No. 765 was in the lead not an Amtrak diesel even if it was a heritage.

I guess a special train is pretty rare down in these parts. NS last ran an OCS about five years ago and before that it was Conrail.  That makes this a very rare mileage trip. 

Anyhow, we followed the train to the end at Blacksburg although many locations I have no idea where we were.

We wanted a nice bridge shot something akin to what is found on the Virginian Railroad.  Unfortunately, although we found several such bridges all were treed in except one behind a high school and even that wasn’t perfect.

The chase continued on back roads. We followed some railfans who seemed to know which way to go. Otherwise we would have been completely lost. 

We then chased the special back to Waynesburg  at which point we gave up and headed home.  The light wasn’t good heading back north and we had had our fill.

 Article and Photographs by Todd Dillon

Amtrak Special Passes Through Cleveland

Ross Rowland’s passenger cars for his proposed Greenbrier Express train made their way through Ohio Tuesday afternoon (January 25, 2011). The move, whose priority was as low as the bottom man on a totem pole, had been tentatively scheduled to pass through on Sunday.  But problems outside of Omaha delayed the train for several hours, thus creating a new plan of action once it got into Chicago.

The train, Amtrak 942, made its way through Olmsted Falls at approximately 12:56 p.m.  Delayed in our region due to some signal problems at MP197, the train was placed behind three eastbound van/stack trains before finally coming through.

The 15-car train led by Amtrak Genesis units 163 and 58 did get a little respect as two westbound van/stack trains were placed in the north siding and waited for the special to pass by before they could move on. The dispatcher also advised of a crew change at the Cleveland Amtrak station.

As expected something this unique to our area was met with the typical uncooperative Ohio winter sky, making photography a challenge.  The last car in the consist was occupied by the coordinator of move, reported to be a friend of Mr. Rowland.

It was great to see a daytime passenger train of this length and the 1950s style passenger cars were a sight to behold.

Article and photographs by Dan Davidson