7-Car Acela Trainset?

[Amfleet]

I was flipping through my September 2003 issue of Railpace magazine and on page 10 there is a photo of an Acela Express trainset with 2 power cars, but 7 passenger cars instead of 6. The lead power car is 2028 and is followed by a first class car, 2 business class cars, a cafe car, and another three business class cars. Does anyone know whats up with this?

 

[AlanB]

Amfleet,

Sorry, but I haven't heard anything about that. It is not however impossible, as one can add and subtract cars from the train set. The problem is that it's a complicated process to do that, not to mention that Amtrak didn't order any spare cars. So that means that there is another trainset somewhere that's got less than the normal number of cars.

 

[Amfleet]

I think I got my answer over at Trainorders. Apparently, Acela Express inspection car 10003 was never taken out of its designated 6 car trainset making it a 7 car trainset. Though, this is an unconfirmed answer, it makes the most sense. I was also linked to a page describing the inspection car, which can be found here.

 

[battalion51]

That definitely looks like a pretty cool car. It is probably a good thing that it stays in an Acela set so that it can achieve 150 MPH operation just like a regular Acela does (as opposed to being pulled by a Hippo or Toaster at 125). I know that several months back CSx installed Geometry equipment on several of the Auto Train Van's as the cars run over the same trackage all the time, giving acurate readings without having to worry about the cars wandering to other places in the Amtrak system.

 

[Amfleet]

I don't think 10003 could be put on a standard Amtrak train as the coupler system and diaphrams are not compatible. There is an Amfleet test car though.

 

[Viewliner]

I don't think 10003 could be put on a standard Amtrak train as the coupler system and diaphrams are not compatible. There is an Amfleet test car though.

Which is "Corridor Clipper". Very Cool page thanks for the link, would love to ride in the Acela trainset with that car.