 |
| Autumn leaves are flying as a southbound Acela Express approaches Kingston, RI at about 150mph. Fastest in US. 10-20-13 |
 |
| SB Acela blows past Kingston. |
|
I started to feel the "need for speed" after the school year began and had spent one too many an afternoon around District 1 watching slow freights plod along at 10 to 20 mph. From previous trips and common knowledge I knew that the Acela Express hit 150 mph through the station at Kingston, RI and began eying the place on the web. The excuse to go came when a friend agreed to go along. We happened to pick an awesome day for sun, color and traffic too. As it turned out we got a side order of "
Swedish Meatballs" in the deal.
 |
| A "Swedish Meatball" AEM-7 leads a 'Regional'. |
As easy as it is to translate a schedule, it gets complicated, apparently, when one tries to write down a lineup for Kingston on a Sunday. Between filtering out the non-Sunday trains and putting down chronological times and numbers to distinguish Acela Express from Regional trains, I messed up a couple of North-South designations. I even nearly missed one last Acela as I exited the depot just as it arrived. At least we were on the platform when 5 Acelas and some Regionals went by.
Mission accomplished.
The last NB Acela we set up for overtook a late Regional in sight of the station. That put them on the left-hand track and a bit slower than normal. We happened to be on the pedestrian bridge at the time so we had a good vantage point. The low sun really made for some striking lines on all the hardware reflecting those rays. The windows were actually pretty clean but the harsh glare was tough to work around.
The Acela trains did not disappoint. No
GE HHP-8 units but it was good to see the 30+ year old ASEA et. al
AEM-7 "Swedish Meatballs" again. They'll be replaced in the next few years as the new
Siemens "Cities Sprinter" units are built and put into service. I guess I'm attached to AEM-7's since I happened to do a semester in Sweden where their original
ASEA "RC" form roamed in 1982. I also caught the early Amtrak models in New Haven in 1981. That makes these one of the few locomotive types I've seen and photographed throughout most of their lifespan. I'll have to find those slides now. They'll show up below one day.
BC
 |
| ASEA unit on Swedish Railways (SJ). Gavle, Sweden about Sept. 1982. | |
 |
| A typical AEM-7 "Swedish Meatball" leading a 'Regional' through Kingston. 10-20-13 |
The last NB Acela we set up for overtook a late Regional in sight of the station. That put them on the left-hand track and a bit slower than normal. We happened to be on the pedestrian bridge at the time so we had a good vantage point. The low sun really made for some striking lines on all the hardware reflecting those rays. The windows were actually pretty clean but the harsh glare was tough to work around.
