Passenger Trains > NJT ACES Train Pictures

In the short time that the NJT ACES train was in service running between NYP-AC, I never got to ride it. I was fortunate enough to at least get to photograph it multiple times. I rode the Amtrak Atlantic City Express with my family in July of 1994 to AC from NWK and in addition to that one not lasting a long time, the NJT ACES sevice lasted a short time until March of 2012. Here are pictures that I took of it.
1. In February of 2009, the first morning trip of the day on Saturday passes the Linden, NJT Station heading down to AC. NJT P40 # 4800 leads the consist here.
2. In Feb of 2009, NJT P40 # 4802 leads the afternoon run of ACES past Elizabeth Station heading to Atlantic City.
3. Side view of the NJT ACES paint scheme on the Multilevel as it passes by Elizabath Station.

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1. ALP44 # 4428 brings up the rear of the afternoon NJT ACES train as it is about to negotiate the S curve just west of Elizabeth Station in Feb of 2009.
2. During the middle of February of 2009, the morning run of ACES heading from NYP-AC passes the Elizabeth Station with the 4800 leading.
3. ALP44 # 4428 brings up the rear of the ACES train in Elizabeth, NJ.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/04/20 17:45 by Passfanatic.

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1. In March of 2009, the afternoon ACES is about to pass Princeton Junction Station with Nassau Tower on the left.
2. On the Sunday after Thanksgiving in 2009, several railfans observe NJT ACES heading away from us from Croydon Septa Station.
3. Passing Princeton Jct in 2010.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/04/20 17:58 by Passfanatic.

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What's with the black below the windshield?

I don't know what's with the black below the windshield. I will say this-while it was great to have a direct rail option available for those people traveling from NYP/NWK and AC, it was no surprise that this operation would do poorly ridership wise. By looking at a map, we could already see that this route would take too long, even with few stops. Plus, the fare was way too much money. When traveling from NYC and NWK to get to AC without driving, the bus is the best option. The NJT 319 route continues to run a good operation down to AC from the Port Authority and I believe that some of those buses stop at NWK Penn Station as well. Greyhound runs buses to AC from NYC. Given that the ACRL is still single track in a lot of spots, passengers on these ACES trains had to sit many times in sidings probably and they weren't too pleased. Did I wish to ride it as a railfan? Yes. Did I wish to ride it to spend a day in AC? No.

mp51w Wrote:
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> What's with the black below the windshield?

These were leased ex Amtrak P40's. They were used on the ACES train, and occasionally on the Raritan line. One of them even made it to the Hoboken side, and was used on the Main and Bergen lines for a day. Not sure why the black paint was used...I believe one of them caught fire...

I remember it being said that someone thought the black paint would improve the looks of
the Genesis engines, which still look pretty ugly no matter what you do with them.  If you
squint at the pictures after having eight or ten drinks, the black paint does make it look like
they have big grotesque windshields instead of little slit-like ones.

And, yes...one of them did catch fire, on February 13, 2010.

The four P40 units used on ACES were purchased from Amtrak, not leased.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/04/20 20:25 by GenePoon.

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And those four P40s that operated on NJT ACES-they are being refurbished to operate on Ctrail Commuter trains.

Look like Euro-boxes.  Yuck!

I rode the ACES trains several times. Nice train, but not esp fast. I wrote about it many times on Train Orders.

The train was often stabbed on the cross over to Delair and the bridge. Not uncommon to wait 15-20 minutes.

Track and wire work occasionally closed one Or more tracks, we would follow a local or wait for Acela.

Posted from Android

This is the car that I think Amtrak should experiment with as a single food service car.  They could have a "dome" lounge on the top deck, a kitchen/bar in the center of the lower deck, a Sleeper Class table sitting area on one end of the mid-level and Coach Class table seating section on the other end.

The crazy idea of them trying to make one Viewliner II diner into a single food service car for an entire LD train just blows my mind.  Can they make things any more unpleasant?

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That looked like a nice lounge in the NJT ACES multilevel. I think the train ride on ACES from NYP-AC took anywhere between 2.5 to 2.75 hours. Not only on the map, was the route of this train very long to travel. Just imagine if the ACES train made more stops. When Amtrak was running its Atlantic City Express trains, it made multiple stops between NWK and AC. It stopped at Metropark, Trenton, Cherry Hill, and I think it stopped at Lindenwold. When the fares were increased to 75 dollars one way for travel on the ACES, at the end of the day, people thought that that was too much money, given the quality of service and distance traveled.

Unlike ACES, the bus is the most convenient and fastest way for travel from NYC and NWK to AC, even in a little traffic. The NJT 319 bus runs from NYC to Atlantic in two hours and thirty five minutes and it looks like the service frequencies are every one to two hours. I'm sure that during the summer, there are more 319 buses. Very few of those 319 buses stop at NWK Penn Station.

It's very unfortunate that NJT's NJCL doesn't continue past Bay Head for the sake of extending that to AC. The problem is that that would require the right of way to probably make many sharp turns given the fact that the route would probably have to turn west at Bay Head and head almost south for several miles running closely parrallel with Rt. 9 and even the Garden State Parkway before joining the ACRL Line around Absecon and then sharing the single track with the ACRL trains before arriving into AC. There is tons of water separating the shore towns south of Bay Head along Route 35 and I doubt that those residents living in the Seasides would want a train passing through their town. The ride on the NJCL from NYC and NWK to the shore towns of Monmouth and Northern Ocean County takes too long on a local train-two hours and twenty one minutes from Bay Head to New York Penn Station-that is pretty close to long it takes to travel on the 319 bus from NYC to AC but just an extra 15 min. Express trains from NYP-Bay Head probably save you 20-25 minutes, depending on how many stops they make.

The Jersey Central Blue Comet ran from Jersey City to Atlantic City. Via Red Bank and Lakehurst.

Made pretty good time, too.

Posted from Android

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
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> The Jersey Central Blue Comet ran from Jersey City
> to Atlantic City. Via Red Bank and Lakehurst.
>
> Made pretty good time, too.

And much of that right of way is still intact.

If NJT were to ever run trains to AC down any sections of the Coastline, probably the best idea would be to reactivate the route that used below the present Aberdeen-Matawan Station that is now abandoned. This would enable travel not only from AC to NYC quickly. It would enable communities like Lakewood and Freehold to have easy rail access to Atlantic City. This could also be part of the MOM line.

I believe the Red Bank - Lakehurst segment of the former CNJ line was one of the access projects NJ was considering years ago as an improvement to the "Route 9 corridor" or Monmouth - Ocean - Mercer (MOM) efforts

There were several, another alternative nvolved Red Bank to Jamesburg to Trenton, etc.

Back when people dreamed great dreams...

4800s are AHH-HUGGLY!!! Parts of them angular, parts rounded.
Ick!

Abqfoamer Wrote:
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> 4800s are AHH-HUGGLY!!! Parts of them angular,
> parts rounded.
> Ick!

You know that's so they will fit every nook and cranny in Penn Station, right?

If Amtrak went with their own newer version the roof could probably be straight without the notches more like the Long Island bi-levels since they would be running through Penn Station on the through tracks.

Passfanatic Wrote:
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> If NJT were to ever run trains to AC down any sections of the Coastline, probably the best idea would be to reactivate the route that used below the present Aberdeen-Matawan Station that is now abandoned. This would enable travel not only from AC to NYC quickly. It would enable communities like Lakewood and Freehold to have easy rail access to Atlantic City. This could also be part of the MOM line.



The CNJ line was about thirty miles inland before it connected to the Reading's Atlantic City line at Winslow Junction - near Hammonton, NJ.  That detour is a bit of a time sink.

Plus you'd have to completely rebuild ~ 65 miles of track through either Nimbyville or Nowhereville.

The way the casino craze played out back in the late 70's destroyed what it was trying to save.  Speculators bought up properties and let them rot, looking for the big casino payout.  Nowadays, there is no monopoly on casinos and no unique reason to go to Atlantic City.

Perhaps in another universe, Atlantic City would have become a rounded family friendly resort attraction.

Brian



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/06/20 07:30 by choodude.

NJ also cut various deals with local power brokers (of both parties) to assure that everybody got a piece of the action.  Which layered lots and lots of costs on the casinos, and reduced payouts.

Once competition from other states came about, the game was over.

I believe the ACES trains were a joint effort of Borgata casino, Hilton, and maybe one other player on the casino side.  NJ Transit. and the Casino Redevelopment Authority, which was one of the state overseers. Exactly who held titles to what, and who financed what has slipped into the mists of time.   NJ Transit eventually stored the cars at the Meadowlands Maintenance faility where they were soaked in Super Storm Sandy. I understand they were later rebuilt into conventional multi-level cars.