Passenger Trains > Avelia Liberty testing at 165 mph through Princeton Jct at Night

Monday, February 5th, 2024

On a visit to Princeton Junction, NJ, on the NEC, I got a surprise heads up that
Amtrak's Avela Liberty (aka: Acela II) would be making some high speed round
trips at up to 165 mph.  There were 3 all after 8 PM lasting into the midnight if
I recall correctly.  No confirmation of speed, but it sure looked wickedly fast!

First shot -
10:45 PM  Nikon Z8, ISO 900, 1/800th with a second hand 85 mm 1.8 DSLR
prime.  Exposed for the headlights - was able to recover a good amount of
detail.

Second and third, some cell phone video of the event, both south.. err, west
bound but from opposite sides of the platforms.

Enjoy

/Mitch

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NICE! Lets hope this is a positive beginning to these units' process of getting into service........

Wow!

That’s 265 kilometers per hour!

Sounds faster and more European

Posted from iPhone

Wow. Nice  work. Is  that  tower  staffed?

cutboy1958 Wrote:
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> Wow. Nice  work. Is  that  tower  staffed?

I was surprised to see the lights come on but I don't think it is staffed or in use daily - perhaps someone can confirm its current status.

/Mitch

Posted from iPhone

Great job on the video and still shot . Four stars !   Thanks for sharing. 
Candidate for the Video of the Day. 

Second both motions. Outstanding! An excellent still view (you have a very good trigger finger, even if shot in burst mode), and the two videos are very impressive. Plus, the train just looks good - really good. It's good that this process is rolling along, and apparently with some success. All to the good. Looking forward to the trains going into service.

MC

Reamining towers in kept shape are usually for maintenance and signal personnel. This area is completely CETC controlled.

Mgoldman Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> cutboy1958 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Wow. Nice  work. Is  that  tower  staffed?
>
> I was surprised to see the lights come on but I
> don't think it is staffed or in use daily -
> perhaps someone can confirm its current status.
>
> /Mitch
>
> Posted from iPhone

Railfan AirBNB???  Lodging and trains together.

Thanks for posting the video...at least we have one train that can match some of the train speeds in Europe.

Impressive!  What is the rate of acceleration for Aleva Liberty, that is, how much time and how many miles does it take to reach 165 mph from a dead stop?

Nice catch, let's see how long it'll take for them to get into service!

Great stuff, glad you caught it! That horn sounds like it’s being strangled, though.

Nathan

Posted from iPhone

amtrakbill Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Wow!
>
> That’s 265 kilometers per hour!
>
> Sounds faster and more European
>
> Posted from iPhone

Wow is right! Love to have been behind the throttle on that trip.

I liked that whistle,   it really gets your attention.

I remember being on a platform years ago at night in the UK just west of Windsor. A 125 MPH train came through at speed - no whistle, no headlight. It scared my wife and I. It seemed like it almost blew us off the platform. We  learned our lesson, stay as far back from the tracks as possible. I hope the UK has starting using headlights by now.