The
Northeast Regional is a fast Amtrak train in the northeast corridor between
Boston and Washington DC. There is daily all-reserved service
nearly every hour, with more trains running from New York City to Washington
than run north to Boston. Amtrak completed the electrification of the line
north from New Haven to Boston in 2000, so trains in the era of this train are
diesel powered north of New Haven. The Regional makes only certain stops and thus
is distinct from slower local trains. The train takes about 7.5-8 hours to
travel from Washington to Boston.
In 1975, Amtrak bought a fleet of Amfleet I coach and café cars from the Budd company that
were made in a rounded shape designed to fit in the smallest eastern tunnels
and terminals. These are the Amfleet I cars with two
doors per side. Trains
usually have 6-10 cars with the business class car in the front and the café
car in the middle. In 1974, 1975 and 1976 Amtrak bought 26 E60 locomotives from
GE, split between the E60CP with steam generators for heating older equipment
and the E60CH with head end power for newer cars such as Amfleet
cars. Locomotives and cars were initially in the phase II paint scheme, but
were repainted to phase III (like the model train
below) in the late 1970s. Amtrak began phasing out the E60 locomotives in 1984
in favor of newer power like the AEM-7. By the early-mid 1990s, phase IV paint
replaced the phase III scheme, hence the end of the era for this model train.
The Northeast
Regional train pictured below is relatively easy to model because both the E60
locomotive and the Amfleet cars (when available) are
made factory painted by Bachmann. Bachmann does not label its model as E60, but
that is what it is.
An Amtrak E60CH electric locomotive leading the Colonial at Harmans MD in September 1976. The Colonial was one of Amtrak’s train names
used on the daily schedule that later became the Northeast Regional. The cars in
the photo are Amfleet I coaches and café cars, except
for an unknown car at the end. The E60 and the Amfleet
cars are in the phase II paint scheme as adopted in 1975. Dale
Jacobson photo from Amtrak
by the numbers, by David Warner and Elbert Simon.
An Amtrak
E60CP electric locomotive (GE) in phase II paint at Wilmington, Deleware in November, 1975 when it
was new. This is the locomotive, right down to the number, that was the
prototype for the Bachmann model. Stephen Salamon
photo from Amtrak by the numbers,
by David Warner and Elbert Simon.
The Northeast
Regional, first part
The E60C
locomotive is a Bachmann model. The Amfleet I coaches
(two doors per side) are also Bachmann models. The coaches are the second
generation of the Bachmann Amfleet car with finer
molding and detail, better trackability and less
rolling friction than the primitive first generation cars that were made in the
1970s. The lighting in each car is excellent. The locomotive and all cars are
in phase III paint. I body mounted Microtrains
couplers to each coach.
The
Northeast Regional, second part
The Amfleet I (two door) café car and two more Amfleet I coaches are Bachmann models. The next to the last
coach is a Kato model of an Amfleet II car (one door
per side). Amtrak did not buy the Amfleet II cars
until the 1990s, so strictly the Kato car should not be in this early train,
but I needed and extra car to make up a 7-car train and few would notice the
lack of a door.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeast_Regional
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GE_E60
Solomon, Brian, Amtrak, MBI Railroad Color History, MBI publishing, 2004.
Amtrak by the numbers, by David Warner and Elbert Simon, White River productions, 2011. An excellent guide with thorough car histories and hundreds of photographs.
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