The new Amtrak electric engines seem to be doing fine with my limited experience riding the Northeast Corridor.....I take a trip up north to vist my kids every few months.....
Passing through Wilmington today, I saw about 8-10 HHP8s hanging out in the yard.....does anyone know their future....scrap, re-purpose, resale?
Peter
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Hi Peter:
Apparently they are testing to be cab cars on the Hudson line or elsewhere, supposedly form an Amtrak source. One was spotted on a train in DC without pans. With Amtrak, who knows. Do a search and you get a handful of interesting results. A few are below; take it for whatever its worth.
Tough question. MARC was able to put the time and resources into making them work, for Amtrak that wasn't and isn't feasible due to to the larger direct costs of repairs and larger opportunity cost due to its shoe string budget.
There had been the debacle that was the lawsuit filed against Amtrak by Phillip Morris, that was settled about a year ago. Amtrak had leased eight, or possibly al 15, of the HHP8 from Phillip Morris Subsidiary HNB. Phillip Morris alleged Amtrak broke the lease by cannibalizing the stored HHP8s for parts and failing to properly notify that the units were out of the service and thus failing to pay a casualty payment, among other things. I'm sure that the HHP8s weren't being considered for any duty until that lawsuit was nearing a conclusion.
The links that @Pantenary provided are interesting. It would certainly seem that Amtrak is at least seeing if it is possible to use them as cab cars.
A few years ago when they did the AEM7 trip to the shops it was because the lease wasn’t up. There used to be a line of AEM7ACs there for the same reason. I’m sure now they’re just being used for whatever parts can be scavenged for Acela repairs.
I only observe the Northeast Corridor through social media and railfan publications, so I am cautious about believing everything that is said. However, it it apparent that the availability of the Amtrak HHP8 electric locomotives was unsatisfactory.
When digging around to shed light on what was the reliability problem, things are somewhat vague. The only specific items I could find were (1) "the microprocessors" (itself being vague) initially not reacting well to extreme temperature changes. That says something, but not much. The other item was the wheel slip system being inefficient, particularly during falling leaf season.
Is there a Forumite who has access to any Amtrak availability numbers for its locomotive fleet?
My experience on an HHP-8 pulled Amtrak train in 2012 was that they made for a fairly rough riding train while accelerating. More so than I recall with the E60s even. Of course my experience is purely anecdotal based on only that one trip and the trains I rode with E60s were mostly heavier Heritage Fleet cars. I recall AEM7s, ACS64s, GG1s were all much smoother accelerating locomotives.
@Number 90 posted:The other item was the wheel slip system being inefficient, particularly during falling leaf season.
I've seen that mentioned a couple of times, maybe there's a grain of truth there. 
The latest rumor I have heard through the grapevine is that they are being prepared to be shipped out to Caltrain. Seems like there is an unexpected delay with the MU units that they ordered and are planning on using the HHP-8s as a substitute with their current coach fleet until the issue with the MU's can be resolved.
@Number 90 I don't know if this info helps answer your question but, to avoid duplicating locomotive #s, Amtrak's 15 HHP8s, originally 650-664, were renumbered to 680–694 to make room for Siemens ACS-64 units that now fill the numbers 650–664. Amtrak ordered 70 units ACS-64 units which is confirmed here and here . The second article, from 2013, states that the ACS-64s would be, "...delivered in phases by 2016." You can see pictures of each unit on rr pictures , the unit numbers are 600 through 670. Two units have been involved in wrecks and I also read somewhere that 6 extra units were ordered, but can't find anything supporting that. However, according to "Amtrak's Five Year Equipment Asset Line Plan Base (FY 2019) + Five Year Strategic Plan (FY 2020-2024)"(link- Amtrak 5 year plan) they only list 66 units as being owned. I took a snapshot of that page from the linked report and that picture is below:
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