NJ Transit movement in Philly

[ns3010]

Yes, this would be the Atlantic City Express Service (ACES) train between NYC and AC. It started in February 2008 and runs Friday-Sunday. There is an ALP-44 on the east end of the train and an ex-Amtrak P40DC on the west end. The cars are eight specially revamped and painted Multilevel cars (7229-7236) specially for ACES, split into two sets of four. And yes, the ALP and the P40 stay on for the entire trip. The ACL is not electrified, and diesel locomotives can not operate in NYC, so they need both locomotives. For more on the train, see the website, http://acestrain.com/

[Fireflite]

This past Saturday, May 22, I was traveling south on I-95 in north Philadelphia when I overtook an unusual NJ Tranist train on the northeast corridor, at about 10:45am.  The only NJT train I'm aware of that uses the corridor south of the yard in Morrisville is the Atlantic City train.  The other AC trains I've seen recently were still using the traditional Geep on the south end with a set of Horizon coaches, runing push-pull.  They use the diesel as the line from north Philly to AC is not electrified. 

This train had a set of the brand new NJT bi-level coaches, an ALP-44 electric on the north end, and a GE Genesis diesel on the south end.  I didn't get a very good look at the diesel, but I believe it was an Amtrak unit.  (A little web research revealed NJT bought four of these from Amtrak.  Maybe it was one of those).  The train was moving at around 60mph, and the pantograph on the ALP-44 was raised. 

Was this a revamped Atlantic City train?  Why suddenly use two locomotives?  Does the ALP-44 stay with the train all the way to AC? 

Tom