The Flexliner testing on Amtrak. What the hell was this strange-looking thing? The Flexliner was a North American name, but it was really called an IC3 by Dutch manufacturer Adtranz. The IC3 was an intercity articulated 3-car EMU set that rode on Jacobs trucks shared between cars. The sets had two Deutz air-cooled 400hp diesels under each end car, with no engines on the center car, and used a ZF 5-speed mechanical drive with gearing for 112mph. There was also a straight electric variant called an IR4.
The cab is separate section of the train, but the table with the controls is mounted on a large door, to which the seat is also mounted. When two or more trainsets are coupled together in a single train, the entire front door folds away to give a wide passage, and the rubber diaphragms at the ends form a flush aerodynamic seal. Also, due to a design feature in the couplers and the air and power hookups, IC3/Flexliner sets could couple and uncouple on the move.
Two sets of the IC3 had been built for the Israeli State Railroads but were first diverted to North America to do testing on both Amtrak and VIA Rail. One Amtrak employee recalled that all the interior features had labels in Hebrew, that had then hastily had stickers with English applied over the top of. Amtrak did the inaugural run on an Oakland-Reno routing with invited guest and VIPs, and for whatever reason they dispatched them 15 minutes ahead of the eastbound California Zephyr. While climbing the steepest grade, at Fulda, the air-cooled Deutz engines began to run hot and then reduced power, and the train stalled. The CZ was almost up to the yellow block behind them when the engines had cooled enough for another, this time successful, try at the hill. The Danish technicians shrugged. "We have no hills in Denmark!" was their only comment. They also explained that there was an option for liquid-cooled engines to alleviate any fears of such repeat performances if Amtrak bought any.
Going back west out of Sparks the next morning, the Flexliner was again supposed to run 15 minutes ahead of a regularly scheduled Amtrak train, this time Amtrak #5, the westbound California Zephyr. There weren't a lot of Flexliner riders left; most of the invited guests had taken chartered buses back to Sacramento and the Bay Area. Only twenty-five or so showed up at the Reno station to board. But there were several dozen revenue passengers waiting for Train 5, which was delayed somewhere en route and was already six hours late. Instead of a six-hour late Zephyr, Amtrak West President Gil Mallery offered them a ride on the Flexliner, complete with complimentary VIP lunch and beverages, served en route.
The Flexliners toured around the Amtrak system for about two years. They operated on the San Diegan, both the Kansas City and St. Louis Mules, and the Hiawatha and Amtrak was also considering the IR4 electric version for the Philadelphia-Harrisburg Keystone Corridor. Ultimately, Amtrak decided to pass on ordering any, and so the two demonstrator sets went north of the border to VIA Rail, where they did a demonstration run for year as well, and again failed to generate any orders. At that point, they finally were loaded up and shipped to Israel.
