Roger,
Thanks for your efforts to find an alternate solution.
I never could find any combination of the build/TR-lashup function that worked with running Acela as a pair and adding the Bistro Car.
Even if Lionel can come up with a magical procedure, it might require more steps than the ones outlined in the starting message to this thread. It could make things even more risky for first-time Acela users who just want the train to reliably run.