Nostalgia & History > Milwaukee F40Cs in Chicago

The FP40Cs were purchased by the West Suburban Mass Transit District in pre-RTA days. The locomotives were named for the towns in the District. They became Metra locomotives in the 600 series.

1. MILW 41 "City of Elgin" with the CNW Terminal leads above, March 19, 1975

2. MILW 42 "Village of Bensenville" with the Lake Street above and the Lake Street El above, August 29, 1976

3. MILW 43 "Village of East Dundee" became Metra 603, with CNW trains above, March 19, 1975


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Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/22/14 13:51 by MartyBernard.

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4. MILW 48 "Village of Roselle" inbound with CNW Terminal leads above, March 19, 1975

5. MILW 49 "Village of Streamwood" outbound and 54 "Village of ?" inbound at Western Ave., Auguct 18, 1982. This is where the Milwaukee Road tracks turned northernly and crossed the CNW tracks to the west. Want a double slip switch?

6. MILW 51 "Village of Onterioville" with home bound commuters on March 19, 1975


Enjoy,
Marty Bernard



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 10/22/14 14:12 by MartyBernard.

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Marty, I LOVE those shots. Very cool stuff, and whenever I'm home I love to track down the 611 and the 614.

I also find it interesting that the suburban services routinely switched out the consists back in those days to allow for shorter midday trains, such as the one car "train" that you see in the one shot. Anymore, the trainsets stay together all day, regardless of passenger numbers.

- Jeff Carlson

What's with the side panels? Are they screens for ventilation or some sort of weird style statement?

wingomann Wrote:
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> What's with the side panels? Are they screens for
> ventilation or some sort of weird style statement?


Purely aesthetic. They were to match the sides of the cars, though E5's they are not.

- Jeff Carlson

Are Metra'a F40Cs the last six-axle diesels used in revenue passenger service in the US? (I'm not counting UP or Bennet Levin's E-units which are only used only for excursions and other special movements).

Marty, those are some of my favorite engines! Here are #'s 604 & 606 in Chicago Union station on November 29th, 1986. It must have been not too long after they were repainted. Thanks again for sharing all your cool photos!

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What happened to the rest of them other than the two that were retained as backup power? I've asked this before and awhile back but got an inconclusive answer--and the answer of "now" would be different than the answer of "yesterday" at any rate. Nice pix, BTW.

To answer an above question, yes, these were the last New-Build psgr locomotives, right behind the Amtrak SDP40Fs.

It sure would have been interesting had the KCS followed through on its original plan to lease all of these (except for the two backup units, 611 & 614) as freight units. That plan fell through. So I wonder how many/if any have now been cut up for scrap, etc.? Or what?

All of the others, except one, were scrapped. I believe the lone survivor is at NRE in Dixmoor, IL. 611 and 614 are still on Metra's roster, but are stored at Western Ave.

Erik

bnsfsd70 Wrote:
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.
>
> I also find it interesting that the suburban
> services routinely switched out the consists back
> in those days to allow for shorter midday trains,
> such as the one car "train" that you see in the
> one shot. Anymore, the trainsets stay together
> all day, regardless of passenger numbers.
>
> - Jeff Carlson

The roads like MILW that used CUS were charged on a
wheelage basis. So running unnecessarily long consists
resulted in an even higher monetary loss.

In addition, when going before the ICC for fare hikes
or train off petitions, someone could use the argument
that the railroad was artificially inflating their costs
be hauling empty cars around all day.

Cutting the unneeded cars out of the consist also allowed
maintenance and cleaning to be performed on those cars during
the day.

Bottom line, it was just good railroading not to haul around
unneeded cars. Says something about todays operation, doesn't it?
Just raise fares when "needed". No need for an ICC hearing where
uncomfortable questions might be raised.

It costs money to switch out cars every day, too - each move costs money. It's just another factor in the equation, like ton-miles, OT labor, fuel, etc. Without seeing the whole equation there is no way to tell which way costs more for the railroad.

~RGDave

RGDave Wrote:
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> It costs money to switch out cars every day, too -
> each move costs money. It's just another factor
> in the equation, like ton-miles, OT labor, fuel,
> etc. Without seeing the whole equation there is
> no way to tell which way costs more for the
> railroad.
>
> ~RGDave

There really wasn't much "switching out" to it.
The equipment cycles that were reduced for mid-day
service had an extra cab car where the cut was to be
made. So it was just a matter of getting a little
slack and pulling the pin. Carmen already on duty at
the station for other purposes.

Englewood Wrote:
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> Carmen already on duty
> at
> the station for other purposes.

Not at the station. At the yard. Cars can not be left in the station all day except for a very few tracks.

The guys with the green eye shades have figured out that long midday trains cost less than reducing the consist.

Marty Bernard

MartyBernard Wrote:
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> Englewood Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Carmen already on duty
> > at
> > the station for other purposes.
>
> Not at the station. At the yard. Cars can not be
> left in the station all day except for a very few
> tracks.
>
> The guys with the green eye shades have figured
> out that long midday trains cost less than
> reducing the consist.
>
> Marty Bernard

True enough. A fellow in mechanical at Metra told me they figured out it was cheaper to buy the extra brakeshoes and turn the wheels account of the extra mileage than it was to pay for car knockers at the outlying terminals.

NZ

NebraskaZephyr Wrote:
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> MartyBernard Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Englewood Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > > Carmen already on duty
> > > at
> > > the station for other purposes.
> >
> > Not at the station. At the yard. Cars can not
> be
> > left in the station all day except for a very
> few
> > tracks.
> >
> > The guys with the green eye shades have figured
> > out that long midday trains cost less than
> > reducing the consist.
> >
> > Marty Bernard
>
> True enough. A fellow in mechanical at Metra told
> me they figured out it was cheaper to buy the
> extra brakeshoes and turn the wheels account of
> the extra mileage than it was to pay for car
> knockers at the outlying terminals.
>
> NZ

I do not doubt that you were told that by a mechanical person.
However, the car knockers are not needed at the outlying terminals. The cuts
are made downtown. I will dig out the documentation on how a broken down outfit
like the Rock Island managed to do it.

Granted it may not work everywhere but the north side of CUS has 9 stub end tracks,
more than enough to store some cars during the day and still accommodate the 7, 8 and
the Hiawatha Service.