Nostalgia & History > Amtrak's P30CH's....

Was just wondering. Were all these units scrapped or did any of them make it to a museum somewhere for preservation?

Unfortunately they are all gone.

Another fine example of preserving the industrial past of the United States.

DOH!!!

Amtrak 714 on the point of the eastbound Illinois Zephyr at West Quincy, Missouri, 4 May 1980.

Regards,
Burlington John

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In the Conrail yards, East St. Louis Illinois, 7 January 1990. I am willing to bet that the 723 was on the way to the scrapper at St. Louis Auto Shredding.

Regards,
Burlington John

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Don't go Scrap! We could keep that last one. I don't know if there have left? not sure.

Uhm that pic was taken in 1990... too late...

Here's another shot of a P30CH, #712 on the westbound Coast Starlight headed into Santa Barbara. This is when they were sending a bunch of these units to run on the SF/SJ commuters for awhile. It is in the company of two SDP40Fs. Amtrak looked really great when all the paint schemes matched.

C.C.Chas.

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I have ALWAYS loved the P000CH's (hehehehe instead of P30CH I put three 0s lol)

723 once burned under the 7th avenue bridge just west of the Phoenix station. It was a fine show.

Amtrak 713 was the first P30CH retired, it was leading Train 90 the Northbound Palmetto on the SCL on 6 Dec 1977. During the Trip a Log Truck came to Grade Crossing and pulled out in front of the Train on the south-side of Sellars SC.

Their were four people in the locomotive at the time of the collision resulting in three fatalities -- the Fireman survived.

Take Care

EC

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Here is a shot of the 713 in better times. Coming into Alexandria VA in August 76.

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EagleChampion1 Wrote:
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> Amtrak 713 was the first P30CH retired, it was
> leading Train 90 the Northbound Palmetto on the
> SCL on 6 Dec 1977. During the Trip a Log Truck
> came to Grade Crossing and pulled out in front of
> the Train on the south-side of Sellars SC.
>
> Their were four people in the locomotive at the
> time of the collision resulting in three
> fatalities -- the Fireman survived.
>
> Take Care
>
> EC





Must have been before the times of installing impact posts in the nose on GE's....

KV

Don't know what kind of collision protection P30CH's had, but hitting a loaded truck at 79 MPH is a tough impact for any locomotive to take. The logs on the truck during that collision crush the nose and the Cowl-carbody on the Engineers side. The nine car Amfleet train and the engine stay on the track with passengers only receiving a few minor injuries.

BTW the P30CH's assigned to the Ivy City Pool were replace by F40PH's 266 to 279 in January 1978.

Then five months after the grade crossing collision at Sellars SC, Engine 274 was leading northbound Train 90-The Palmetto. Where the train hit another Log or a utility pole Truck on 10 May 1978, at Lane SC. This impact from this collision derailed the engine and the train.

Engines 713 and 274 along with the cars from the May 1978 derailment were stored in Florence SC, until the spring of 1979 before being ferried to Beech Grove IN - Engine 274 was rebuilt by Beech Grove Shops around 1984.

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Heres the Shot of Amtrak 274 at the site of the collision--better b/w scan

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Milwaukee Wrote:
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> Unfortunately they are all gone.

A unique locomotive. Full unmuffled GE "chug" and lots of black smoke, even when idling.

Bob

Amtrak's "Honorary PA"..........

KV1guy Wrote:
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> Must have been before the times of installing
> impact posts in the nose on GE's....

The newer Genesis locos seem to be able to take a hit better than the F40s and P30s. I Know they have the impact posts. P40 807 is a good example. It was in the City of New Orleans wreck, Bourbannais,IL, 3-15-99, hitting a truck loaded with steel beams. The engineer survived and the loco, although ruined, was in much better shape than the P30ch above.

NS2649 Wrote:
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> I have ALWAYS loved the P000CH's (hehehehe instead
> of P30CH I put three 0s lol)


Sorry to bust your bubble but people have been calling these things pooch's for years.