Nostalgia & History > Some of Amtrak's Lesser Known Locomotives

Over the years Amtrak has had some locomotives that stayed on the roster a relatively short time and were few in numbers. I luckily photographed some of those. I have selected six to post tonight. Comments and corrections most welcome.

Enjoy,
Marty Bernard

Pictures 1 and 2. Amtrak acquired about a dozen GP40s built for northeastern roads coming via PC and CR. The pictures are at LAUPT on June 16, 1992.

Picture 3. Amtrak has had a few of most models of Geeps inclucing 7s, 9s, 10s, and 38s. Here's GP9 766 Harrisburg, PA on Dec. 15, 1986.

More pictures below.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/23/13 20:08 by MartyBernard.

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Picture 4. This is a GP40TC, ex-GO Transit and CN. This one is in the Milwaukee Depot on June 23, 1989.

Picture 5, the rear end of GP40TC 195 is in Dallas in 1999.

Picture 6. AMTK 451 is an on loan F69PH-AC to test AC traction motors. Two locomotives were tested. None were bought. This one is leading to City of New Orleans on Aug. 20, 1991.


more pictures below



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/23/13 20:11 by MartyBernard.

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The last two pictures are of a Rohr Turboliner and the X 2000. I could have included the French Turboliners but they were more in number and stayed in service longer. The X 2000 was a demonstration which included 5-months in service on the NEC. I also could have included the Talgos in the Pacific NW but something tells me they will increase in numbers and have a long run as revenue producers.

Picture 7 was taken at Croton-Harmon, NY in June 1993.

Picture 8 was taken in Washington Union Station in Sept. 1993.

Thanks for looking,
Marty Bernard



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/23/13 20:12 by MartyBernard.

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I had one of those Stupid GP40T units we picked up from Go Transit at LAUPT once, Could not get the HEP unit to stop running, so we stuffed a Rain Jacket into it's Air intake to starve it for Air........LOL

Interesting pictures! I always thought the GP40TC's were odd-looking geeps. Did the box on the front railing have some purpose, or was it just a spot for a logo?

In pic #1, is that one of the jail buildings being built on the east side of the station tracks?

davew833 Wrote:
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> Interesting pictures! I always thought the
> GP40TC's were odd-looking geeps. Did the box on
> the front railing have some purpose, or was it
> just a spot for a logo?


That was where the Flux Capacitor was mounted.

MarkMeoff Wrote:
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> davew833 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Interesting pictures! I always thought the
> > GP40TC's were odd-looking geeps. Did the box on
> > the front railing have some purpose, or was it
> > just a spot for a logo?
>
>
> That was where the Flux Capacitor was mounted.

Yes, a shield to cover the flux capacitor. Definitely! =)

Seriously, the plate on the front railing was for a large logo of its original owner - GO Transit of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Cheers,
Harry

Amtrak put some serious miles on those EX-GO engines on the Hiawatha corridor. It would be nice to get some used engines like that now for back up power.

MartyBernard Wrote:

> Pictures 1 and 2. Amtrak acquired about a dozen
> GP40s built for northeastern roads coming via PC
> and CR. The pictures are at LAUPT on June 16,
> 1992.

If I remember rightly, those were leased from Helm, which I guess makes them "lessor" known locomotives." ;^) After their short stint with Amtrak was up, they wandered around for a while as HLCX rent-a-wrecks in various partially painted-out versions of the Amtrak scheme.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/25/13 04:06 by Evan_Werkema.

Didn't Amtrak also have a couple of ex-Santa Fe CF7's at one time?

Great photos! They bring back good memories of when I was riding Amtrak a lot in the early '90s while in the service in Norfolk VA. Alas, I never carried a camera, so it's nice to see photos from those who did.

Andy

Didnt they have a real foreign centercab oddball? I think Romainia. How and why did they get it?

njmidland Wrote:
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> Didn't Amtrak also have a couple of ex-Santa Fe
> CF7's at one time?

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/locolist.aspx?id=AMTK&mid=56. Santa Fe traded a few of those and some SSB1200s for SDP40Fs, which were rebuilt as SDF40-2s (photo by TO member Even Werkema).

Edit: Sorry about the sloppy link to RRPicturesArchives.net. I can't figure out why the UBB code doesn't work there, but does work for the other links I used. I suspect a bug.

Arved Grass
Fleming Island, FL



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/24/13 15:55 by Arved.

HB90MACH Wrote:
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> Didnt they have a real foreign centercab oddball?
> I think Romainia. How and why did they get it?
===================================================
That would be the Faur "Quarterhorse", Washington Terminal
No. 78.

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,1142398

TipsyMcStagger Wrote:
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> In pic #1, is that one of the jail buildings being
> built on the east side of the station tracks?

Yes, that is one of the "Twin Towers".

Never seen a photo of an Amtrak GP40. They look very sharp in the Amtrak scheme.

The GP40TCs were also assigned to the Pennsylvanian.

The GP40TCs are still alive and kicking in MW service on the NEC. Now numbered 520-527. They had their turbo chargers removed so are now GP38s, but still retain their HEP units.

RuleG Wrote:
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> Never seen a photo of an Amtrak GP40. They look
> very sharp in the Amtrak scheme.
>
> The GP40TCs were also assigned to the
> Pennsylvanian.

I rode behind one as the second unit of an eastbound Cal Zephyr some time in the 80's.