Passenger Trains > Confirmed that Amtrak 457 is going to Metra ?

On SWC train 4 to Chicago. It may go to beach grove 1st

Posted from iPhone

As soon as I see one on Metra tracks, I'll let you know. FWIW, the two F59PHI's I saw at Amtrak's Chicago diesel house two weeks ago are still parked there as of this morning.

611Fan Wrote:
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> On SWC train 4 to Chicago. It may go to beach
> grove 1st
>
> Posted from iPhone

fyi F59 AMTK 457 is on Trian 4 of 9th from California as 3rd unit.
-----Daniel

You know, the F59PHI's do get the overhauls at Beech Grove. They go back and forth all of the time.
The new engines are not in service yet.

The units were just overhauled 2-3 years ago.

The F59s were a long term (20 year) lease from Progress Rail.  The ones going back east all need serious work, which Amtrak has to perform as per their lease agreement with Progress before returning them.  Those units will not return to the West Coast; although they're not going east specifically to be turned over to Metra it's not worth sending them back west when they're serviceable, so once they're repaired they're just sitting at the yard waiting to be turned over rather than travelling back west. 

The lease ends at the end of the year, and all units must be turned in to Progress in serviceable condition by then.  At that point Progress will hand pick five units in good condition, slap a "Metra" logo over the Amtrak ones, and send them to Metra immediately.  I'd expect them to be in service by February in Surfliner/Cascades paint with Metra patches.  The other 16 units will all be completely rebuilt by Progress, painted into Metra's paint, and delivered as they're ready, probably starting next summer.  Once those are done the original five will finally be rebuilt (I'd expect sometime in 2020).

The Charger units are going into service as we speak, as in the first ones hit the road trailing behind older units on revenue trains today.  They will go through a burn-in period which it's expected will last around 30-60 days before they can start running solo.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/10/18 19:08 by OTG.

OTG- thanks for the excellent update.

Posted from iPhone

So long from Surfliner service, 457.  Here she is in a Surfliner 10th anniversary wrap at Burbank, CA back in April of 2011.

Rich



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/11/18 08:11 by PasadenaSub.

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