Where are the Amtk. F40's going

[eolafan]

Those of us who frequent the BNSF Eola yards on weekends recently saw three groups of old Amtrak F40 units idling on the EJ&E lead there over three consequtive weekends. They were mostly dirty but all were running and had at least half full fuel tanks. Nobody around here seems to know where they were heading. Can anybody shed some light on this issue? Much obliged. Jim - Aurora, IL

[Anonymous]

I remember reading in an article a month or so ago that some are going to the Panama canal railroad maybe, don't quote me though. I saw some red & yellow engines I recall in Trains magazine I believe, being loaded onto some sort of ship.
I know we have a few F40's out here in Seattle that have recently been re-painted in the Amtrak Northwest Cascades train colors of Tan/Dark Green/Dark Red. They look great too. I see them twice a day at work. An F59PHI leads the Cascades train north, and the F40 brings it home coming South. It's great to see them still running with that new paint job.

[eolafan]

Pete, thanks for the reply. It's curious that nobody else seems to have any idea where these units might have been going. There was an article in the July 2000 TRAINS magazine that talked about the rebuilding of many of the F40 units (I believe they said there were to be 23 rebuilt over time. Perhaps the campaign got off to a slow start and is just now getting up to speed? We have not seen any more in Eola/Aurora since I wrote initially. Anybody else have any ideas? Jim in Aurora, IL

[Anonymous]

Bad news, those F40's were most likely heading to the scrap yard! It's too bad, the old F40 is a good looking engine. They were really reliable & solid, the face of Amtrak somewhat. I guess they're not gonna run them for 50+ years like freight engines do! I haven't seen a silver F40 over here in Seattle in a long long time. We do have the Cascades painted F40s though! Mainly Genesis & F59 run here now. Hopefully a couple of them go to California with new paint, Talgo is shipping new train sets there soon.

[eolafan]

Pete, I hope you are mistaken about scrapping the F40 units. Strange, though that they would all be running with emergency red lights on if they were simply being taken to the scrap yard. Why waste the diesel fuel running them if for no reason. The curious saga continues. Jim, Aurora, IL

[Anonymous]

If they are going for scrap; make an offer for one and keep it in your garden shed! Play trains big-time!

Jason.

[thirdrail1]

Amtrak is doing three things with F40's - 1. converting them to baggage car-cab control units, 2. leasing them to transit authorities on a long term basis and freight railroads on a short term basis, and 3. putting them in storage. If Amtrak won't even sell one, insisting on leasing, they certainly are not going to sell them for scrap!

[Anonymous]

The Amtrak F40's you mentioned are at the former
EJ&E locomotive shops in Joliet.The EJ&E no longer owns the shop.I don't Know the the name of the present owner but they seem to rebuild equipment not scrap it.And yes the units did arrive running.

[eolafan]

Thanks for the update! Now that we all know where these units are, it remains to be determined exactly why they are there and what is planned for them. Jim - Aurora, IL

[Anonymous]

I made another trip over to Joliet on tuesday Jan. 25th and it looks like five more Amtrak F40's just arrived. First one or two running,the rest were dead. All are in the 200 series,some have the Amtrak name painted out with a blotch of silver paint.So now there are well over a dozen F40's there and its possible there are even more inside the building.

[Anonymous]

I know there's an F40 dressed up like the F59PHI Surfliner, it's cool. Im hoping to get a pic of it. There's a F40 parked (still in classic Amtrak stripes)at the Metro/Coaster maint. center by the 5 frwy.