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Florida East Coast....What did I just see?

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  • Member since
    July 2003
  • From: Elmwood Park, NJ
  • 2,385 posts
Florida East Coast....What did I just see?
Posted by trainfan1221 on Wednesday, October 21, 2009 4:41 PM

Okay folks, need your help here.  I am down for my yearly visit in Jacksonville, and as usual FEC did not disappoint.  Two trains, one a southbound short rock train and it met a northbound intermodal.  Here's my dilemma..the southbound had interesting motive power. An SD40 in the original blue scheme (nice to see) and a red Progressive Rail engine that kinda looked like a rebuilt SD45. It had flared radiators and said it was CAT powered. It was great to see but can someone tell me exactly what it was? Thanks in advance.

  • Member since
    September 2006
  • 158 posts
Posted by Bryan Jones on Thursday, October 22, 2009 3:37 AM

the blue FEC unit would have been a GP38-2 or GP40-2, all of the FEC SD40-2's wear former UP colors with FEC lettering. As for the red Progress Rail unit, that is PRLX #3001, classed as model PR30C by Progress Rail. It is a former SD40-2 which has been heavily rebuilt and now powered by a 3005hp CAT diesel. The new cooling system with flared radiators is part of the package. This unit has been on the FEC for several months now and UP has a lease agreement to test 5 such units for 1 year. If you go to Railpictures.net you can find several photos of the unit in question by searching for PRLX 3001.

 Bryan Jones

  • Member since
    July 2003
  • From: Elmwood Park, NJ
  • 2,385 posts
Posted by trainfan1221 on Thursday, October 22, 2009 12:34 PM

Thanks Bryan.  I thought it was a great catch when I saw it.

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