You're thinking of the non-powered F40PH's with rolling doors on them, right? Like this one:
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=230764&nseq=0
Yup, they're prototype, though the 1:1 scale railfans may object to you calling them "dummies" .
They're called Non-Powered Control Units (NPCU). They are also referred to as "cabbage cars." NPCUs are F40's with their prime movers and traction motors removed, and rolling doors added and empty space for baggage. The cabs retain full functionality and they are used like cab-control cars on commuter rail push-pull trains. The concept of using old locomotives as cab-control cars on passenger trains is not new (i.e. GO Transit's F-units), though using them as baggage cars is. They are actually safer since the crew is in a full-sized locomotive rather than in a passenger car vestibule while controlling the train in push mode.
martin.knoepfel wrote:Why do the cabbage cars need a fuel-tank? For an auxiliary diesel and generator to provide the energy for the air-conditioning and lightning?
Too expensive, troublesome to remove?
The doors on the Northesater were used for baggage...
The Toledo-Detroit Train that ran up untill 1993 used a ex Metroliner cab car for Push-Pull Service
Nope, all of the HEP comes from the powered engine. The fuel tanks on the Cabbage cars aren't used for fuel, but rather -- from what I've heard -- are filled with cement for weighting purposes.
Vermonter has cabbages now? Also fule tank is used for weight to make up for the lack of a prime mover (they fill it up with cement or something like that).
-Save the F40PH
I saw the Vermonter come through Montpelier last week and it still had a Genesis front and back.
Marc
This link should give current status of NPCU's: http://www.gobytrain.us/amtrak/notes/index.html#npcu
The one that turned up on the Vermonter may have been a test run.
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