FURX locomotive?

[Anonymous]

Wednesday evening, D&H train 266 had an SD-40-2 in the middle of its consist as it worked the east end of Allentown yard. The reporting morks were FURX, and I did not catch the unit number. The paint job looked very fresh, a nice combination of green and grey. Does anyone know who owns this locomotive, and what FURX stands for?

[SSW9389]

FURX is First Union Rail the leasing branch of First Union Bank of Philadelphia. FURX financed the first 53 SD40 rebuilds from Alstom for lease to CSX.

[Anonymous]

Ahh, First Union. That explains the Green and Grey colors. Thanks Ed. I've not heard too many good comments from people who bank with FU, but I must say their locomotives look pretty sharp.

[thirdrail1]

The citizens of Charlotte, NC, would be a mite miffed to know their bank, one of the largest in the US, moved its headquarters to Philadelphia! First Union Rail Leasing in headquartered in Chicago, though.

[alangj]

FYI, I saw what looked to be an identical loco this evening leading a train northbound on the CSX (ex-B&OCT) tracks on the southwest side of Chicago. It seemed to be in EXACTLY the same color scheme as the FURX units (which are showing up occasionally on that line), except that it's reporting marks were something like GCRX instead. I didn't get a good enough look to be absolutely certain, but it definitely wasn't FURX.

[alangj]

FYI, I spotted that "FURX lookalike" loco that I mentioned last week, this time southbound on the same CSX (ex-B&OCT) tracks on the SW side of Chicago. This time, I got a better look and can confirm that its reporting marks are "GCRX" like I thought before (didn't get a chance to see the unit # well enough to remember it, though.)
The gray-with-green-stripe paint scheme is IDENTICAL to the FURX units that I've seen on these CSX tracks here for the last several months. Does anybody recognize the GCRX markings? Is is a subsidiary of First Union? Just curious, given the matching paint jobs.
Alan (in Evergreen Park, IL)

[dmoore74]

GCRX is the AAR reporting mark for Grand Canyon Railway Incorporated. Don't know about the paint job resemblance. If you run into other reporting marks try: www.trainscan.com. They have a listing of all or nearly all AAR reporting marks.

[alangj]

Thanx for the info, tho' I sure can't imagine why there'd be such gaudily-painted freight locos owned by the GCRR, not to mention being operated in this area on the CSX. One of the replies farther up this thread indicated that the FURX locos were under lease to the CSX, so at least the paint scheme makes sense, even if the reporting marks don't.
Admittedly, my "normal" view of these tracks is from out the kitchen window, across the street, and over a garage roof between two houses on that side of the street, but the tracks are just high enough here to see all the way from the railheads on up over that garage, but only about a 30' wide "slice" between the houses. The bottom line is that I don't see the entire loco in one view, but rather get sort of a "through the keyhole" view/peek between the houses.
Next time I get a chance, I'll try to spot the unit #, too - maybe that'll help sort out the "mystery." As far as the paint job, it's as identical to that silver/gray-with-bright-green stripe and lettering FURX scheme as could be.
A month or so back, I spotted what looked to be a bright-silver-with-bright-purple striped F40 in an southbound/eastbound consist on these tracks that nobody was able to provide any information on, either. (It was sort of, but not quite, like the Boston MBTA commuter lines scheme.) Apparently, on that one, the end of the loco with the reporting marks and unit # was toward the front, so by the time that I realized that was something different from the usual CSX paint scheme here, the useful ID info was behind the houses and not in view any more.
I must just be (un)lucky at getting these quick, across the street, glimpses of "odd" locos. I'll keep watching, though.
Alan

[SSW9389]

Read all about it at http://members.fortunecity.com/harron/alstom/alstom.html The first 53 units are FURX 3000-3052, the next 50 units are GCFX 3053-3102, and the last 50 units are CEFX 3103-3152. GCFX units 3053-3069 are in Green and Silver like the FURX units. All units were rebuilt at Alstom in Montreal. FURX is First Union Rail, GCFX is Alstom Canada, Inc and CEFX is Capital Finance, Inc.

[alangj]

That clarifies things! Seeing the green-and-white paint makes you expect to see "FURX", so I expect that the mind sort of fills in the right-hand side of the "F" in "GCFX" and converts it into an "R", morphing the whole thing into a mental image of "GCRX" (rightly or wrongly). Given the 2- or 3-second view that I get between the houses across the street, it's probably ridiculously easy to make that error.
As the kids say nowadays, "My bad!"
Thanx, Alan

[Anonymous]

We occasionally have a "Fury" in a 3 engine mixed freight lash-up running thru Riverdale, MD on the CSX (old B&O Baltimore-Wahington main). They even let it lead last week ! We Riverdale Rail Fans give it a shout when it comes thru!

[Anonymous]

I thought all of the bankers moved to Wilmington
Delaware?

[alangj]

I caught a glimpse of one of the GCFX units (3069?) this morning, this time a right-side view, where the lettering under the radiators was in a real good clear unobstructed view. Thinking about my original GCRX/GCFX confusion, I think the best explanation for that mixup is that the first time or so I spotted one of these, it was a left-hand side view. The handrail and stanchions on the left-hand side of EMD units is raised about a foot for most of the length, due to the traction motor cooling duct that runs back along the catwalk. From certain angles the back end of the raised handrail, plus the part of the handrail that steps back down to the "true" deck level, tends to partly obstruct a truly clear view of the lettering underneath the left-hand side radiators.
(See the pictures of GCFX 3057, 3061, & 3064 in that "fortunecity.com" website for some examples of this effect.)
At least, that's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Alan

[alangj]

FYI, I spotted the original "Fury" (FURX 3000) here in the Chicago area this morning (9/1), heading north on the CSX tracks (ex-B&OCT) with a good-sized unit coal train Not only was it leading, it was the only loco on the train (presumably all empties eventually heading back west) at the time!
Alan
Evergreen Park, IL