posted
Actually, I prefer the pre-Amtrak E Units, F Units, and GG-1 electrics the railroad inherited from other passenger services at the dawn of the "rainbow era."
The lack of consistency in their paint jobs made them a feast for the eyes. Even after many had been festooned with the earliest Amtrak colors, some retained the paint schemes of their previous owners. And a few were bizarre combinations of the two -- the old railroad's name would be sloppily painted over, and A-m-t-r-a-k stenciled in. The effect was very Mad Max/Road Warrior-esque.
Those gritty old engines also looked unmistakably "American." Maybe it's just me, but Amtrak's later locomotives -- including the Genesis -- are too generically "European." I find them kind of boring.
[This message has been edited by dilly (edited 06-23-2003).]
posted
The Siemens Diesels that are part of the Talgo XXI that should be running already out of Chicago to destinations like St. Louis, Indianapolis and Milwaukee...(the darn things can run at 150+ mph, you know...)
Posts: 566 | Registered: Mar 2002
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posted
By "electric Diesels", you mean what? All Diesel locomotives used by Amtrak have been Diesel-electrics; I don't know off-hand of any Diesel-hydraulics they ever had in regular service (and the Turboliner does not qualify).
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posted
I did like the F40-PHI's but grew tired of them. They were however interesting loco's that did their jobs for many many years. So they are A-OK in my book.
Posts: 45 | Registered: Apr 2003
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My favorites: P42DC Phase III B32-8W in either paint
Some that should get honorable mention: F40 Phase III, IV is starting to gain my preference F59PHI SDP40F with the red nose (even though I have never seen one in Amtrak operation)
I don't know about you, but the GE's sound like real locomotives...the chugga, chugga, chugga they make sounds like POWER...EMD engines don't sound as impressive.
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I don't know about you, but the GEs sound like real locomotives...
Begging your pardon, what's a "real" locomotive? To me, such a thing is a device on the railroad which pulls rail cars. That's about the end of it for me.
the chugga, chugga, chugga they make sounds like POWER...
Oh, that sound. If I'm not mistaken, that's the four-stroke diesel prime-mover. May sound like power, but it's nowhere near as powerful as a smoother-running two-stroke diesel--all you have there is wasteful exhaust, hence the noise.
EMD engines don't sound as impressive
Maybe not, but their two-stroke prime movers can put out twice the power of four-stroke ones, at half the cost. Not to mention that it was the EMD diesels that were the "steam killers", not anything that GE put out.
Also, getting back on topic, the GE "Genesis" series are not the favorites of either maintenance or engineers with Amtrak, some of whom wish for an updated version of the F40PH to be in their stead...
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RE: "I prefer the pre-Amtrak E Units, F Units, and GG-1 electrics the railroad inherited from other passenger services at the dawn of the rainbow era."
As a followup to my earlier post, here's the sort of thing I was talking about. They're three blasts from the past -- when men were men and Amtrak locomotives looked. . . well. . . a bit more interesting:
posted
I second the "Pepsi Cans", great paint scheme. And a train set with matching Genesis locos in phase V looks classy.
Posts: 579 | From: San Bernardino Subdivison | Registered: Dec 2001
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