Amtraks Heritage Locomotives
by David Ingles
| Sometime recently, I had the thought that I hadn't seen personally, or photos of, or even heard about, Amtrak’s 5 “Heritage”-painted GE P42 locomotives recently. It was just a fleeting thought. Then I made this Texas trip, and before it was over, I (and some other passengers) had seen them all! First was No. 145, which led our train #3, the “Southwest Chief,” from Chicago to Albuquerque on April 16th- and 17th, in order to be uncoupled there and lead the AAPRCO special to Texas. It is not unusual for Amtrak to assign a Heritage engine or two to special trains, but I don’t know if AAPRCO asked or it just happened. At #3’s early morning stop at La Junta, Colo., the train is too backlit for much of a decent shot of its lead unit — see the 3 attached photos from my April 2011 trip on the “Chief,” with red-nose No. 156 as trailing unit. It was en route L.A. to lead the Amtrak excursion from LAUPT to Bakersfield via the Palmdale Cutoff that I was heading to L.A. to ride. (The entire trip’s photos are elsewhere on the website in the 2011 file, Amtrak Trip to California, April 2011. Also in the 2011 file is a "salon" of all the Heritage units except 822 when they were new in 2011, Amtrak Heritage Units Salon.) These 3 photos from 2011 are at La Junta, on Raton Pass, and at LAUPT, while the April 17, 2015 photo is on the S-curves west (or south) of Raton. |
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| When the trip from ABQ arrived at Amtrak’s San Antonio station, I grabbed a cloudy shot as we disembarked, since bad knees, and a bad parking spot, had contributed to my not seeing No. 145 from the ground close-up in ABQ, although on that morning of April 21, I’d limped forward at the Houston Amtrak station before we departed at 8 a.m. for a head-end photo soon after sunrise. I also made plenty of “vestibule shots” on curves of the front of our special train. |
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| The second Heritage to make an appearance was No. 184, with the “Northeast Corridor,” or dark-blue band, scheme, perhaps my favorite and also my least-seen and photographed. As our #3 paused in the siding at Glorieta, N. Mex., on Friday the 17th, what should appear around the curve leading the eastbound Southwest Chief but No. 184! That’s two. (The preserved depot is the Post Office.) Rick Moser was on hand on the ground with his rental car, but he was at the Caritas end of our train when #4 passed, so he didn’t get an engine-engine meet shot, no one realizing that 184 was leading #4. |
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| The trip home on the back of the “Texas Eagle” finished the drill. I was in Cimarron River’s Dutch door as we neared Tower 55 in Fort Worth, the southbound Eagle, No. 21, having left right ahead of our arrival. Lo, it was led by P40 No. 822, which was painted to accompany Amtrak’s 40th anniversary train (as was a “dummy” F40, No. 406, not seen on this trip of course. (Note the ex-C&NW UP “patched” GE freight unit at the right in the photo.) Once we’d pulled in to the Fort Worth depot, what should be the north unit on the “Heartland Flyer” consist laying over, but red-nose No. 156! The train had 3 Superliners with a P42 on each end (117 on the south end). An NPCU from our Hiawathas, No. 90222, was on standby. |
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| You’ll have to take my word for the fifth and final Heritage sighting, unit No. 66. Otto and I shared a big bedroom STL-CHI, on the right (east) side as we went north, and we took siding at Ballard, north of Lexington, Ill., to meet Lincoln Service #303. Our car attendant on Cimarron River, Rick Sprung of St. Louis, had mentioned at some point on the trip that Heritage unit No. 66 had been shuttling back and forth on Lincolns; I think a certain group of units is “captive” on this line account the upcoming higher-speed operation. Well, No. 303 flashed by our bedroom window at speed, a light-colored P42 up front (south end), followed by 5 or so Amfleet coaches (also now captive, and marked, for Illinois) … and then something that at the glance seemed dark or dirty. So until I’m proven wrong, I’m assuming that had to be unit No. 66, which is appropriate since the railroad is right along old Route 66 through that portion of the state! That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it. |
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