MORE ON AMTRAK LOCOMOTIVE STYLING As they could, Amtrak after 1971 begain repainting its former freight line owned locomotives mostly black, with a red nose and a "pointless arrow" on the flanks. These EMD "E and F" units are often referred to as first generation "rainbow era" locomotives. For the 40th year anniversary, #156 got the red nose commemorative treatment. Similarly, both Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific have recently repainted line locomotives into the colors of their predecessor merger partners, harking back in this sense to the "rainbow era" at Amtrak. Beginning in 1975, Amtrak began replacing its diesel fleet and re-designing its passenger cars to operate with head-end electrical power provided by an on-board generator (the early days also saw some dedicated "generator cars" for a brief time). The lions share of the locomotive work went to EMD, who provided the famous "F40." The earlier versions had steam generators in them, but by the end of the series, the new units were built with a HEP generator. Eventually most of the older F40's were also converted. GE produced a competitive unit in smaller numbers, the P30. Combined these diesels are often referred two as second generation. They are characterized by red white and blue horizontal stripes. Amazingly, Amtrak survided until the late 1980's, and once again it became clear that the second-generation EMD's would need to be replaced. Politics once again entered the picture, and Amtrak was forced to abandon many more routes in exchange for one-time appropriations for new locomotives. Enter GE. First, modified "dash-8" locomotives were purchased, arriving in 1991 in "pepsi-can" scheme. Two years later came the "Genesis." In exchange for the new locomotives, the old Pioneer and Desert Wind routes were cut, as was the Birmingham to Mobile section of the Crescent. General Electric won the bid, with its Genesis 4200 horsepower design. One new GE could in theory replace two old EMD's. GE's P40's and P42's comprise Amtraks third generation of diesel locomotives. Third generation locomotives entered service 1991-2001, and some are now the longest serving of any of the prior generations in Amtrak's 50+ year history. For political reasons, some of Amtrak's commuter routes have been parsed out to the states, although they mostly are still operated and maintained by Amtrak personnel. Especially in California, Illinois, and Michigan, new 4th generation power was obtained under the guise of state run services. Siemens Mobility won the contract, and began supplying "Charger" locomotives in 2016, although for the most part Amtrak refused to use them for anywhere from two to four years. They sat gathering rust, but eventually have been accepted as a 4th generation of Amtrak power. There is now an outstanding Amtrak national system order with Siemens for 125 more Chargers, destined to take over some longer intercity routes. "State-owned" Chargers have different road numbers in the 4600 series. As of 2022, Amtrak decided on a new paint scheme for its long distance chargers, numbered in the 300 series. It differs slightly from the 4600 series livery, and locomotives have been modified for longer distance use. MORE SPECIAL PAINT Already mentioned earlier were two 40th year anniversary locomotive paint jobs. But they were not the first unique paint job. Engine #100 was hired by the United States Postal Service in 1999 to pull a "celebrate the century" train for two seasons. Special livery, yellow with postal stamps and postmarks decked out the nose and the flanks. This program was created and modeled after the state of Tennessee ran a similar program for its bicentennial. Except for the P40's that were wrecked, spun off, or retired, all Amtrak-owned Genesis units were in common millenium livery by 2006. One of the last to go was #33, which had been stranded in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. Over their 25+ year history, additional Genesis series engines have had special paint, banners, wraps, and decals applied, giving railfans something to cheer about. Politics played a part, with "campaign trains" having temporary banners for presidential hopefuls. Advertising played a role, with #84 serving as an oversized Tundra pickup truck, and #157 has had both a Disney Company wrap, and later a "Big Game" decal for the Heartland Flyer. The most recent, in 2022, is #203 in an operation lifesaver paint job. First and second generation paint jobs from older EMD units have been applied retro to the Genesis series that never wore them. But most just keep running "bluenose" today in often ratty-looking condition, often unwashed. The most noted special paint, after #100 ran in 2000-01, has been for the 40th and 50th anniversaries. Veteran's appreciation livery was applied to #42 in order for Amtrak to comply with a Congressional resolution requiring all federal agencies to honor those who served. Veteran's salute paint was also applied to a couple of non-GE locomotives as well. Over the decades, we have seen additional visual changes to the fleet of Genesis locomotives working at Amtrak. Most obvious, headlight lenes were removed, and later noses modified from steel to bolt-on composite panels. Eventually the old rectangular headlight box gave way to a scoop design for the headlight. As engines were damaged or overhauled, builder stickers were lost, and when eventually Amtrak got around to replacing them, only the engineer side received one. Additional placards and stickers appeared from time to time, including an EPA emissions certification. An outward looking camera was added to the fireman side windshield after 2010, and much more electronic gear has been added to the tops of the cabs. Early versions of positive train control for Michigan and Illinois caused huge equipment boxes to appear over the "fireman's" side. There are many more antennae on the roof than when these locomotives were first delivered. After 2020, positive train control equipment became manditory. Another variable is the paint on the pilot and trucks. Originally, GE put a lot more silver on the underbody of the P40's. Later more blue and grey became standard. Depending upon what shop did overhauls, and what materials were on hand, from time to time trucks and pilots received silver or black paint, or none at all. Most heavy work is done at the main shop in Beech Grove, Indiana. But nose work and some painting has also taken place in Chicago, New Orleans, and Rensselaer, New York. In more recent years, shops in Hialeah, Seattle and Los Angeles have been upgraded, but as far as we know, none of the secondary repair locations have full paint booth facilities. Pilots in blue paint have also been seen rarely in recent days. Due to a shortage of parts, some wrecked or fire-damaged units were cannibalized. In our first group, #1-9 road numbers, we note that all wore the three basic paint schemes, 1993, 1998, and millenial. Serial numbers of this batch are consecutive, #49320 and up (which is not true of later batches, because GE interrupted the series when various freight engine serial numbers intervened). One can follow the appearance evolution in photos, particularly at rrpicturearchives.net, which will help identify the age of a particular photo or video view. One problem with this website is that an older photo might turn up scanned with a much later posting date, so it may not be totally dependable in that regard. But it is an excellent resource for those interested in these GE's and their history. THE NEED FOR SPEED Nationwide, Amtrak passenger trains running on freight-owned lines are generally limited to a speed of 79 mph or lower. It should be mentioned that the P42 is more than capable of 110 mph operation, although none ever regularly did so. On the Southwest Chief, 90 mph was achieved on a daily basis in certain spots in northeastern Missouri out west. The old Santa Fe had train-stop safety technology, a form of cab controls that used signals transmitted through the rails. This enabled higher speeds. As of 2023, cab control systems that pre-dated positive train control have now been decomissioned and replaced by PTC. The Chief, trains 3 and 4, do still hit 90 mph at some points on its BNSF owned line. In Michigan, Amtrak owns some trackage currently used by Wolverines and the Blue Water. Over a fifteen year developmental period, some tests were conducted between Porter, Indiana and Kalamazoo, Michigan, but the higher speeds required an early form of Amtrak-specific positive train control, which never worked properly while P42's were employed there. After 2018, Siemens Corporation "Charger" series (German locomotives) took over in Michigan and Illinois, so the GE's were never allowed to regularly achieve their potential. The early Amtrak train control system was changed out twice. "Chargers" seem destined to replace the entire P42 fleet eventually, with about a dozen of them already being broken in (mostly on the Empire Builder) as of 2022. They are built to operate up to 125 mph but likely never will, as freight railroad infrastructure does not support that. As far as we know, outside of the northeast corridor, only the Michigan Amtrak-owned trackage between Porter, Indiana and Kalamazoo, Michigan, supports longer distance 125 mph running at the present time. Shorter sections of higher speed trackage now exist on Metro-North and portions of CSX trackage in New York that allow 110 mph, and portions of the Union Pacific line in Illinois does in certain spots when conditions allow. Between Philadelphia and Harrisburg in Pennsylvania, and on the northeast corridor, diesels could run wide open by themselves, but they are generally paired with electrics. Old P40's have run regional trains at higher speeds for CDOT in Connecticut on Amtrak and Metro North trackage. In the case of St. Louis to Chicago "Lincoln Service" lines, which generally use trackage currently owned by Union Pacific, the federal government spent a good bit of money upgrading trackage and crossings. A few Amtrak Genesis units, numbered in the 50's and 60's, carried small decals touting "high speed" service. Originally 125 mph speeds were planned, later downgraded to 90. However, except for a few tests, the P42's never ran higher speeds in Illinois. Recently the 4600 series Chargers that replaced them have been allowed 100-110 mph speeds in some spots. Improvements in Illinois and Michigan have been a multi-generation endeavor, with so far no improvements of timetable speeds over what they were 100 years ago. April 17, 2023 Update from 4rr.com