Normally the Surfliner is pulled by the matching Surfliner locomotive,which according to Wikipedia is a General Motors EMD F59PHI. Sure it is. ;-) Anyway, it's tall and sleek and makes for a very smooth looking consist.Conversely, when they hook it up to the sad old Amfleet set, this locomotive looks too tall and as though its a thoroughbred pulling a wagon. Which in some respects it is. Metrolink runs some of these too.
Recently, some of the trains have been pulled by the long distance Amtrak locomotives, which Wikipedia tells me are of the GE Genesis class. Big trains like the Pacific Coast Starlight or Southwest Chief will be pulled by a couple of these.
These are noticeably lower than the regular Surfliner engines, so that the surfliner cars stick up above the top of the locomotive. When I walk through the tunnel in Union Station below the platforms, I can sometimes tell if there's one of these on the track above because it makes spitting noises and its idle is a much louder roar than the regular ones. I think they are kind of ugly with the flat grey nose and plain sides. And of course they look squat next to the surfliner consist.Our helpful Anon from Amtrak (in the comments) tells us that the Surfliner locomotives are designed for commuting stop-and-start, with about 3000 HP while the "Gennies" are tuned to cruise long distances, with about 4200HP. He says they are a "blast" and I'm sure they are.
This one is a GE Dash 8-32BWH . I don't know what it was doing at Union Station that day because I usually see it in the yard (though it does pop up now and again pulling a consist). There's also a little yard switcher you see sometimes (not in the station), which someone told me is called a "hog" but our friendly Anon in the comments tells me is actually called a "goat". A "hog" or "hoghead" is the nickname for an engineer.And sometimes, mysteriously, there is a big Union Pacific freight engine sitting on one of the middle tracks at Union Station. (Wikipedia informs me that this is a GE AC4400CW with 4400 HP). Anon tells us that those are generally borrowed when there's a need (it seems there's a real community amongst railroaders) and they hang out till their UP crew comes to get them. They are very noticeably bigger and really loud with spitting noises when they are sitting idle.
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And what's with leaving those engines in the middle tracks anyway? Here you can see the Surfliner engine just sitting on the central spur, not adjacent to a platform. Is that to have a spare around when they break down? (You can also see it's taller than the long distance engine.) Yes, or else it DID break down.
5 comments:
Hey, it's your old friend Anon (I really need to get an account).
Alright, supposedly the F59s aren't supposed to be on the Amfleets due to power (they have 3,000 Horsepower, the Gennies have 4,200, and the Amfleet trains weigh a lot more), but they end up there anyway.
The reason we have so many Genesis locomotives on the Surfliners right now is because some of the the F59s are out being overhauled, and Del Mar Race season is traditionally the most demanding time period on the fleet. Personally I like them more. They're more powerful, but they are tuned to pull long, heavy trains long distances at cruising speed, so they're a little slower out of the station, but really smooth, and on some of the high speed running through Orange County and Camp Pendelton they are really happy and blast to have. The F59s are the exact opposite, designed for stop-and-go commuter service they tend to be fast out of the gate but don't do so well cruising at high speeds, and aren't as smooth.
The P32s are far from yard switchers. There are 20 of them, they were originally purchased to evaluate the serviceability of the engine before the P42 (Genesis) was ordered and designed for Amtrak. They were used all over the system in all different service to be evaluated. Once the sleeker, more powerful P40s and P42s started arriving the P32s were pushed into obscurity, relegated primarily to yard and work duty. Occasionally they end up pulling passenger trains, but it's rare.
The train engineer is called a Hog (or hoghead). The little yard switcher is actually called a Goat.
As for the UP engines and the middle tracks, the UP locomotives are usually there after being borrowed by Amtrak when a train breaks down. A UP crew eventually comes over and picks the unit up when UP decides they either need or want it. Other units (Amtrak or Metrolink) are either there to be a spare, available in case of a mechanical problem, or because they ARE a problem, have been removed from a train, and are waiting to be picked up and taken back to the yard.
Thank you anon, for coming by and explaining this to us!
I have noticed that on the rare times the train overshoots the platform, it is usually a Genesis Loco in front, so I assume that they are more powerful and thus an engineer used to the F59s might be a little...surprised!
I love it when they can "let the horse have the bit" and we wave at the cars through Pendleton. After all, those cars are doing 80+ and the train when she gets moving leaves them well behind. Wish the whole route could do that.
Also interesting about the P32. I have never seen one pull a consist except for the day I photographed 509 at LAUS.
I have noticed lately a high frequency of "spares" on the middle tracks so wondered if there is a policy of leaving one around. Unless the F59s have been really unlucky of late.
PS: you don't need to get an account, you can just sign your name or a nickname
There's almost always a F59 sitting in San Diego, I assume as a spare. However, the two times the consist has died minutes from San Diego heading north on 785 we've ended up waiting for the next train to push us instead of having the engineer take a cab down to the spare locomotive and bring it up.
There's almost always a F59 sitting in San Diego, I assume as a spare. However, the two times the consist has died minutes from San Diego heading north on 785 we've ended up waiting for the next train to push us instead of having the engineer take a cab down to the spare locomotive and bring it up.
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