Very Strange Amtrak Train
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- Опубліковано 6 жов 2024
- This odd Amtrak train came southbound through Rondout, IL headed towards Chicago. In the lead is one of those F40PH's with a large door in the side, which was painted in Amtrak's "Honoring Our Veterans" paint scheme. This is already unusual.
What followed is one of the strangest engines I have seen. It has a rounded cab, and a large vent in the side with neat X-shaped bracing, which appears to be the opening for a large spinning fan. The whole engine looks futuristic. I have never seen anything like this before. Will this be replacing the Genesis engine that Amtrak currently uses? Are these being mass produced, or is this one of only a few, or even unique?
The train is lead by a gutted F40ph that has had its engine taken out and replaced by a storage compartment. They still have cabs so that when a train is going the other direction it doesn't have to actually turn around, rather just go from the engine to the f40. They are called Non Power control units, or NPCU's. The engine on the back was a Siemens charger, a new Amtrak engine that will in the future replace Genesis locomotives on corridor trains like this one, but not long distance trains. This one was probably being hauled nearby for storage until they are equipped with some minor fittings for service. I hope this helped. Also the paint scheme on the NPCU was for the US military honoring our veterans.
There are actually two NPCUs in Veterans paint, one on service here on the Hiawatha and one (90208) on Surfliner service in southern California. There's also AMTK 42, a P42DC in Veterans paint which is used in standard Amtrak trains.
and there is an ACS-64 in this paint as well.
The_Primo_Z There's only one NPCU in veterans paint, 90221 got repainted.
90221 is the one in this video, and this was made 2 days ago
The Weather Man then it was 90208
The NPCU (also called "Cabbages" i.e. Cab car + baggage) is common on all the corridor routes out of Chicago, running trains push-pull, with the exception of the Illinois Zephyr service, which is turned at West Quincy. The Chargers are being tested on the Hiawatha service, fresh from construction by Siemens in Sacramento. I don't know if they will be replacing the Genesis series outright, but they will certainly supplement the fleet.
Lead unit on the Amtrak train is not a locomotive. It is a cab car with space for baggage, hence the roll-up doors in the side.
A Siemens SC-44 Charger diesel-electric locomotive, 4400 hp, 125 mph top speed.
This train is known as the Hiawatha and it was carrying passengers, and it has been having a Charger on every train for testing, and the "Old F40PH" is an NPCU, this one in the Veterans scheme, one of only 2 in that scheme. The "old style" passenger cars are called Horizons, and they're used on every Amtrak regional train in Chicago.
The Aviating Railfanner 👌
they don't test chargers with passengers on them, the chargers have had a lot of brake problems lately, so they don't test them with passengers anymore
BostonRailfan Productions they did for a bit tho
NPCU's are also known as Cabbages - for cab / baggage.
Is this the Chicago - Milwaukee line?
Glad I am not the only one who thought those were strange...We saw them everyday for about a week on the Carl Sandburg line going through Colchester.
The locomotive leading the train is an NPCU, these are old F40s that are used as cab control engines, and also baggage, hence the "garage door" on the side. This was the one of the two Honoring Our Veterans painted NPCUs. Horizon coaches are common in this line, and not too old. The "futuristic locomotive" was a SC44 Siemens Charger locomotive, the new locomotive that Amtrak is using to phase out the F59PHIs. The genesis is not Amtrak's only locomotive. There are the F59PHIs, along with ACS-64s, and of course the Acela Train-sets. Awesome catch overall. This was probably a test train to test the HEP on the Charger.
I know nothing about trains. UA-cam just suggests me them.
Trains are a relaxing hobby you might wanna give it a chance lol :P
All it takes is training.
Interesting... Perhaps I will.
Pff I watched that when I was younger. I had toys and watched like every day.
Learn!
There are 33 SC-44 "Charger" locomotives built by Siemens in Sacramento, California on order for the Illinois Department of Transport. They will be used on state supported Amtrak trains. They will replace F59 PHI AND P42 DC's
The first engine is an F40PH non powered control unit. The power unit has been removed and the cab controls are left and the roll-up door allows for baggage storage. It's part cab car and part baggage car or as some call it, a cabbage car. The next loco is a Siemens Charger now in use on the Surfliner full time. The last loco is a Genesis P42
Like the cool new Metra engine. Our local Amtrak organization usually organizes a meet in Fullerton to see new engines. Wife Kelly and I went by accident one day and the group got to tour the new consist and get a profile of the Genesis engines from the engine boss for the region. Thrilling for us. Traveling around So Cal on Amtrak Business Class was a great delight for us, even when we were routed using Amtrak Thruway buses, which, by the way, are really nice.
Looks like your first day on the Milwaukee District North man. Amtrak Hiawath with an Ex- F40PH now an NPCU or what are usually referred to as Cabbage (Portmanteau of Cab and Baggage). This one sports the Veterans Scheme which two other and similar schemes can be found on P42DC 42 and ACS-64 642. Now on the other side is a bit more interesting. It looks like Amtrak is testing one of it's new IllinioisDOT SC-44's for Hiawatha service between Chicago and Milwaukee. They usually have a P42DC taking one under their wing to work with an SC-44. If it's not obvious this will be like when Amtrak replaced their SDP40F's with F40PH's because they offer a better short-range performance.
MARC in Maryland, CDTX in California, WSDOT in Washington, Sunrail in Florida and IDOT here in Illinois will be getting these new beauties for faster Amtrak Service. Passenger trains are back baby.
It's the veterans Cabbage, 5 horizon cars, 1 Amfleet, a new charger, and a p42. In San Diego, the veterans cabbage pops up on occasion and we have a train of horizons everyday with the normal surfliner trains being hauled by f59phi's and p42's
There is more than one Veteran's NPCU. 90221 is based in Chicago. Believe 90208 is on the left coast.
Yes. 90208 is the west coast one.
I just found out why "cabbage:"
It's a combo of a non-powered cab and a baggage car.
The train is lead by a F40PH in veterans paint scheme. It had its engine taken out and used for a baggage compartment.
the F40PHs engine is removed and used as a control cab for a push pull train. it is also being used as a erstaz baggage car as well. since the horizon coaches dont have a control cab this is why.
I periodically visit the Amtrak, Lumber St yard in Chicago. There are two of those engines with the garage looking door next to their work shop. They have been there for at least 6 months. I can inquire about them the next time I go to the shop. Unfortunately I'm not there as often as I once was but the last time I did notice they had painted over the Siemens name and finally placed Amtrak on them. I'm guessing you will be seeing these more often.
The locomotive leading was an F40PH NPCU. The "garage door" is used for loading baggage into the locomotive, as it was designed to hold baggage, yet still be an operable locomotive. The locomotive behind the Genesis was the Siemens Charger SC-44, which is a locomotive that is coming soon to Amtrak. It was in that train for testing purposes. The coaches are called Horizon coaches, and they are used in smaller Amtrak trains, like the one you saw here, and the Downeaster in the Northeast USA.
funny you say "Smaller Amtrak Trains" they have crammed over 800 passengers on a 7 car set between Los Angeles and San Diego frequently during summer/Holidays :) for many many years
captvictor I was talking about the horizon coaches, not the Surfliner bilevels
I know we have a Horizon set on the San Diegans still
BVERailer i had a feeling that was the new siemens charger locomotive
BVERailer Also the horizons are used for the Missouri River Runner
Its funny how one person thinks the train is "very strange" while it appears "very normal" to me. This has been a "normal" consist on the Amtrak Empire Builder between Milwaukee and Chicago for the better part of a month. (I see them out of my office window.)
They were testing the Siemens SC-44 Charger on regularly scheduled, fare-paying trains. There are 2 transits on this route, and they both had the Charger engines on them. They even turned the trainsets around, running the Cabbage (NPCU) and Power at the opposite ends, that what is in the video.
Starting a few days ago, August 23rd, or so, the Cabbage was removed and there was a Charger at one end, and Genesis at the other end of one of the Hiawatha Trainsets.
The Siemens Chargers have entered operation around the country, and are on services such as the Amtrak Cascades. Great catch!
The lead unit is a "cabbage", or a F40PH with only the control cab at the front end and a baggage car where the prime mover should be. The second unit at the other end is one of the new Siemens SC44 locomotives built in their Sacramento plant.
The charger engine will not be replacing the p42's on long distance trains. All of the Chargers were bought with state DOT money. This one is owned by the State of Illinois. It as well as others that will enter service after testing will be used on the state sponsored Amtrak runs like this one, the Hiawatha, and the Lincoln Service. Other states have orders in for them as well like California. As you said the f40 is a cab only. A while ago they used Metroliner cab cars on this run as well. The coaches are Horizon series and are relatively new even tho the design is the classic .
Great video. Three generations of locomotives on one train.
The SC-44 Charger locomotive is powered by a 4,400 hp (3,300 kW) Cummins 16-cylinder QSK95 4-stroke high speed diesel engine, which is designed to meet EPA Tier IV emissions standards that took effect in 2015. The top speed in service as per PRIIA specifications is 125 mph. The diesel-electric SC-44 shares much of its overall design with the Vectron and ACS-64 all-electric European- and US-market locomotives. Four Insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) power inverters carry electric current to each of the SC-44's four AC traction motors. A static inverter off of the main prime mover supplies head-end power (HEP). The locomotive also features dynamic braking with regenerative capability, allowing the locomotive to divert power generated by dynamic braking away from the resistor grids to HEP and on-board locomotive auxiliary power demands. The first production unit was unveiled on March 26, 2016.
The Chargers, Engine #4613 (Seen in Video) and #4612 were testing on the Hiawatha (The Train seen in this video) for about a week)
Those Amtrak Passenger cars on that "special catch" and a "very good catch it was too", I've always seen hauled into the Sanford, FL Amtrak Auto-Train Terminal and put on the spurs for dismantling, demolition, and/or sold for scrap metal, most have been taken out of service since these are older, outdated passenger cars.
RARE, Siemens Charger Loco! Insane, I've seen those before on Amtk 3, they're really rare, great catch
Converted F40HP aka CABBAGE on head end. The Downeaster trains have been using them for years as a non powered cab unit in a push pull mode. btw Boston MA and Brunswick ME.
The Siemens SC-44 Charger is a diesel-electric passenger locomotive
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siemens_Charger
It was a NPCU leading the Amtrak. Amtrak took some F40PHs and made them into baggage cab cars. The big door on the side was a door to load bags. The second engine was one of the new SC-44 chargers. They are amtraks newest engines and will be replacing the P42s.
Jacob Rubin awesome! Sadly the closest Amtrak station is 60 miles away from where I live so I won't be seeing any of those.
MaroonThorn what lines run through the station. If it is a shorter intercity route then it might be possible to see a NPCU. If an east to west cross country route goes through then you might see some of the SC-44s. Most are being transported in the California Zephyr and the southwest chief.
You caught a video of the F40ph in Veterans paint scheme, i don't think anyone has a video of that and no one knew that Amtrak painted the F40 in the veterans tribute. i just found out a month ago, super rare catch!!!!!! im gonna post this link on my group page
SC-44 Charger and they are beautiful!
It did look strange, I've never seen one like it.
I miss older designs like the dreyfuss. They were so beautiful!
nothing strange about that, that was a normal consist, the cars are always used on the hiawatha and the cabbage is always used too
NEWS: California’s San Joaquin Regional Rail Commission is taking delivery of 22 SC-44 "Charger" diesel locomotives from Siemens, to support an expansion of its Altamont Corridor Express commuter rail service.
To be built at the Siemens plant in Sacramento, the Chargers are due for delivery from December 2019. Although early examples are already under test. The locos are powered by a 4,400 hp Cummins QSK95 engine. They will be able to haul 10-car trains, a 43% increase from the seven vehicles which can be handled by the operator’s existing F40PH locomotives. They are also expected to deliver a 16% improvement in fuel efficiency.
The 40 is a cabbage car used on the northeast and west coast as a cab car, it's had its engine ripped out and a baggage door installed also it's the the support the troops paint. The cars are horizon and Amfleets still used on a lot of the service
You beat me to it. We had a converted baggage loco on some trains running through california, on the San Joaquin line.
So it has the controls and engineer but no engine or generator? The traction motors don't work either?
eottoe2001 No, it's literally a converted car. Aside from the lights, it doesn't operate, and no one stays in it. It simply carries baggage.
It's a cab control car, you can clearly see the operator in the cab as it passes by.
Control CAB and baggAGE; hence, "Cabbage" car. Used on many push-pull operations.
Interesting information on the locomotive(s)... Always great hearing from knowledgeable Folks. Last time I saw one of those F40s, was around 1974. Pulled my train down to San Diego when I was as a teenager in High School. Hit 90+mph going thru San Clemente behind that engine!
That engine you say is old is actually one of Amtrak's veteran units, it is a NPCU F40PH, it has no engine but it has a beautiful horn. They only use it because they can control it from that end and it has a garage door for baggage, which makes it so it doesn't have to use a baggage car. The weird engine on the other hand is a charger, them nasty things... Oh well, they're going somewhere they need them.
beautiful, nice catch...thank you
As a time traveler from the future, I can say that on all of the state-supported routes SC-44 chargers are used on AMtrak trains and the p42s are being replaced by the ALC42s.
The Siemens 'Charger' (the traction engine second from last.) Designed and engineered in the USA and Germany, and built in Sacremento, CA.
Surprised Amtrak went to Siemen though. I would've thought Bombardier would've been a better fit.
The train is probably a test train. The locomotive leading was previously an F40PH until Amtrak removed the engine and generators. 90221 and 90208 wear a special Salute the Vets scheme, along with P42 #42, and ACS-64 #642. The weird futuristic locomotive you saw was a Siemens SC-44 Charger. While this was most likely a test train, the Chargers are starting to see revenue service in the west, and the Midwest may now be seeing it as well.
Chargers were running on the Sandburg as of mid-July.
Your comment about a "big garage door" on the side of the F40PH cracked me up.
engine 1 was a NPCU cabbage painted in a veterans special scheme it is a gutless F40 used as a cabcar and baggage hence the name cabbage. Engine 2 was a New Siemens charge probably testing on Amtrak. Engine 3 was a P42 Amtrak usual locomotive. Yes the train was a revenue passenger train Siemens chargers usually get tested on revenue passenger trains to see how it handle passenger service. Great catch BTW.
Rex_ The_Railfanner In front of the charger is a P42DC. If it was a P40DC, it should be numbered in the 800s.
Siemens Charger. .just a boss locomotive. .will be on all long distance Amtrak trains soon
Rolling Thunder69 Amtrak has no plans to put them on long distance trains. They're rebuilding the genesis engines. By the way, they suck.
Charger are ugly genesis are beautiful "whoop whoop )
It's not strange it's beautiful.
Strange things can be beautiful too
Given that this is north of Chicago, this would be the Hiawatha either to or from Milwaukee. I rode that route on the 10th and 13th of this month, and remember seeing that futuristic engine when I got on board in Milwaukee.
It is not a futuristic locomotive it is a SC-44 locomotive
It's called the Siemens Charger. It will replace all of the older locomotives. That one is probably destined for the Amtrak Wolverine line (Chicago to Detroit)
Joe DiMarco the Illinois DOT along with California, Michigan, Missouri, and Washington purchased 32 to be used for corridor service. They aren't necessarily replacing older locomotives like the Genesis
Yes those engineless F-40ph's are nicknamed "cabbage cars" because they retain the cab but now are also used to carry extra baggage. They were not designed for carrying cabbage, but could easily do so if the need ever arises. I like the paint scheme on that unit, it deserves it's own Tyco train set. I would buy one!
there actually nicknamed NPCU'S which stands for Non-Powered Control Unit
The train with the blue dots second to last is a siemens charger sc-44. Produced in sacramento California. There are currently 33 idot chargers shipping to Illinois.
That's a npcu in The veteran paint scheme and a test Siemens chargers
Yupppppp and you got that right!
That first engine that went by early in the video was kind of amazing. The sound it made was so different from what I'm used to hearing. It sounded like a bunch of smaller cylinders, not like the engines I hear around here.
The 'Cabbage' unit has no engine or motors. It is designed to allow for push pull operation. Cab + baggage = Cabbage. Rapido trains make a model of it.
F40PH Is a cab car, engine ripped out and converted to baggage, and I think the other engine was a Charger. The cars are still used on Amtrak routes.
Wizard Hoovy does hoovy bird want sandvich
The front loco looks like those used on the DownEaster, the Charger is probably being delivered or tested, and the coaches could be going in storage. Just guessing.
nowadays, these are long into service. These are Siemens SC44 Chargers, if you did not already know.
the lead unit was an f40 but it was an npcu (non powered control unit) so it had no engine, the engine is replaced with a baggage section (hence the giant door) the old cars I cant explain but the modern engine is an sc44 charger and their are a handfull of them around, also the f40 npcu was in the amtrak vetran livery of which a p40 and an acs-64 also are painted in
The old cars are Comet design cars for the most part, with one Amfleet car in the mix. The ACS was probably on a delivery from the Siemens plant in Sacramento to its northeast corridor home.
Horizon and Amfleet passenger cars are common for Chicago based, state DOT supported routes.
Milwaukee Service; Michigan Service; and Illinois Service.
those "old cars" are just horizons and used often on amtrak's in the midwest. Chargers ARE replacing p42s in the next couple years.
Chargers are only replacing p42s on short distance trains. P42s will still be used on long distance trains until something else replaces them.
it's beautiful, and it's the future. if I'm not mistaken they're not new, just new to the US
The F40PH is an NPCU, non powered control unit, and the "weird train" is an SC-44 Charger, and yee, they're supposed to replace some units.
Edit: I had no idea what the chargers are supposed to replace.
Thats on the Chicago to Milwaukee Hiawatha. Its a new engine I think they are just getting some miles on it. It may not have the right controls installed yet too.
Those horizon coach cars are an everyday thing on the wolverine line
And the Hiawatha, which is the train shown is this video.
The next to last loco is Amtrak's new locomotives being implemented in the Midwest routes to use on high speed tracks.
I've seen engines with the "garage doors" on AMTRAK's "Downeaster".
The engine is the new SC-44 charger loco.
The Horizon passenger cars aren't that old. They were built in 1988-90, making them newer than the Amfleet cars you may be more familiar with. The Horizon cars are only used is small areas in the network, primarily short haul Midwest routes.
The Amfleet cars seem to have the uncanny ability to still look very modern despite beying 40+ years old. The small windows on the Amfleet Is are their biggest downfall.
It's a charger it's a new Amtrak train
I didn’t know 90227 was also in a veterans scheme!
It's a veterans unit. It's like the Honor Flights only by train.
I keep seeing this cool locomotive going through Savoy, IL it’s has. Strange horn but cool none the less
That's not strange that's common in rondout those our amtraks engines from Chicago to Milwaukee usually every time i railfan that line I usually catch that it has Amtrak 90221 SD70Ace Siemens IDTX SC-44 And obviously Amtrak P42DC
That loco with no prime mover is called a cabbage - as in cab and baggage.
The P42 Honoring the Vets had a Compartment for carrying baggage hence the door on the side of the Loco.
the vet car in that set is an Amtrak Ex F-40PH2C NPCU. there is no p42 that is a veterans unit expect for engine 42 that is not in this set
I thought the locomotive in the very beginning was strange, too, maybe a foreign-made unit?
I know little about Amtrak, though.
You saw an a veteran train? Lucky!
There's 2 f40 (npcu) painted in veterans colors there's 90221 for the east coast and 90208 for the west !!!
I'm not a train guy but I really enj... nevermind I guess I am a train guy.
you should really change the title of the video to, regular amtrak hiawatha goes through rondout
The bell on the crossing is a wch type 1 e bell, which are very rare
Sundae likes bread - The bell is on the train itself, not at the crossing...
They would never replace the Genesis engines from what I know they're going to be assign to commuter routes and Regional routes I think correct me if I'm wrong. But the Genesis locomotives will be used for Amtrak for many more years to come as of right now they are still used on our long-distance trains commuter trains and Regional trains
TexasRailfan21 hooray!!!! from england love me some genesis!
I didn't know about the Chargers. I live in the SF Bay Area so we catch a lot of the new Siemens electrics heading back east on the Zephyr. But this new Charger unit doesn't seem to have anything on the roof for overhead catenary connections. So I guess this is a diesel-electric just like a P-42? Or is there a shoe to pick up a third rail somewhere? Thanks. And yeah, the other stuff on the train....very normal, nothing out of the ordinary there.
Andy Smith I live in the bay too Richmond but I've never seen any siemens trains with pantograph lol
If you see one then it is a SIEMENS Amtrak ACS-64 or also named "Amtrak Cities Sprinter". This loco is based on the same machine as the Charger SC-44 is - the SIEMENS Vectron.
The ACS-64 is the electrified version of the americanized Vectron, whereas the SC-44 is the dieselized Version of the americanized Vectron.
Both series share some parts and construction details - that simplifies the service and spare parts storage.
The gutted F40PHs have a name the railfans (at least here in New England) have given them, Cabbages. I.E. Cab car with baggage compartment, which is the reason for the roll-up door. They have been around since the 90's.
Rapido model trains have a model with an explanation: rapidotrains.com/ho-amtrak-npcu/ If the link gets dropped just go to rapidotrains and search for amtrak-npcu or cabbage
Believe it or not, that is one of the very "hush-hush" nuclear powered locomotives the feds are testing. Now, there are a few different stories going around as to its specific use however, my main interest is the fact that this particular locomotive is armored for protection & what on Earth would Amtrak need with an armored locomotive???
I'm also told the entire outer shell of the locomotive is some space-age polymer & ceramic armor which is extremely light but very, very strong in the world of armor protection today. I can't divulge who shared this info & can only say he is a life-long friend & is a retired special forces, full bird colonel from our U.S. Armed Forces.
the 3rd one was the train that amtrak announced as their new high speed rail engine
That F40PH box diesel is a veterans unit
It appears to be either the American Orient Express or simply a train meant for display
AMTK Charger Test Extra. there testing the second locomotive the Siemens SC-44 Charger en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siemens_Charger
Correction: Siemens charger Amtrak/SC-44
Still a cool MP36PH metra in the beginning!
Bro nice catch! That's a heritage unit.
At least, the one in the front was.
When I rode the #29 Capitol Limited on the 15th of this month to Chicago from Elkhart, Indiana, the second P42 unit on that train had a similar livery. Also, during this and a round trip I took just a couple of days before, I saw no less than four Chargers in all.
Not strange. Siemens SC-44 Chargers IDTX {Illinois Dept of Transportation} 4620 and 4621 are now leading Hiawathas from Chicago to Milwaukee daily.
My uncle owns the Cahill heating and cooling business on the billboard up their.
The lead Amtrak unit is a "non powered control unit"
I live next to the Amtrak Northeast Corridor in Newark DE and I've seen electric engines with this paint scheme roaring through town. Is this Amtrak's new design?
@ipeters61
Amtrak ACS-64
Yea Amtrak's system of gut and renew old F40s is sad honestly, but I'd rather see a cabbage unit go by rather than have them all scrapped like the SDP40s
At least it’s not part of your kitchen silverware now...
The baner on the engine clearly states that it's a salute to America's military veterans. It's not uncommon for trains (and planes, for that matter) to have special painting for a specific purpose, such as a politician's "whistle-stop" tour of the nation to garner votes.
Here are references on WHY Amtrak has "strange" trains (a/k/a different paint schemes). The first paragraph lists the reasons; the rest of the first article is the history of Amtrak's paint schemes. The second link refers to the Amtrak paint schemes with photos of the trains from different angles. Any train used for political campaigns may be painted differently and, if I remember correctly--as I could only find ONE photo online of the engine of the RFK funeral train--the engine of the RFK funeral train was decorated with American flags and black bunting. The third link is a first-person account of one man's photo/video record of the RFK's train as well as the Amtrak train that, at the same time, was involved in the death of people on the tracks waiting for RFK's train who were killed or injured.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amtrak_paint_schemes
www.trainweb.org/amtrakpix/paintschemes/paintschemes.html
www.steamlocomotive.com/GG1/funeral.php
That Amtrak train was made by Siemens. You should look it up on UA-cam.
only thing made by Siemens is the Charger Locomotive...lol
I like the classic F-40PH
That one that u zoomed in is called the charger
I saw that second Amtrak engine before. the weird looking one.
Siemens charger locomotive SC-44 locomotive