As the annual "let's kill Amtrak" push in the federal government continues, I was wondering what has been done to preserve Amtrak history? 34 years is a lot of history.Doug

Sorry to have to say this, but I suspect that Amtrak has probably done about as much to preserve their history as EMD has done to preserve theirs.

Well, Amtrak has done a few things to help preserve it's history, currently by my count we have 3 Amtrak EMD F40PH's preserved.Amtrak 231 an F40PHR, saved by Chris Fussell of Portland,OR. Amtrak 307, preserved at the North Carolina Transportation Museum, this locomotive was donated by Amtrak a few years ago.Then we have Amtrak 281 at the California State Railroad Museum, I can't remember at the moment, But I do believe this locomotive was also donated, I'm sure if I'm wrong, some one from the CSRM can correct me.While we have lost many other pieces of historic equipment owned or used by Amtrak in the last 30+ years, such as the GE P30CH's and other equipment, however one of the most important and most controversial pieces of Amtrak's early years has been preserved, the EMD SDP40F.In 2002, BNSF began retiring the SDF40-2's (SDP40F's) which were traded to the Santa Fe from Amtrak in the 1980's. Shortly after the retirement notice, BNSF began parting out most the the SDF40-2/SDP40F fleet, with an exception of one unit, BNSF 6976, former Amtrak 644 , which was pulled from the deadline and sent to NRE to repaint the locomotive into an special "Maersk - Sealand" paint scheme for display use for several special events. After the use at the special events, 6976 went back into storage, with it's future uncertain.At this point, Chris Fussell and I began talking about the preservation of an SDP40F, after realizing that 6976 (Amtrak 644) was going to be the only SDF40-2 / SDP40F, that preservation of would be possible since the other last few, in the deadlines, had been parted out and were very close to being scrapped. At this point Chris and I began to work with the BNSF and later came to an agreement to purchase the locomotive and donate it to the Northwest Rail Museum. With the help of several other people this project would never have been possible. Currently the 644 is stored at the Brooklyn Roundhouse in Portland,OR. The 644 is currently operational with only a few minor things that need to be completed before 644 can see any major use. It is hoped that within a few years we can begin the major restoration of the 644, and fully rebuild and repaint the 644 back into one of it's original paint schemes.With the last SDP40F preserved, it not only preserves a part of railroad history, but also allows future generations to see an EMD SDP40F in person.More information on the restorations of Amtrak 231, an F40PHR or Amtrak 644, an SDP40F can be found at http://www.f40phr231.orgDan Calhoun

In addition to the three F40PH's mentioned earlier (and there will no doubt be more that will end up as "preserved" albeit with qualifiers, such as the set now on the Grand Canyon Railway and those in use by a couple transit operators), there's an Amtrak E60CP/CH at the RR Museum of Pa. In their infinite wisdom, they grabbed an Amtrak locomotive that was built in Pennsylvania.The RRMPa also has ex-PRR/PC Metroliner car 860, which is now in its Amtrak-rebuilt configuration and probably always will be.As far as I know, EVERY ex-Amtrak car that has been preserved has been targeted for preservation explicitly because of its pre-Amtrak heritage--either for its history or for its mechanical conditions (ex-Budd, ex-Santa Fe, ex-B&O, etc.) The earliest Amtrak-built cars--the 492 Amfleet 1's--are slowly being consumed to extinction by an equipment-starved Amtrak. Fortunately, these cars are very unlikely to ever see downgrading to commuter service, so will probably remain intact until the last unwrecked examples are pulled from the roster because of the 40-year truck rule or something. Ditto the original Superliners.NOW is the time for someone to take the initiative and plan for future preservation of Amtrak equipment, whether it's rescue from an "Amtrak shutdown" fire sale or grabbing the last hulks from the back lot at Beech Grove.

IMHO, I think Amtrak locomotives are as 'underpreserved' as say-VIA FPA-4's are 'overpreserved.'

But it's certainly not too late to go ahead and preserve some. Years ago I wrote a "Trains Turntable" essay proposing an "F40PH Preservation Society". Unfortunately, I must note the liability of F40's--they are fuel-hungry bastards because of their directly-connected HEP units. It may be cheaper for the Grand Canyon to run the steamers and the Alcos than the F40's they have!

Not only is the standard F40PH with main engine driven HEP a fuel guzzler, but fleetwide comparisons of unit reliability with stretch F40's having separate HEP diesel generator units generally show very little difference in overall availability.