Metra F40PH Rebuild Program

It definitely looks better on the F40. Nice job.

Bit of an update

any news on if #100 is done yet?

I heard that they are going to have P3's as a horn, Any Info on this? Any updates on a return date?

God I hope they don't have P3's. What a wussy horn. Actually there aren't too many P5's that sound impressive anymore.

It was also reported that Metra is getting two ex-Amtrak F40's that were at the Tennessee Central Railway Museum. AMTK258 and AMTK375. These units were on the museums roster a few weeks ago, however they have since been removed....

Indeed they did buy them, I wonder when and how they will be shipped to progress rail.
Colin

bones wrote:God I hope they don't have P3's. What a wussy horn. Actually there aren't too many P5's that sound impressive anymore.

Agreed, but thats just a rumor, i still think Metra would stick with a 5 Chime horn
Colin

i wonder if metra will buy old p42's too.. they can be maintained in chicago by way of amtrak, right?

metraRI wrote:It was also reported that Metra is getting two ex-Amtrak F40's that were at the Tennessee Central Railway Museum. AMTK258 and AMTK375. These units were on the museums roster a few weeks ago, however they have since been removed....

Okay, WOW. They must be more lacking in motive power than I originally thought. So not only will Metra have the largest fleet of F40s (four-axle F40s...), the fleet will also be increasing in size. I wonder if those two units are intended to replace the F40Cs once the rebuild process is complete, or they're thinking of using them for general service expansion.

I also keep hoping they'll buy the first two Winnebagos, but that's only foamer daydreaming: http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... ?id=288581

superbad wrote:i wonder if metra will buy old p42's too.. they can be maintained in chicago by way of amtrak, right?

The day Metra begins buying GE equipment to power its trains will be the same day that the sun starts rising in the west...

doepack wrote:The day Metra begins buying GE equipment to power its trains will be the same day that the sun starts rising in the west...

They can't be worse than the 400s. Another one died yesterday in Elmwood Park. The crew was able to get it started after 5 minutes and proceeded to Chicago. On the outbound trip it died again around Big Timber.

A long time shop worker at Western Ave. said he's seen different degrees of workmanship over the years and the 400s are "crap". Metra better resurrect more Amtrak F40PHs and shouldn't be too quick to try and retire the 600s.

As I recall, the reason Metra wanted no GE power wasn't because of reliability, but because the acceleration characteristics of the Genesis series weren't considered favorable for Metra's operations.

Desperate for power... a little play
Metra- Hey AMT Montreal can we have your Amtrak F40PHs
AMT- NO we need power untill we get new locos in 2 years
Metra-ah nuts
NJT-WANNA lease our GP40FH-2s and F40PH-2CATs?

that would be nice seeing NJT equipment on Metra as well Canada.

F40CFan wrote:A long time shop worker at Western Ave. said he's seen different degrees of workmanship over the years and the 400s are "crap". Metra better resurrect more Amtrak F40PHs and shouldn't be too quick to try and retire the 600s.

One thing I've noticed about the other agencies ordering these units is that the majority of them seem to be going with the 3C version, which runs the HEP off of a separate generator, as opposed to Metra's 3S version that provides HEP via a static inverter connected to the prime mover. Since Metra was the first agency to order these units, does anyone know if MPI offered the 3C version at the time? And if so, why didn't they go that route?

byte wrote:As I recall, the reason Metra wanted no GE power wasn't because of reliability, but because the acceleration characteristics of the Genesis series weren't considered favorable for Metra's operations.

Ah, so that's the reason. Thanks. I thought they were just being stodgy...