What is this third engine?

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me_little_me

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Sorry for the long distance shot. Picture is a blowup of a section of the original. Train is Southwest Chief #4 Tuesday April 4 at Albuquerque. I was on the train.

Never seen an engine like that. Slightly taller than the others and a different paint scheme but definitely Amtrak.

 
I know your gonna want the name and all about it. I don't know, but I have seen it too. I always just thought it was a local switcher engine. I was told once that a third or fourth engine on a train is a deadhead or a way to move equipment around the system. I could have come from a repair station or moving to another location for a specific need. If a train is longer, it could need more power. I am just an armchair train guy that reads all he knows about Amtrak. I have seen a third Cascade Engine on the Coast Starlight sometimes. I never asked why. I tend to accept stuff as I see it. The awesome powers that be have decided this is the way it will be today.
 
It's a deadhead to Beech Grove. And it's an EMD F59PHI in the Pacific Surfliner paint scheme. Amtrak runs that model on the Cascades (green, brown, white), the California trains (black and silver with yellow) and the Piedmont which is (blue and grey) also it's owned by the state of NC
 
No, deadhead is just a term for moving equipment from point A to B for redistribution or use elsewhere. The equipment can be operational, but just not needed for a particular segment or train. A deadhead observation car, diner or baggage car not needed at the time of departure. If one is an airline crew member, but their flight is cancelled, so they would deadhead on another flight back to their home base just as passengers.
 
me_little_me said:
If you mean by deadhead that it was not doing anything, I did notice that smoke was coming from it while moving so it was running.
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zepherdude said:
No, deadhead is just a term for moving equipment from point A to B for redistribution or use elsewhere. The equipment can be operational, but just not needed for a particular segment or train.
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Once I read that engines cannot or should not be towed unpowered. If that's true, would someone explain why? Thanks.
 
willem said:
me_little_me said:
If you mean by deadhead that it was not doing anything, I did notice that smoke was coming from it while moving so it was running.
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zepherdude said:
No, deadhead is just a term for moving equipment from point A to B for redistribution or use elsewhere. The equipment can be operational, but just not needed for a particular segment or train.
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Once I read that engines cannot or should not be towed unpowered. If that's true, would someone explain why? Thanks.
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That applied to steam engines, but not diesels or electrics.

jb
 
A perfect example of that last point are the ACS-64s that usually go California tp Chicago on the CZ, and then on to the NEC via Cardinal or CL. They couldn't be powered even if you wanted to, they only run under the wire.
 
A perfect example of that last point are the ACS-64s that usually go California tp Chicago on the CZ, and then on to the NEC via Cardinal or CL. They couldn't be powered even if you wanted to, they only run under the wire.
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Thank you. I've seen the pictures; I should have thought of that.
 
A little off topic, but I have seen some unexpected engines on the pacific surfliner (I live on the line) I don't know about the code names for engines at all, but I have seen a "90208" engine that looked pretty old, and a "503" engine with a similar design, and also an Amtrak Cascades engine a few times too.
 
The 90000 series are de powered f40ph locomotives, and the 500 series are about twenty years newer, known as b-32-8wh, meaning two axel trucks, 3200 horse power, wide cab, head end power capable dash eight locomotives, predecessors to the current General Electric freight locomotives.
 
While a diesel can be towed as mentioned above, EMD's must be online to transmit alarms and receive the MU shutdown from another unit. If an EMD is deadhead and not online, it must be occupied by someone in the cab for the journey (per Amtrak)
 
maxbuskirk said:
A little off topic, but I have seen some unexpected engines on the pacific surfliner (I live on the line) I don't know about the code names for engines at all, but I have seen a "90208" engine that looked pretty old, and a "503" engine with a similar design, and also an Amtrak Cascades engine a few times too.
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90208 is one of several NPCUs (Non-Powered Cab Units) that are primarily used in California, on the Cascades line, and on the Downeaster line, but a few other random ones can be seen in other places every now and then. These units have absolutely no capability to haul a train (they must be accompanied by an engine on the end of the train), but they control acceleration and brakes and have lights and a horn. So their only purpose is so that the engine doesn't need to be moved from one end to the other at the end of a line or so that the entire consist doesn't need to be turned around.
 
lo2e said:
90208 is one of several NPCUs (Non-Powered Cab Units) that are primarily used in California, on the Cascades line, and on the Downeaster line, but a few other random ones can be seen in other places every now and then. These units have absolutely no capability to haul a train (they must be accompanied by an engine on the end of the train), but they control acceleration and brakes and have lights and a horn. So their only purpose is so that the engine doesn't need to be moved from one end to the other at the end of a line or so that the entire consist doesn't need to be turned around.
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And, sometimes they have been equipped with a large door on each side to be used as a baggage car, hence the nickname "cabbage".
 
The unit may have been running due to temperature constraints. Various railroads have rules about above what temperature unused units can be shut down or left in isolation when not needed for horsepower.
 
DryCreek said:
And, sometimes they have been equipped with a large door on each side to be used as a baggage car, hence the nickname "cabbage".
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Ah, I forgot about that as I've never actually seen one in person being used for baggage.
 
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