Thursday, November 15, 2018

Railfanning in Vancouver, Washington, in July, 1999

Amtrak F59PHI #458 in Vancouver, Washington, in July, 1999

These pictures were taken while railfanning at the Amtrak depot in Vancouver, Washington, in July of 1999. The first I saw was a southbound Amtrak Cascades train with an interesting locomotive on the head end.

Amtrak F59PHI #458 in Vancouver, Washington, in July, 1999

Amtrak #458 is a 3,200-horsepower F59PHI that was built in 1998 by the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors with final assembly by Super Steel Schenectady of Schenectady, Pennsylvania. The Amtrak Cascades trains are usually powered by F59PHIs that are painted to match the green, brown, and white colors of the train, but this one is silver and blue.

Amtrak F59PHI #458 in Vancouver, Washington, in July, 1999

This particular F59PHI is painted in Amtrak's Surfliner colors for service in California. The Surfliner locomotives occasionally substituted on the Cascades when one of the Cascades F59PHIs had to go south to California for maintenance.

Amtrak F40PH #354 in Vancouver, Washington, in July, 1999

Leading the eastbound Portland section of the Empire Builder is Amtrak #354, a 3,000-horsepower F40PH that was built by the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors in 1980. It is painted in the colors of the Florida Fun Train, a short-lived venture that briefly leased three F40PHs (#354, #358, & #374) from Amtrak.

Amtrak F40PH #354 in Vancouver, Washington, in July, 1999

The six-car Florida Fun Train made its inaugural run on October 15, 1997, on a 200-mile route between Fort Lauderdale and Orlando. On the inaugural run of a new route between Tampa and central Florida on August 1, 1998, the train was involved in a fatal collision with a tow truck. After losing $9.9 million in the first half of 1998, the Florida Fun Train shut down on September 16, 1998. The three locomotives were returned to Amtrak and were put back in regular service without being repainted.

BNSF C44-9W #739 in Vancouver, Washington, in July, 1999

As we left Vancouver, we found a Burlington Northern Santa Fe freight train was waiting on the Sixth Street Viaduct. This train had just come westbound down the north bank of the Columbia River Gorge with a lot of motive power.

BNSF C44-9W #739 in Vancouver, Washington, in July, 1999

Leading this freight train was Burlington Northern Santa Fe #739, a 4,400-horsepower Dash 9-44CW that was built by General Electric in August 1997. It was painted in Burlington Northern Santa Fe's newest paint scheme.

Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe SD45-2u #5814 in Vancouver, Washington, in July, 1999

The second locomotive was Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe #5814, a 3,600-horsepower SD45-2 that was built by the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors in May of 1972 as Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe #5650. In May 1986, it was rebuilt at Santa Fe's shops in San Bernardino, California as an SD45-2u; at the time the Santa Fe was planning to merge with the Southern Pacific, so it was renumbered to 7214 in accordance with the proposed numbering system for the merged railroads, and was painted in the red-and-yellow "Kodachrome" merger paint scheme. After the merger was denied by the Interstate Commerce Commission, it was renumbered to 5814 and repainted in Santa Fe's standard blue-and-yellow paint scheme.

BNSF SDF40-2 #6976 in Vancouver, Washington, in July, 1999

The third locomotive was Burlington Northern Santa Fe #6976, which was built by the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors in August 1974 as Amtrak #644, a 3,000-horsepower SDP40F passenger locomotive based on the popular SD40-2 freight engine. Amtrak found the SDP40Fs unsatisfactory, and in September 1984 Amtrak traded 18 of them to the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe in exchange for 25 CF7s and 8 SSB1200s for use as terminal switchers. 

BNSF SDF40-2 #6976 in Vancouver, Washington, in July, 1999

In May 1985 the former Amtrak #644 was rebuilt at the Santa Fe's shops in San Bernardino, California, as SDF40-2 #5266. In April 1994, the maintenance of all the SDF40-2s was subcontracted to Morrison-Knudsen, of Boise, Idaho. After the Burlington Northern Santa Fe merger, ATSF #5266 was renumbered to BNSF #6976 in April 1998.

Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe SD45-2u #5814 in Vancouver, Washington, in July, 1999

Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe #5814 has MKM sublettering under the road number on the side of the cab, indicating that the maintenance for this locomotive had been subcontracted to Morrison-Knudsen of Boise, Idaho, in April 1994.

BNSF C44-9W #739 in Vancouver, Washington, in July, 1999

Here is another look an Burlington Northern Santa Fe #739.

BNSF C44-9W #739 in Vancouver, Washington, in July, 1999

This was one of the first locomotives to be painted in BNSF's new "Heritage II" paint scheme in 1997. 

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