DANBURY, Conn. — The Danbury Railway Museum has added former Amtrak AEM7 electric locomotive No. 917 to its collection, the museum has announced.
The locomotive, donated by Rail Propulsion Systems in August 2023, was delivered by the Providence & Worcester to Danbury on Friday, June 7. Former Amtrak locomotive technician and engineer Anthony Raspantini brought the locomotive to the museum’s attention and orchestrated its donation.
“I spent a few years wrenching on these locomotives as well as riding on them for support on special trains until going to engineer training in 2013,” Raspantini said in a museum press release. “I got to enjoy operating the same machines I worked on, but No. 917 is special to me because it was the last AEM7 I ran on the road, New York to Washington in 2016.”
General Motors’ Electro-Motive Division and Sweden’s ASEA built 54 of the locomotives, based on the Swedish SJ Rc4, between 1978 and 1988. It becomes the third of the locomotives to be preserved, along with No. 915 at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania and No. 945 at the Illinois Railway Museum, and joins two early New York Central electric units saved from scrapping in the Danbury collection [see “Two NYC electrics are safe, await relocation to museum,” Trains News Wire, Dec. 30, 2022,” and “News photo: New York Central electric locomotives moved,” News Wire, Nov. 3, 2023].
Along with those pioneering electrics, the AEM7 “is a fantastic way to show folks the effect 90 years of design innovation and technological advancement has on transportation,” said Jose Alves, museum president. “We really are bringing past and present together here in the railyard.”
The locomotive had been in storage at Seaview Transportation in Quonset, R.I. The museum thanks Raspantini, Eric Moffett and the Seaview Railroad, Rail Propulsion Systems, the Providence & Worchester, Amtrak, Metro-North Railroad, and the Housatonic Railroad for their support.
“Moving the locomotive is just step one,” said project manager Orioin Newall-Vuillemot. “While it’s in good shape, it needs cosmetic work to make it a true display piece. Moving and restoration is expected to total $15,000.” Donations can be made online here, or by mail to Danbury Railway Museum, P.O. Box 90, Danbury, CT 06813. Information on becoming a museum member is available here.
