CHICAGO — One of Metra’s oldest passenger locomotives is sporting a color scheme to match the one it came with in 1977.
About 100 Metra officials, passengers, and railfans gathered at Chicago’s LaSalle Street Station on Thursday to celebrate 40 years of continuous service for the EMD F40PH unit by wrapping it in the sea foam blue-orange-black colors of predecessor agency, the Regional Transportation Authority.
“I’m not sure anyone could have predicted in 1977 that the locomotives then being delivered would still be in everyday use after four decades,” says Bruce Nelson of the Shore Line Interurban Historical Society. “How many people drive a 40-year-old car several hundred miles every day at speeds up to 79 miles per hour?”
Metra officials say members of the Shore Line society raised all the money necessary to buy materials and pay for labor to wrap the locomotive. Metra crews completed the job during a few days in early September.
EMD built No. 100 for RTA along with 27 other locomotives in the late 1970s to replace older E and F units in commuter service in the Chicago area. The first group of F40s would go on to serve the entire system of commuter lines that would be joined under the Metra banner in the 1980s. They would also be joined by 90-more F40s of various designations — currently more than any other railroad, Metra officials say.
And in keeping with Metra’s custom of naming locomotives after significant individuals or nearby villages and cities, railroad officials re-named No. 100 Village of LaGrange, after LaGrange, Ill., historic home to EMD where this locomotive and thousands of others were made in the 20th century.
Metra CEO Don Orseno told the crowd about his days as an engineer for Metra and how the locomotive quickly became the backbone for the railroad.
“These F40PHs have been in commuter service longer than any other locomotive type in North America,” Orseno says. “Their longevity is both a tribute to the excellence of our maintenance program and a commentary on the need to provide public transportation systems with a level of capital funding that allows us to continually renew our assets.”
Officials say Metra has rebuilt No. 100 three times in 40 years: 1987, 1996, and 2009.
“The stop-start nature of commuter service wears very hard on a locomotive,” says Metra Chairman Norm Carlson. “The fact that Metra’s Mechanical Department has maintained these locomotives to a standard that enables Metra to maintain a 95 percent on-time performance record month after month is impressive to say the least.”
F40s, with their lighter axle loads, are exclusively used on former Chicago & North Western lines to accommodate older infrastructure.
Officials say that the locomotive will tour the entire Metra system in the coming months.
Yes, neat to see this “RTA Heritage” F-40PH. The (Chicago) Shoreline Interurban Railroad Historical Society has pretty interesting article in their latest quarterly publication (Summer? 2017) about the history of the RTA/METRA F-40PH fleet with some interesting locomotive photos.
I like it!
Great to see my former employer (I retired at the end of 2007 w/35 years service) joining the “heritage” liveried locomotive bandwagon. The 9/14 event is good PR for the railroad and I’m proud of Mr. Orseno&Co for doing it.
IMHO the standard-bodied F40 epitomizes the intercity/commuter/regional passenger train as much as the E-Units did in an earlier time.
The F40s may not have the graceful lines that characterized the Es but it’s more than made up for by their chunky, no nonsense, get out of town fast look. Have to say, I like the solid blue w/orange top color scheme the best.