SAN BRUNO, Calif. — Well, you won’t find this on Amazon.com.
Currently on the front page of the online store for California commuter operator Caltrain, between the ugly Holiday Sweater, and the limited-edition HO gauge Stadler electric train (sorry, sold out) is … an F40PH-2 locomotive. Not a model, an actual locomotive.
Click through, and the blurb with the photo of the locomotive notes you can “own a piece of Caltrain history” and that the 1985 F40 comes with 40 years of service and more than 1 million miles traveled. After some lighthearted copy (“perfect for your model trainset, train-themed diners …”), the item gets down to the realities of the situation: its engine will be disabled per the terms of a state grant agreement; the buyer is responsible for storage and shipping, and this is not a eBay “buy it now” situation: you’ll have to bid for it through an Invitation for bids procurement process. And there’s some legalese about indemnifying Caltrain. The locomotives (Caltrain has 20 EMD-built F40PH-2s and three Boise-built F40PH-2Cs) are expected to be available in October once the switch to electrification is complete.
If you’re still interested, there’s a “contact us” link on that page.
Caltrain began operating the first of its Stadler electric trainsets on Sunday, Aug. 11 [see “News photos: Electrified service begins …,” Trains News Wire, Aug. 12, 2024]. Full electric service is set to begin Sept. 21.
Unforutunately the entire fleet is NOT for sale, since they still have to power the Gilroy destined trains, and those require diesel between San Jose and Gilroy. So far every article in Trains has gotten the “full” electrification part of the story wrong. Now if the state was smart, which I don’t think it is, they would enter into negotiations with UP for the right to purchase the Coast Line between San Jose and say, Guadulupe…that would allow for full electrification of the line to Gilroy as the UP then couldn’t complain(why they complain is beyond me if someone else is paying for the work). There’s more that could come of such a sale to the state, but that is out of the scope of this article.
Locomotives bought for scrap value or parts source?
seems foolish to prevent any reasonable return on investment by selling fully functioning equipment. Why say what California really wants: 100% scrap of functioning locomotives. Sad attitude, these folks.
Amtrak could use these as hideous depowered cab cars. Because unlike VIA, Amtrak isn’t buying Siemens cab cars which could carry passengers (or could be configured with a baggage compartment).
Only available in California?
Yes, I agree, climate change is real. It changes every day. Why, I hear tell in the part of the world I reside in, a huge sheet of ice once covered the land. Then climate change began and the ice melted. In it’s wake is flat fertile farmland and a nearby large body of water that supplies my drinking water.
Like most of the uninformed you do not know the difference between weather and climate.
Ya’ll are so hilarious. And so predictable. Do any of you have anything good to say about anything that happened after 1960?
Yes, the point is to remove heavily polluting diesels from service. And yes, diesel locomotives from 1985 are heavily polluting.
Hate to break it to you ranky old guys, but climate change is real, and we’re cooking our planet. We’re old. Our grandkids won’t forgive us for what we neglected to do to save it.
I’ll have my planet medium rare, please. Looking forward to my grandkids thanking me for saving the planet twice – Once with the corporate welfare scheme called “cash for clunkers” and once when 23 locomotives were destroyed. Now if we could just power that catenary with windmills, they’d thank me again for that and for killing all the trees when we got CO2 emissions down to zero. Etc. Yadda yadda yadda
Let me know when the climate never changed, good or bad.
Amen to Mr. Rice’s point, re: ‘Climate change’ !
Not fully knowledgeable on re-powering a locomotive but with all the units the class 1’s put in ditches there must be several engines available to re-power these paperweights. Might face some of the problems Johnny Cash did with his Cadillac not sure.
“12 inches to the Foot-scale …..”
LOL on ” A 200-ton paperweight…”
Yes, why couldn’t these F-40PHs be “exported” to other states outside of California? I would think the METRA commuter rail system in Chicago would like to get their hands on these second-hand, and obviously well-worn, F-40PHs, overall them and put them into service for a few years. Or maybe a museum would like one of them?
But yes, California must “export” its performative environmentalism and ‘virtue-signaling’ to the rest of the country, consequences be damned…
kinda hard to buy an F-40 that prime mover trashed. As well can the units be transported out of California?
Trains should follow up on the “why the engines are disabled” condition. As it reads now, what 2nd hand buyer would want it ?
I will bet the farm that the “state grant agreement” provision is another brilliant move by the current administration there to save the environment. You get what you vote for.
“… its engine will be disabled…” Wonderful. A 200-ton paperweight.
Cash for Clunkers part II?
Can’t take a chance of smoking up out pristine Golden State.
If California wants to take some of the billions of CalHSR money and buy up all the clunkers from the lower 48, I am guessing it will do more for the earth than disabling some F40PH engines.
Better yet, take the $23 billion spent (so far) and you could buy 541,000 Tesla Model 3 Long Range models and give them away. That would be 2.4 million metric tons of CO2 removed.
I don’t think they are getting the biggest bang for their buck.