Here today, gone tomorrow
A lack of diversity in locomotive models — and paint schemes — tends to give many of us a sense of complacency. Why go out of the way to watch and perhaps photograph trains that have always been there and seemingly always will?
Except, as we have found out in the wisdom of 20/20 hindsight, all of a sudden, those Amtrak EMD F59PHIs — or whatever else you were used to seeing — that have been the staple of passenger trains you could hear from your house were gone, replaced by newer or different units.
If it has happened to you, don’t kick yourself. It’s happened to all of us sooner or later, whether it be steam, diesel, electric, or even entire railroads.
How many times when I visited my favorite railroad — in this case Southern Pacific — did I not take a photo of an F7, or SD9, or Alco S2 just because the light was not exactly right. There would always be another day where I would find those units again.
But even with that knowledge, if we don’t remember it, the same scenario returns.
For example, those Amtrak F59PHIs I mentioned. Most of them were assigned to California trains and when the grade crossing gates came down, it was almost inevitable one of them would be in charge.
Well, in 2024 most of them are gone, many sold to the Chicago-area commuter agency Metra, After being overhauled, they continue to haul passenger trains. Good. They weren’t scrapped. But the only way I will see them again is if I go to the Midwest.
Today, except for the power on the Coast Starlight, the only regular Amtrak motive power on the coast line are Siemens Chargers. As much as I would like to focus on an F59PHI again, I have to remember to photograph what seems like a never-ending stream of them, because one day, perhaps sooner than I can imagine, someone will say to me, “You photographed Chargers? Wow!”
