F125 “Spirit” commuter locomotive
The F125 “Spirit” commuter locomotive offers something different at Southern California commuter stations. While a modern fleet of homogenized locomotives is great for the financial bottom line, and certainly easier for the maintenance workers who care for them, aren’t you secretly hoping it will not be business as usual behind that headlight on the horizon?
Then make your wish come true. Come to Southern California and indulge yourself on Progress Rail’s F125. Metrolink, the Southern California Regional Rail Authority, operates 40 of them.
Marketed under its EMD line, and nicknamed the “Spirit,” the builder says the locomotive is the world’s first EPA Tier 4 passenger locomotive. With 4,700 hp and a top speed of 125 mph, it houses a Caterpillar C175-20-cylnder engine, and features AC traction, individual axle control, extended dynamic brakes as well as a blended brake system, and PTC-compatible electronics. At 69 feet in length, it weighs only 280,000 pounds and has a starting tractive effort of 71,000.
Metrolink was the builder’s launch customer, and the first units began arriving in 2016. After going through testing and crew familiarization, the first unit to be shown to the public was No. 905, on July 18 of that year, at Los Angeles Union Station. The model’s first revenue run was June 10, 2017.
Metrolink currently operates F125s throughout its system. As more of the new units came online, older EMD F59PHs and F59PHis were gradually sidelined and stored. Some of the earliest units were retired. A few PHis are still on the roster but rarely see use.
With the newest of the Metrolink F125s only a few years old, expect to see them operating for a number of years. To date, the carrier is the only operator to purchase them.
Such a favorable piece. Sadly Metrolink may be the only operator of the units. Most of the units sat idle from 2017 until about 2021 because of so many problems with the Tier 4 emissions equipment. It the emissions equipment had a failure it shut down the prime mover. Worst of all one unit did that at the press unveiling, embarrassing Metrolink in front of a very unsympathetic press.
After the almost 3 years it took EMD to fix the problem, no one else wanted to touch the locos. BTW I live in Orange County and still on occasion see F59’s on Metrolink trains