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Some
railfans dislike the sameness of Amtrak's locomotives and passenger cars
and lament the loss of the variety of paint schemes that once adorned America's
passenger trains.However, this
"sameness" is an economic necessity that has helped Amtrak to survive 30
years of political turmoil. By the late 1980's, railfans frequenting Los
Angeles Union Station (LAUS) found things pretty predictable.Even
the 1992 arrival of Metrolink's white and periwinkle commuter fleet became
just another standardized operation to photograph.
During
the late 1950's, LAUS's stub-end trackage was decorated by Southern Pacific
(SP) road diesel locomotives in "Black Widow," scarlet & gray, and
"Daylight" paint schemes while competitors Union Pacific (UP) and Santa
Fe (ATSF) brought forth Armour Yellow and "Warbonnet" colors on their respective
diesels.Depot switchers from all
three railroads brought additional diesel paint schemes from ATSF and SP
into railfan viewfinders. With the coming of Amtrak and its necessary standardization,
it appeared that railfans would never again experience the colorful variety
of locomotive paint schemes that once polished LAUS rails during the pre-Amtrak
era.Remarkably, in the year 2001,
the argument that variety has returned to LAUS trackage can easily be made.
In
May 2000, Amtrak debuted the new "Pacific Surfliner" schemed-cars on the
route newly-renamed from the old "San Diegan."Passenger
cars are painted blue and silver with white striping.Their
addition made the San Luis Obispo to San Diego route quite colorful, joining
the other bilevel trainsets consisting of a mixture of Amtrak Superliner
and Amtrak "California Cars," plus the low-level trainsets of mixed Horizon
and Amfleet cars.EMD F59PHI locomotives
in the Surfliner paint scheme had displaced the venerable F40PHs from this
route during the fall of 1998.By
March 2001, several surviving F40PHs had been adorned in Surfliner colors.Meanwhile,
Amtrak-California F59PHIs, in the California Car paint scheme, make frequent
visits to the new locomotive and service and inspection facility at nearby
Redondo Junction, usually via "Coast Starlight" trains 11 and 14.The
ex-ATSF roundhouse stood here until razed in 2000 (the turntable there
remains in service, along with the easternmost whisker tracks).
1999
found several General Electric "Genesis" diesel locomotive models P40-8BWH
and P42DC powering long distance trains repainted in a mostly silver paint
scheme with a thick blue horizontal stripe and thin red horizontal stripes.This
scheme was first introduced on the Boston-Washington "Northeast Direct"
train service that year.By 2001,
the silver, aquamarine, gray and midnight blue paint introduced on the
Acela high-speed trainsets in the Northeast Corridor was now appearing
on the Genesis diesels operating into LAUS as well.
The
Amtrak LAUS switchers are painted in the "Los Angeles Raiders" football
team colors of silver and black.However,
in 1999, ex-UP EMD SW10 1234 was leased from Coast Rail Services (CRSX)
to augment Amtrak's LAUS fleet. This SW10 operates in the CSRX colors of
white and black with red striping.
Thus,
today's LAUS railfan has the potential of photographing 6 different Amtrak
locomotive paint schemes plus the CRSX switcher and the Metrolink trainsets.However,
future Surfliner car deliveries will banish the California Cars as well
as the low-level equipment and with them, their paint schemes.The
new Acela colors are expected to eventually adorn the long distance locomotive
fleet.Like the 1950's, railfans
need to experience this variety while they can.
On April 22,
2001, visitors to Los Angeles Union Station received a glimpse of the pre-Amtrak
era as an 8-car Union Pacific business car special enroute from Council
Bluffs, Iowa to Oakland, California lays over on track 8 led by its elegant
EMD E9A 951, E9B 963B adn E9A 949 set.
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(click
a photo to enlarge)
On May 6, 2001,
the n/b Coast Starlight departs Los Angeles Union Station led by
F59PHI 459, GE P40-8BWH 839 and Amtrak-West EMD F40PH 415.
On 7/8/00, Amtrak
EMD SSB1200 554 tows Surfliner 581 out of Los Angeles Union Station towards
the ex-Santa Fe 8th Street coach yard.
On 5/6/01, Amtrak's
Southwest Chief backs past Terminal Tower to the ex-ATSF 8th Street Coach
Yard led by GE Acela-adorned P42DC 135.
On 3/18/00 Amtrak
Surfliner 581, with Amtrak-West EMD F59PHI 456, is shoved out of LAUS towards
the ex-Santa Fe 8th Street coach yard by Amtrak SW9u 795.
Leased EMD
SW10 1234 shoves RoadRailers from the rear of Train 3 into track 13 for
unloadingon on July 17, 1999.
A colofest!
On 5/6/89 LAUS celebrated it's 50th birthday, culminating in this photo
(Ken Rattenne)
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