Amtrak Photo Archive
an unofficial Amtrak site

the F69PHAC "the Winabagos"

When you get the page loaded, click on the image or
engine number to view a larger image

Amtrak 450 and 451 were America's first new A.C. locomotives. They were built by EMD in 1988. Similar, in a general way, to the familiar F-40, they were instantly recognizable by their slope-faced nose. This nose earned them the nick-name "Winabagos".

F69PHAC were considered experimental and tested extensively at the Department of Transportation's facility at Pueblo Colorado before being loaned to work for Amtrak in fall of 1990.

When first in service they worked with a test car between them.

The two test locomotives logged thousands of test miles for EMD while in Amtrak service. In 1991 the EMD-owned locomotives returned to the EMD plant at La Grange, IL.

It seems that they again returned to service because they were photographed in Chicago Union Station in August 1992

The story does not end there.

In the early 1990s Amtrak was testing two foreign train sets.The German ICE and the Swedish X2000. Both were powered by overhead catenary, In order to conduct a national demonstration tour, F40s were matched to the Swedish X2000 and the two F69PHACs were used with the German ICE.

The F69PHACs where painted in this matching, red/white ICE train scheme to pull the train around the country for the tour.

Believed to be the F69PHACs' last assignment, they were returned to EMD shortly after the end of the tour. The ICE was in Metroliner Service on the NEC until late 1993 when it was returned to Germany.

For a long time I had the idea they were to the power for the ill fated Marlboro train.
I was wrong - the Marlboro Train was to use F59s.
Those F59s now run on Metrolink. - retired scrapped in 2019 and 2020.

Finally retired in 1999, both of the locomotives still exist in a scrap yard, more specifically
National Railway Equipment, in Mount Vernon, Illinois stripped of numerous parts. Probably have been scrapped.

 
Number
 Location & Information
 Date
 Photo Credit
  450  Chicago IL  Sept 6, 1990 Paul Hunnell
 450  Chicago IL   Sept 21, 1992   from the
collection of
Albert Phleep
  450   10/28/92  from the
collection of
Albert Phleep
  trp77_010 LEnfant Plaza Washington DC 1993  
450 Philadelphia PA
with 451 while working with the ICE		  Aug 8, 1993  Bill Volkmer
451  Chicago IL
Chicago Union Station		  Aug 3,1992  Jim Hebner
451  unknown location  unknown  DS Dawdy
451  Chicago IL   Sept 22, 1992   from the
collection of
Albert Phleep
451  Chicago IL  October 1992  Mike Raia
450  as painted when powering the German ICE on it's national tour  1993  Colin Blodsky
450 & 451
with ICE		  San Diego CA  Aug 30, 1993  Alan Miller
451  Hammond IN  Aug 19, 1999  John T Eagan III



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Contributions welcome and credited.

Most of the photos on this site are from original photos/slides or submissions. Some photos are from the web - I have tried to get permission to use on all of them, but a few may have slipped through. Please, let me know if that has happened.

This archive was first accessed August 1996

Tapping Siemens' experience in the development and application of

A.C. traction technology in Europe, EMD took a commanding lead in

the race to develop a North American A.C. locomotive. By 1987,

EMD had its own A.C. test bed on the road. "Research vehicle" 268

was built utilizing a former Amtrak SDP40F outfitted with Siemens

A.C. equipment, including six current-source traction inverters and

six A.C. traction motors. The first six-motor A.C. locomotive in

North America, 268 underwent exhaustive testing for several years

before passing the torch to a small fleet of built-new EMD A.C.

prototypes.