MORE ON AMTRAK 105

Here is road number 105 from the second 1997 Amtrak Genesis order from the GE Transportation Division at Erie, Pennsylvania. They are a unique and geographcially-dedicated group. Originally one of three such "pools," the other two being for Michigan and the Coast Starlight. Since evidently their routine activities do not generate interest, we will only update this page upon request. Use the email address at the bottom to make a request. If there are any landmark activities brought to our attention for this group, we will still post them. In 2023, only 101 has been leaving the region much, having gone south of Washington DC earlier in the year, but having returned to Boston for Lakeshore Limited duties in May.

All but #100 of this group were stenciled differently for the northeast corridor, and delivered with a slightly different paint variant. Historically they operated out of New Haven and Springfield, although in the last couple of years, they have also done some of the longer distance lifting on the Lakeshore Limited (trains 48/448 and 449/49) between Boston and Chicago. Once and a while one also shows up on a Florida service.

All of Amtrak's starting fleet of 207 P42's have suffered injuries, many of them over and over again. The 100-109's group mostly was dedicated to the New Haven regionals, so as "Yankees" lived a quieter life than most others. Engine #100 was an outlier, delivered in the normal 1993 style paint. A special "Northeast Corridor" stencil appeared on the nose flanks of 101-109, and a different shade of grey paint was used on the nose and top. This reflected the style also employed on the second batch of P32 dualmodes that operate on Metro North trackage out of New York City.

The paint scheme on 101-109 was the "Northeast direct" that became a company-wide marketing scheme for a short time in 1997-1998. Nevertheless, despite the relatively easy life #102 was a total loss after a derailment October 5, 2015 near Northfield, Vermont. This incident was the subject of a rare NTSB investigation, docket, and report of findings (DCA-16FR001). It was later detrucked and lifted by crains onto a flatcar at Montpelier Junction on October 13, 2015, and did not make it back to Beech Grove on its own wheels. It remains stored there in 2023.

Train 55 with #102 struck a rockslide on the New England Central, on the moring of October 5. This is unsignaled territory. Locomotive 102 had slowed from track speed to 49 mph by the moment of impact. There had been seismic activity that day in Vermont, but it was concluded that the collapse of the rock cut onto the right (westernmost) rail resulted from weathering that had occurred over time. Nevertheless, the earthquake had to have contributed to the material picking that particular day to make their moves. The rock material lifted the front of the locomotive slightly, tilting it to the left. After contining 310 feet, #102 and the first car left the right of way and fell 85 feet into a ravine, rolling onto the fireman's side. The remaining cars remained upright.

Serial numbers for 100-109 are 49952-49961 Sticker dates were June, July, and August, 1997 as GE wound down the order for Amtrak. After delivery in 1993 style paint, all were eventually refurbished. The most recent to receive a repaint was #104 in April 2023.

Engine #100 was repainted three times over a very quick time span, chosen for a special Postal Service exhibition train, referred to as the "Celebrate the Century" unit, then getting the high skirt millennium paint in summer 2001, and by 2002 going to the common-theme low skirt variant. Eventually #101-109 were also repainted into low-skirt millennium paint, but were among the last in 2002, and even later had their nose cones changed to a bolt-on composite. Two in this group were the last original nose holdouts (108 and 109), not being changed out for more than 20 years after the transition had begun. Engine 102 also had never been changed out prior to its wreck.

Finally, in early 2021, engine #100 was redone once again, in a 50 year anniversary "Connecting America" theme. This followed a brief stint as a campaign train lead engine for "Amtrak Joe" Biden's "Build Back Better Express" in September of 2020.


The last new Amtrak P42 (#207) came on the property in 2001. The 100-109 group mostly earned its keep operating out of New Haven and Boston. In the early days they were not reported very much, and were missing due to the lack of railfan activity in the northeast. Typically when they went unreported for long periods of time, they were usually at Portland, Maine on the Downeaster, or sitting at New Haven, Providence, or Boston to bail out broken down electrics on the northeast corridor. From time to time, one or more could be found at Philadelphia, but generally they stayed north of Washington, D.C. Having a "Yankee" unit show up on a Florida train, or on a Crescent, was indeed a rare treat (some early GE warranty work was done on them at New Orleans).

Some common patterns for these are to move from Boston South Station on a yard move, ending up in Portland or Brunswick for the Downeaster. Another common move is from a regional to the Vermonter (trains 55/56 with different train numbers for weekday vs weekend) at New Haven, and back again. The Vermonter switches to electrified power to continue its trip south, while the P42 stays in New England. Another normal usage in 2023 is on the Maple Leaf (trains 63/64) between Rensselaer and Toronto, returning the next day. Sometimes a spare is kept at Niagara Falls for the Maple Leaf and other New York Empire Service trains.



Here are 2023 movements for #105. To track a particular train's history, you can go to Dixieland Software and the transitdocs.com website. Amtrak will tell you the train location and history of arrival times, but does not provide consist information. Not all movements were necessarily captured and there may be errors in some reports. The train number is listed with sighting date and/or the date of train's origination.

There are many additional photos of these engines on various websites such as railpictures.net, etc. However, please attribute if you wish to use ours for anything other than personal use.

April 2023. Train 449/49 Apr15(w/87). Tr449/49 Apr18/19(w/103+56). Tr48/448 Apr19/20(w/170). Tr48/448 Apr22/23(w/179). Tr49 Apr24(w/179). Tr48 Apr28(w/46). Tr49 Apr30(w/46).

May 2023. Tr449 May3(w/46). Tr48/448 May4/5(w/46). Tr449/49 May6/7(w/46). Tr448 May9(w/131+96). Tr449 May10(w/131+96+88). T63May15(w/86). T64May16(w/86). Data not posted Jun-July-Aug. T280/281Sep1/2.

September 2023. T280/281Sep1/5. T63Sep7. T64Sep8. T63-9. T64-10. T448Sep14. T449Sep15. T43-18. T42-19. T140/143Sep23. T460/465/416Sep24. T495/470/475/494Sep25. T471/474/417/478-26. T495/470/475-27. T471/470/475-28. T495/490/473/474/417/494-29. T405/460-30.

October and November 2023 omitted.

December 2023. T281-13. T280/281-14/16. T281-18(w/709). T284-19. T49Dec22/23(w/122 tr). T48/448Dec23/24(w/122 Tr). T449/49Dec25/26(w/122 tr). T48/448Dec26/27(w/122tr). T449/49Dec28/29(w/122tr). T48/448Dec29/30(w/122+127tr). T449DEc30(w/122+127Tr). T49Dec30/31(w/122Tr).

January 2024. T48/448Jan2/3(w/122Tr). NR 1-3/24. T136-24. T125-25. T136/125-26. T153/54-27. T57/146-28. T125/136-29. T125/136-30. T125/136-31.

February 2024. T125/136-1. T125/148-2. T143/54-3. T57/146-4. T136-5. T125/136-6. T125/148-7. T141/148-8. T141-9. T148-14. T141-15. T449-17(w/94Ld). RSR 2-17/27. T49Feb27/28(w/103Tr). T48/448Feb28/29(w/103Tr).

March 2024. T449/49Mar1/2(w/103Ld). T48Mar2/3(w/103Ld). T49Mar4/5(w/103Ld). T48/448Mar5/6(w/103Ld). T449/49Mar7/8(w/103Ld). T48/448Mar8/9(w/103Ld+97Tr). T449-10(w/103Ld+97Tr). T49Mar10/11(w/103Ld). T48/448Mar11/12(w/103Ld). Boston 3-13. Downeaster March 17 with 90220.

April 2024. T449-Apr 2. T49Apr2/3(w/115Tr). T48/448Apr3/4(w/126Tr).

Pease use feedback at 4rr.com for corrections, suggestions, sightings, etc.

June 1, 2024 update from 4rr.com