MORE ON AMTRAK P42 LOCOMOTIVE ROAD NUMBER 23

Half of the #20-29 group is retired. As they had replaced EMD F40 locomotives in 1996, some of these P42's are now being pushed out of their jobs by Siemens Mobility ALC-42 "long distance Chargers." Engines 22, 23, 25, 27, 28, and 29 remained in service in 2022 and into 2023, the latter three coming back from a storage period during the COVID pandemic. But #28 was reported going to Beech Grove in March 2023, and has not been heard from since. In July 2023, #25 slipped off the rails in the Capitol Hill tunnel, but was not believed to be significantly damaged.

As of November 2024, #23 was still active. It has had the typical three exterior revamps, common to the group 1-28. Delivered in 1G bicentennial stripes in 1996, converted to 2G "northeast direct" striping by 2002, and fairly quickly redone into 3G millennium scheme. It had a non-standard number board for many years, and of course the bolty nose was added by 2010.

Historically, #26-27-28-29 were originally attached to Wolverine Service, between Pontiac, Michigan, and Chicago (along with #30-36). Engine #23 tended to operate in the southeast in the early years, always returning to New Orleans on the Crescent for service and inspections. In February 2023, two of the 20s group were on the Hearland Flyer in Oklahoma. So they do stints on commuters, maybe as long as 30 days in the same place, but typically have always been roamers. As with most of the early Genesis orders, New Orleans was the original home base for #20-25. Engine 23 has also some time in the Pacific Northwest on Cascade duties since being pushed out of the southeast by new Siemens Mobility "Chargers." As of November, 2024 its most recent assignment had been on the Sunset Limited.

Locomotives #1-28 were delivered in 1993 era 1G stripes, but the entire group was eventually restyled in 2G 1997 livery. Engine #29 was left out of that process. The typical repaint cycle normally for a P42 over the years has been 3 years or longer, depending on how much maintenance-starved the Amtrak budget has been. So some, if not all of these, were done earlier than normal dut to the marketing change. Eventually all received 3G millennium livery. In 2024 Amtrak introduced a new 4G livery for its diesels, but as of yet, none from the 1996-built group have received it.

Significantly,engine 29 which worked mostly in Michigan at that time, skipped the 1998 restyle, the only one in the group to miss out. Engine #26 was one that stayed the longest in its 2G stripes.

Serial numbers of the 20's group were 49339 for #20 showing build date of October 1996, through 49347 for #28 in November. Ordinarily, they would not have been repainted so soon, and in fact #29 remained in original circa-1993 paint until nearly the end, not changing colors until 2004, skipping 2G "northeastern" variant altogether. Due to an austere budget, #29 and others in the Michigan group were hardly kept up at all, and became some of Amtrak's rattiest looking locomotives. Engine #26 did not leave the northeastern livery until 2005, one of the last ones to do so.

Active Genesis units were all eventually redone into common 3G narrow skirt band (2001) styling by 2006, leaving only the retired P40's in storage with "northeastern" repaint. Engine #29 got skipped on the interim 1998 repaint, and it was one of Amtrak's last to get bluenosed after 2000. It was also the last outside of New England to get a bolty nose job.

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Several in this group were excessed during the pandemic and parked at New Orleans. Locomotives #20-29 were originally based in New Orleans for maintenance purposes, although #26-29 shifted to Michigan service for the Wolverine (replacing P32's in the 500 road number series). They in turn were bumped there after 2019 when the 4600 road number series of Siemens Mobility Chargers. Previously Michigan dedicated P42's were back into the general intercity pool by 2019. Some run-out, bumped P42's returned to New Orleans and were stored inactive during the covid pandemic. Since then the surviving five 20's units have seen limited service.

Toward the end of Wolverine duties in 2019, #26 was involved in a road crossing incident at Three Oaks, Michigan on January 26 on the K Line. This is a well-marked fully protected and upgraded high-speed crossing, with good sight lines in both directions, and it is difficult to understand how the incident could have happened. Nevertheless, #26 did continue to operate for another year, though it was pushed out of Michigan by Chargers.

Often an overhaul will trigger a new paint refresh, but evidently not always. None of the survivors of this group have been known to have been repainted within the past five years. However, since several were stored during COVID, it is possible they could be getting by with routine maintenance, and something less than complete rebuilds.


Here are some recent comments reported 2023-2024 movements for the active units in group #23. Not all movements were necessarily captured. And there could be errors. The train number is listed with the last sighting date following the hyphen. We are not associated with Amtrak, and rely on third party sightings for this information. However, you can use Amtrak's "track-a-train" to see real time movements (without engine numbers), and asm.transitdocs' web site will give you historical arrival and departure information, as well as a history of speeds reported by on-board GPS units. It is a very versitile website, and now contains Amtrak alerts that were posted for each train.

STILL ACTIVE IN NOVEMBER 2024

#23 - Serial 49342 - Train 5 of February 4, 2023. Train 6, California Zephyr of February 7. Florida Service train 91-21(w/22). Train 92-23(w/22).

March 2023. Train 91 Mar 1(w/101). Train 92 Mar 2(w/101). Virginia Mar 7. Train 92 Mar 12(w/179+130). Train 97 Mar 13(w/179). Train 98 Mar 15(w/179). Trains 93/176 Mar 17. Trains 88/99 Mar 18. Trains 96/99 Mar 19. Trains 174/125 Mar 20. Train 174 Mar 21. Train 29 Mar 21. Train 30 Mar 22(w/325+321). Train 98 Mar25(w/187). Train 91 Mar26(w/187). Train 92 Mar28(w/187). Train 19 Mar29(w/187). Train 19 Mar29(w/187). Train 20 Mar31(w/187).

April 2023. Train 19 Apr1(w/187). Train 91 Apr7(w/187). Train 92 Apr9(w/119). Train 94 Apr12. Train 91 Apr13(w/48). Train 92 Apr15(w/48). Tr97 Apr16(w/48). Tr98 Apr18(w/48).

May-June 2023. Active on Cascades commuters May-June, 2023. T505Jun14(w/7910). T505Jun16(w/7910). T500Jun17(w/7910). T7Jun21(w/325). T8Jun23/25(Solo to SPK then w/5). T7Jun26/28(w/323). T8Jun28(w/306+323).

July 2023. T50July1/2(IND w/179+137). IND-CHI July3(w/170 on Cardinal section). T5July4/6(w/83). T6July12/14(w/33). T5July15/17(w/33). T6July18/20(w/33). T3July21/23(w/33).

August 2023. T2Aug6/8(w/181). T1Aug9/11(w/187). T2Aug11/13(w/81 add UP6439 en route). T58Aug15/16(w/322). T21Aug25/26(w/57). T22Aug27/28(w/57). T3Aug29/31(w/43).

September 2023. LAX September 1-15. T14Sep15/16(w/323+302). T11Sep17/18(w/323+302). T2Sep22/24(w/45+33). T58Sep26/27(w/309). T50 Sep28/29.

October 2023. WDCUS Sep29-Oct5. T91 Oct5/6(w/132). T92 Oct7/8(w/132). T97 Oct8/9(w/132). T98 Oct10/11(w/45). T91 Oct 11/12(w/45). T92 Oct13/14(w/45). T87 Oct14. T88 Oct15. T97 Oct17/18(w/48). T98 Oct19/20(w/48+148). T29 Oct20/21. T7 Oct27/29(w/81+331). T8 Oct29/31(w/81+331).

November 2023. T21 Nov3/4(FTW w/69). T822 Nov8(w/10). T821/822 Nov9/26(w/10). FTW Nov26-Dec6.

December 2023. T21 Dec6/7(w/55). T22Dec8/9(w/55). T21Dec12/13(FTW w/63). Fort Worth standby December 13-31?

January 2024. FTW Jan 14/19. FTW-SAS 1-20(w/68Ld). T22Jan21/22(w/68Ld). NR 1-22/2-3.

February 2024. T5Feb3/5(w/139Tr). T6Feb6/8(w/139Tr). T5Feb9/11(w/139Tr). T6Feb12/14(w/139Tr). T5Feb15/17(w/139Tr). T6Feb18/20(w/137Ld). T5Feb21/23(w/137Ld). T6Feb25/27(w/30Tr). T5Feb28/T6Feb29/Mar2(SLC turn w/30Tr). Line closure due UP congestion and blizzard conditions on Donner Pass.

March 2024. T5/6Mar3/5(DEN turn w/30Tr). T5Mar7/9(w/30Ld). T6Mar10/12(w/30Ld). T5Mar13/14(DEN w/30Ld). Ski Train 3-16(w/174 Ld). Ski Train 3-23 w/174Ld.

April 2024. DEN-OKJ 4-3/4(w/30+174Tr plus #161+7 FROM CHI to OKJ 4-2/4 Trailing). Oakland 4-4/7. T2Apr7/9(w/206Tr).

MY 2024. NOL 4-9/5-31.NOL-Mobile test train T899-16/17(w/5). New Orleans in June and July.

August 2024. T20Aug16/17(w/19Tr). Ivy City T145-18. T134-19. T141-20. T138-21. *Ivy City T141-22. T138-23. T195-24. T164/157-25. T84-26.

September 2024. NR 8-27/9-7.23 *Ivy City 8-27/9-13. T19Sep15/16(w/179Ld). T20Sep17/18(w/155Ld). T19Sep18/19(w/155Ld). T20Sep20/21(w/155Ld). T97Sep21/22(w/155Ld). T98Sep23/24(w/155Ld).23 Ivy City T91Sep24/25(w/155Ld). T98Sep23/24(w/155Ld). T91Sep24/25(w/155Ld). HIA-JAX Sep28(w/155Ld Helene). JAX-HIA Sep29(w/155Ld). T92 Oct2/3(w/155Ld+821Tr).

October 2024. T92 Oct 2/3(w/155Ld+821Tr). T29 Oct 4/5(w/127+123Tr). T30 Oct 5/6. Ivy City T151/66-7. T141-8. T138-9. T95-10. T84-11. T97 Oct 11/12(w/310Tr). T98 Oct 12/13(w/310Tr). T91 Oct 13/14(JAX due Milton w/310Tr). T94 Oct14/15(JAX-NYP w/310 Tr). T92 Oct 14/15(JAX-NYP w/310Tr). T19 Oct 16/17(w/146Tr). T1 Oct 19/21(w/199+206Ld). LAX 10-21/27. T2 Oct 27-29(w/194Tr). T1 Oct 30-Nov 1(w/194Tr).

As of late October 2024, #23 was still in operation out of New Orleans. Could be more later info on page 1996.

November 4, 2024 Update from 4rr.com feedback at 4rr.com