[V][V][V]Just opened and read my March issue of TRAINS and saw the photo on page 25 of the two Amtrak E60 electrics in the scrap yard with number 620 laying on her side. A very sad end for a proud electric motor that I am sure racked up several million miles on the NEC for Amtrak at very high speeds and hauled millions of passengers with pride and punctuality. Yes, I know all good things must come to an end but this picture sure made me sad. I guess I would like all locomotives to live on forever, but that sure isn’t reality, is it? Oh, well, perhaps we will all ride behind number 620 and all the other scrapped units in heaven some day (hopefully a very long time from now though). Jim (Eolafan) in Aurora, IL (formerly of New York and Philadelphia, so that’s why the electric motor lament).[|(][|(][|(]
[:(] I,too,was saddened to learn of the demise of the E60’s.I rode behind them a few times on vacations,and really liked them. They lasted close to 30 years, which isn’t too bad,considering that they didn’t turn out as well as Amtrak had hoped. The AEM7’s to me, look like a baby loco,too small to really do the job. The E60’s just looked right at the head of a long passenger train.They were a worthy sucessor to the GG1.By the way,how did you get the March issue already? They havent shown up on the left coast yet!
There are two ex-Amtak E-60s doing just fine in extreme NE Arizona on the BM&LP operation (Navajo RR). They are still feeding the dragons at Lake Powell/Paige, AZ
…No March TRAINS in mid America yet either.
[?][:)][?] Not sure why my March copy got to me so fast but I am much closer to printer and distribution center than you so perhaps that is why…meaning your copy should be in your mailbox within days of mine. Hope so! Jim
I got mine today.
Salute to the E60.
Adrianspeeder
That is very sad to lose the E60’s
Why would Amtrak retire good locomotives when it has a motive power shortege, makes no sence to me. They still could be usefull even with that speed restriction.
Doesn’t Amtrak have some still in service? I think there may be a few left mostly for the Florida trains. Without having read the March issue and being half a world away, what probably hapened is that the two scrapped had been the source of parts to keep the others going . Parts for F40’s are easy to come by because there were so many of them and whatever you say about GM and EMD, they are good about supplying parts. But GE for just a few 30-year-old locomotives? If someone can verify that there are sitll E60’s still in service, I’d welcome the news along with the rest of you. The E-33’s and E-44’s were good locos too and could have been equipped with new transformers to operate on the 60-cycle electrification that replaced the 25-cycle of the GG-1 days. They would have good locos for push-pull commuter and clocker trains. (The GG-1’s and P-5’s could not be converted, because the 25-cycle AC went to the motors!)
Dave Klepper
I know there are at least a couple of E60 motors in the west hauling coal (see notes above) but I think that may be it for the venerable motors. Elsewhere in the March TRAINS issue there is a question posed as to why Amtrak switches from electric to diesel in Phila. for the trip west to Harrisburg, and the answer given (in part) is that Amtrak is short on electric motors (locomotives), so why scrap the E60’s if they can be used elsewhere? Baffles my mind.
Guys, My guess is the cost of maintaning or putting the units back in good order, may be out of line with other options for power. Amtrak has to keep tight control of cash and any equipment or materials that can’t be used, is obselete or just plain junk is being scavenged and then sold.
Well at least I have a HO model of Amtrak 960 to look at. It’s an E-60CH Those are some sad pics in the march issue.
Why Amtrak retired the E60’s is for three reasons.
(1) the E60’s were now electrical and maintance basket cases. I heard from engineers, road foremen car knockers that no two E60’s were alike. To kept them on the road the magicians at Wilmington Shops had to jerryrig and fabricate parts whenever they can to keep the fleet on the road. Remember in their last years they were confined to operating between NY and Philly. to virtualy “tow” to the long distance heavyweights to Philly where the Genesis locos took over instead of the traditional engine change point of Washington Union Station and of course the The “Clockers”
(2). The performance and relibility of the HHP-8’s had finally stabilized.
(3) Since NJ Transit is slated to take over the the operation of the Clockers(long distance New York to Philadelphia commuter trains). Amtrak had pressured and got NJ Transit to lend (or lease) some new ALP-46’s to Amtrak for Clocker service.
So with their successors more or less secure in the E60’s old assignments the old girls could now be safely retired. Instead of waitng for one of them to have a very embarrassing electrical fire in the most inconvienent time (rush hour) or (place inside the Hudson River or East River Tubes) . That is the last thing Amtrak needs with a very very hostile administration in power in DC.
I remember when the E60s were purchased, they were supposed to replace the GG1s. GE was touting them as “worthy sucessors”, able to haul more cars at higher speed. And, they COULD outproduce a GG1, except when it came to staying on the rails! Railfans HATED the E60s and for the same reason people hated diesels when they pushed aside steam.
Having ridden on an E60 at 90 mph once back in the early 80s, my rib cage won’t miss them! The arm rests on the cab seats were all that kept you in the seat in moderately rough spots.
It seems kinda strange to me that anyone could get sentimental over an E60, but to each, their own.
-Don
ok, now refresh my memory what happened to the E60’s that went to Mexico???
The Mexican catenary came down almost as fast as it went up.
Any museums getting E60’s? Or do they think the E60 is not worthy of preservation?
The E60’s were categorically unsuitable for the high speed service for which they were purchased. They generated high levels of lateral forces which could turn over rails and cause derailments. The freight style trucks were just too rigid.
Unwittingly, these locomotives created the entre’ for the foreign electric locomotive builders. It is said that after the E60 fiasco, Amtrak specified axle loadings so low that only foreign builders could meet them with a modified, off-the-shelf product.
There are two preserved: one at Pa. State and one in the collection of the future NJ Museum of Transportation.
I always liked the E 60 CP. I even baught an HO kit by " Amarican GK" locomotive works. That was in the 1970 tieth. I superdetailed it and is still earning it’s keep on my layout houling " Amtrak sreamlined passenger cars ".