I believe it was the mid 1990’ s when Amtrak purchased it’s current P42DC’s and I was wondering how long Amtrak usually kept it’s locomotives. With Amtrak’s current financial situation I don’t see how they could purchase any more locomotives after these wear out. Any input?
The E’s and F’s that Amtrak inherited at the start lasted about 4-5 years in Amtrak service. The SDP40F’s for the most part lasted about 7-8 years before being traded in on F40PH’s. The early demise of the SDP’s was due to the well-known tracking problems. Amtrak’s first F40PH’s came into service in 1976 and as a whole, they lasted 20+ years in high-speed service.