My wife SWEARS she saw a ‘round nose’ diesel engine coming through Almon, GA about a month or so ago. I kept asking her to describe it, and she said it looked alot older than any other loco she’s ever seen. She said it had a high round nose, with no walkways on the side, like would be found on GP’s or SD’s. From her description, I could’ve sworn she was describing an F or E unit, so I finally showed her some pictures of F units, and she said “That was it!” But what got me, is that she said it was pulling a freight train. I would’ve killed to have seen it or get a picture of it myself, which is why I’m wondering, is anybody aware of CSX using ANY F or E units in any kind of recent service? Even for special corporate or business trains?
none that i know of… i think the 2 they had for the biz train where taken off the roster and replaced with the 2 ex amtrack units…
csx engineer
That’s what I was thinking too. I remember hearing they had a couple for the business trains, but didn’t know they were taken off the roster. Are there any other CSX units you could think of that she might’ve mistaken for F units? Other than the newer wide cab and safety cab engines I can’t think of any engine that even remotely resemble an F unit.
As far as I know the executive (business train) F units have been retired and replaced with ex Amtrak F40PHs.
Nick
Amtrak operates 2 F40PH’s for their business trains.
The CSX F units were last in regular freight service when they were assigned to the Cincinnati-Atlanta Roadrailer. After that service was discontinued, they were put in the business service pool and have since been retired.
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=119946 Here is a shot of CSX’s business train on the FEC on 9/22/05 . While it is being led by FEC unit she may be able to recognise it. It is ex-Amtrak F40PH. At least they are "F’ units just not covered wagons… ENJOY
I looked up F40PH and CSX on railpictures.net, and alot of the shots mention the ‘deadhead derby’… can anybody explain what this term of endearment means?
The term “deadhead” usually means the non-revenue movement of locomotives or rolling stock. As far as the CSX F-units are concerned, as I recall, the Fs were former Clinchfield units and were repainted into CSX’s “bright future” blue, yellow, grey scheme. These units were used in business train service untill their replacement by two former Amtrak F-40 units.