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Passenger Locomotives
During the early 1990's Amtrak was in the market for a new locomotive to replace their ageing F-40PH.
General Electric designed and presented Amtrak with the "Genesis". The locomotive was a new and innovative design that did not include a traditional frame and had a fuel tank that was incorporated into the body design. While incorporating newly designed trucks most of the other components came from GE's existing B40-8. Originally named the P40-8 and publicly called the Genesis I, Amtrak eventually renamed it the AMD103.
In
addition to the locomotives purchased by Amtrak, Canada's VIArail purchases
several locomotives as did the C&NW.
Our AMD103 "Genesis" was created by Peter Johannsen. The C&NW paint scheme was designed and applied by Rick Foss.
EMD placed the F7 into production in February of 1949 and continued producing this elegant locomotive until December of 1953. These units were powered by a 1500 hp 16 cylinder model 567B prime mover. Although primarily freight units many F7's were equipped with steam generators and beefed up electrical generators to allow their use in passenger service.
Our early F7's and FT's were in the ABBA standard and designated as ABCD. Early ABBA units were permanently coupled together with a draw bar. As time went by maintenance discovered that a defect in one unit would remove a complete set of four units from service. It was not long before the C&NW modified the units by adding a normal coupler which allowed the railroad to utilize any combination of available equipment.
The F7's that see service on the C&NW have been further modified for passenger service. In addition to the "A" unit shown here the C&NW has chosen to number their units in ABCD fashion rather than the ABBA style used by other roads.
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