Rapido FL9s in the house!

[Brian M]

Boy, those look great.  I'm very excited to get mine in hand.

Typically FL9's were kept close to the electrified territory going into Grand Central, so naturally the New Haven line and (starting with PC days) the ex-NYC lines.  As far as going west, not very far.  Technically, anything north of Manhattan on the Hudson line was considered "west" by timetable, so Albany/Rensselaer was as far west as the Amtrak FL9's would go.  And the Metro-North ones would only go as far as Poughkeepsie.  But I'm sure that's not the real "west" that you were talking about. 

-Brian.

[Missaberoad]

At least some of them were rebuilt in Milwaukee. 

http://www.railpictures.net/photo/459332/

[bbussey]

Not too many outside of the greater north and east New York City area.  Some were purchased by shortlines elsewhere, but the bulk of them post-NH stayed on the northern half of the Corridor and on the Hudson.

[MichaelWinicki]

Thanks for the answers gents on where these ran...

Luv to have one, but just can't justify it.

[Joetrain59]

Just got my ship notice from BLW. I believe LIRR/MTA ran a couple.
 Joe D

[jmlaboda]

I believe LIRR/MTA ran a couple.

This is kinda a "Yes" and "No".  The LI units were ill-fated LIRR "FL9AC" units were rebuilds of the original FL9s and were suppose to be the answer to keeping more of these units in service.  Built as NH 2047 and later becoming PC 5047 they were suppose to be rebuilt by Republic Locomotive with EMD 3200HP 710G-12 engines and Siemens electricals but a strike at Siemens prevented this project to move ahead like it was suppose to, which resulted in RLW itself having to go bankrupt.  Republic had made a name for themselves by doing Caterpillar-powered rebuilds (switchers and a pair of road units) and earlier rebuilding old Baldwins that were re-engined with EMD innards and some RI switchers, the former being military orders.

They were unusual in that they had heavily modified roof profiles with two 48" fans replacing the earlier 4 36" ones and a turbocharger stack instead of the common twin exhaust stacks of a non-turbocharged EMD.  Unfortunately because of the Siemens strike the units ended up being completed by ABB in Elmira, N.Y.  They were reportedly problematic and none survive.

Oddly enough you don't see Cat-powered units being produced like you might have expected would happen with Cat buying EMD.  As great as these engines were suppose to be apparently they aren't... though some of the switchers that RLW rebuilt operated for roughly 20 years before being retired, most that were ended up at Cat's Georgia shop in storage.

[bbussey]

Clip-on diaphragms are in the bottom of the box for modelers planning to run two units back-to-back.

[nickelplate759]

I've seen Amtrak FL9s on the Lake Shore Limited as far as Albany, but no further.  Power was changed in Albany for the rest of the trip to Chicago.

George

[dougnelson]

In 1977, Amtrak operated FL9s only in electrified territory between Grand Central and Croton-Harmon.

[Joetrain59]

Mine is in my mailbox! Wow, that was quick.
 Joe D

[mark.hinds]

In 1977, Amtrak operated FL9s only in electrified territory between Grand Central and Croton-Harmon.

(PC/Conrail (??) image removed)

That is a great picture!  What sort of paint scheme is that on the closer unit?  It says PC, but looks like faded yellow and blue, like the Conrail unit in the OP. 

MH

[garethashenden]

That is a great picture!  What sort of paint scheme is that on the closer unit?  It says PC, but looks like faded yellow and blue, like the Conrail unit in the OP. 

MH

It's Penn Central. I'm not sure why they changed from black to blue & yellow, but they did. Circa 1970 according to Rapido's website.

[mark.hinds]

On a slightly related question, in 1979 I took several trips on a commuter train which ran from my great uncle's home in Old Greenwich Connecticut to Grand Central Station.  Might that train on that line have been pulled by this type of unit in 1979? 

I found this map: http://web.mta.info/mnr/html/mnrmap.htm

Thanks in advance,
Mark H. 

[bbussey]

Yes. Both ConnDOT and MTA employed FL9s during that time.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

It's Penn Central. I'm not sure why they changed from black to blue & yellow, but they did. Circa 1970 according to Rapido's website.

It had something to do with the transit authority. They used blue and yellow, or insisted on it, or something. I forget the details, but it's the reason for the blue PC FL9s.

It's amusing that after Conrail took over, the blue fit much better, but they're actually patched units.

http://conrailphotos.thecrhs.org/Images/CR-5015-Crugers-NY-478
http://conrailphotos.thecrhs.org/Images/CR-5015-Poughkeepsie-NY-1978