Metra Locomotive Assignments And Maintenance

I was talking to Mr Dunville yesterday.

While this is a locomotive thread, may I ask two questions:

- Tad said Metra is out procuring and rebuilding F40s to add capacity. Did I hear that right?
- Tad also said (I had seen an odd smoothside rolling out of La Salle in late March) that the ex C&NW Pullman-Standard cars are making their way back to Metra from wherever they'd been previously sold to, again, to add capacity. Did I hear that right?

Having seen some single level RI commuter cars in the early 80s in Kansas becoming hamburger shops, I fully understand RI was as PC was ... worn out stuff that wasn't even worth its value in scrap metal...

There are smooth-sided Pullmans from C&NW and RI back in service on the UP, RI and MILW lines.

417 was on 2234 yesterday (4/18/2017).

178 is back in new livery, rebuilt as F40PH-3, on UP-NW today (#608)

Observed #82 today in new livery. Since it was on the Amtrak side, I guess it was handling a GM&O or Wabash train.

Looked like a hand me down from Canada.

Just saw #181 in new livery handling 1239 (14). That new livery sure looks "sharp" - at least when it's fresh.

Spotted 179 today at 14th Street in new livery.

Everyone:

METRA F40PH-2 #100 has been placed in service in its as-delivered RTA color scheme which is in
the form of a "wrap" commemorating 40 years of service beginning in 1977.

The first RTA F40s originally were used by the Rock Island commuter service - which then was in
the most precarious condition of any of Chicago's commuter rail operators (RI eventually would go
out of business in 1980) in an RTA effort to improve all aspects of the RI commuter services.

I have always liked the RTA locomotive color scheme and it is good to see that appropriately #100
was selected for this honor. In this respect I also feel that this should have been literally the 1977
scheme with "Regional Transportation Authority" in the black side stripe instead of "METRA" along
with the RTA logo towards the back. The blue base color should have been slightly darker then the
light blue that the wrap uses. The "1977-2017 40 years of service" lettering should have placed
under the cab side window for more visibility instead of it being in the back where the RTA logo
would be - white on light blue lettering is tough to read.

Posted by METRA dated 9/15:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwVxkb9s_gY" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This could be a start of remembering Metra's heritage - a thought is placing a predecessor
railroad herald on select un-named locomotives (Example: Wabash or N&W logo along with
"Southwest Service/year" under or near the cab window sides) or maybe even future "wrap"
color schemes (Picture a "Winnebago" F40 in Burlington Northern green and white) perhaps...

MACTRAXX

The roof should be blue also, not orange/red. RTA blue is a lighter shade than Metra blue, sometimes referred to as baby blue.

MetraBNSF wrote:Spotted 179 today at 14th Street in new livery.

Saw this unit this afternoon on BNSF 1259 in Downers Grove. Must've been a really good rebuild because the engineer had to back up after partially overshooting the platform and stopping at Forest Ave.

Not sure why they chose not to do the roof with the wrap.

Would love to see a BN, RI, and CNW wrap. Maybe time for a GoFundMe page?..

eolesen wrote:Not sure why they chose not to do the roof with the wrap.

Heat from the exhaust and dynamic brake grids would burn and discolor said wrap.

Everyone:

On further thought I decided to search for photos of the RTA F40s. I only found 6 pictures at
http://www.railpictures.net/photo/29728" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; with this one here of #125 - DuPage County being
the best example of the original RTA color scheme dating from when the units were new.

#100 looks like to me how the RTA F40 paint faded with age - and was there any units during the
second half of the 1980s that retained the RTA color scheme but had the RTA side lettering on the
dark side stripe replaced with METRA similar to how the RTA's painted bilevels retained the RTA
colors with the METRA name added in the days before Metra's own color schemes were applied?

On the observation of the roof not being painted #100 would only need the angular section near
the top on both sides - and not literally the roof itself - to appear more accurate. I still think that
this is still a good move for what could be considered a first Metra effort at having a heritage F40
unit even though I would have liked to have seen the original RTA scheme in its entirety here...

http://en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/EMD_F40PH" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Another question: Does anyone remember the Bachmann HO RTA F40 model from the late 70s/
early 80s era? It turns out there is one available at the current time on EBay #101 City of Joliet
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/HO-Bachmann- ... 2229877472" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
(9/23 - 11:30PM EDT) This is very reasonably priced - my search found the Australian listing(!)
as compared to recent KATO HO F40s http://www.katousa.com/HO/F40PH/index.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; which are
much more expensive in comparison. Does anyone have and/or model the RTA F40s at this Forum?

MACTRAXX

I got to see a closeup of METX 182 the other day when it was parked at the Aurora Transportation Center and on its trucks, the builders plate says it was rebuilt at Progress Rail in East Chicago, Indiana (though the info for some reason was left blank). Has Metra opted to go with their East Chicago facility for rebuild instead of Patterson, Georgia? Or is Patterson so busy building locomotives that they’re going to East Chicago instead? It says on their web site that they do locomotive repair work at East Chicago as well as building the wheels for locomotives. I wonder if anyone knows the answer.

I just saw METX 181 the other day at Aurora. It had the same builder’s plate on it’s trucks as 182 (with information on that particular unit). Again it said it was built in East Chicago, Indiana. No information stating that it was built or manufactured in Patterson, Georgia (nor were there any other builders plates on the unit).. Looks like Metra is having their fleet rebuilt in East Chicago instead.