What Was That Doing There?

Amtrak’s Lake Shore Limited this past weekend had something a little out of the ordinary. On the point of the westbound train that arrived in Chicago on Saturday morning was the Midnight Blue P42DC No. 100. Also in the motive power consist was Downeaster F40 cab car No. 90213.

It is not clear why the 90213 was along. It left Chicago on Saturday night in the motive power consist of the eastbound Lake Shore, which is shown in the above photograph passing the former New York Central passenger station in Painesville, Ohio, on Sunday morning.

Photographs by Edward Ribinskas

Profile of an F40 Cabbage

Amtrak converted 22 F40PH locomotives into what are officially known as non-powered control unit, but which some referred to as “cabbage cars.” The name was a reference to the fact the units had been converted to cab cars and also had a baggage compartment where the primer mover used to be.

The conversion process involved removing the prime mover and all other engine components, including the head-end power equipment, and adding ballast for weight.

An F40 NPCU could only be used in push-pull mode. Typically, these NPCUs were used in corridor service in the Midwest, Pacific Northwest, and in Downeaster service.

No. 90219 began life as F40PH No. 219 in April 1976. It was converted to a NPCU in December 1997. Amtrak’s practice was to add the prefix “90” in front of an F40’s roster number.

The 90219 is shown on a Hiawatha Service train at Sturtevant, Wisconsin, on May 20, 2006.

In From Milwaukee

An Amtrak Hiawatha Service train reposes at Chicago Union Station after arriving from Milwaukee. When this image was made on May 22, 1998, Hiawatha trains used former F40PH locomotives transformed into non-powered cab cars and P42DC locomotives. The latter pulled trains to Milwaukee from Chicago and pushed them back. Although the F40 cab cars had doors for a baggage compartment, I don’t know if those were ever used on the Chicago-Milwaukee route. I do recall seeing them used on Chicago-Detroit trains for a time .

Pausing at Glenview

A Hiawatha Service train pauses at the station in Glenview, Illinois, on May 25, 1996. It has the typical consist of the time of a former F40PH locomotive converted to a cab car or what Amtrak calls NPCU, four horizon fleet coaches and a P42DC providing motive power.

This is the image that appeared on the cover of my book Amtrak in the Heartland.

Meeting of the F40 Cabbage Society

I was in Sturtevent, Wisconsin, at the former Milwaukee Road station, which Amtrak still used back in 2006. By chance a pair of Hiawatha Service trains arrived at just about the same time.

That wasn’t planned. The schedule was for one of them to arrive slightly ahead of the other. That one of them was late was fine with me because it meant that I could photograph them having a meet.

As was the practice back in 2006, the southward facing “motive power” was a pair of F40 cabbage cars. The term comes from the fact that these units were built from former F40PH locomotives that had had their prime movers removed and replaced with a baggage compartment.

Sturtevent did not have an Amtrak agent so no checked baggage was handled there on this day.

In Amtrak lingo, these are non-powered control units or NPCUs. To me, they looked very much like the F40s they used to be.

For many trackside observers of Amtrak — myself included — the F40 was the face of Amtrak during our formative years. Sure, I remember E units and SDP40Fs, but the F40 pulled many of the Amtrak trains that I rode and photographed for more years than I rode behind or captured the motive power that preceded them.

There remain a number of these former F40s in service and some have been repainted into Amtrak’s current Phase V livery.

But I most often associate F40s with Phase III, which these units in Sturtevent are still proudly wearing.