Q: Engine Bob, I got used to seeing those old-style diesel locomotives pulling my train and then suddenly a few years ago they all disappeared. What happened?
A: Those old engines were among the last relics of post-WWII railroading still in regular passenger service anywhere in America. The official name for the locomotive you remember is the FL9, and Metro North had them in service on all three divisions (most served on the Hudson.) Even commuters who weren’t railroad fans developed a soft spot for those engines because, from the front, they looked almost human: A pair of windshields slanted down like an expressive pair of eyebrows above a characteristic “pig nose” with a headlight at the tip. You might not think much of General Motors cars, but GM sure knew how to build a locomotive. The company’s Electro-Motive Division began rolling out FL9s between 1957 and 1960, and polished off 60 in total. While the assembly lines at EMD cranked hundreds of “F units” that looked very similar, the FL9 was exclusively a New Haven RR engine—and it had no shortage of impressive stats. The majestic, 59-foot-long FL9 tipped the scales at 282,000 lbs., could run on both diesel fuel and third-rail power, and sported a unique, six-axle A1A flexible-coil wheel truck at the back (granted, only a railfan will get a woodie from a deet like that, but it sounds cool anyway, doesn’t it?) Each engine generated 1,800 horsepower from its two-stroke 16-cylinder engine—and those cylinders were bigger than coffee cans (I know because I was lucky enough to stand on an FL9 engine’s catwalk once, and my hearing has yet to recover). Best of all, the engines were simply kick-ass: Loud enough to wake up hell, they left roiling clouds of black smoke in their wake, those hammering pistons weeping in a high-pitch wail that was as exciting as it was haunting. While Metro North did update seven FL9s (Nos. 2040-2046) with turbocharged plants—notching the horsepower rating up to 3,000—it could do little about the perennial truism that no locomotive lasts forever. In 1995, the railroad started phasing them out. (The relative handful of FL9s that ended up on Amtrak’s roster in the years following the New Haven’s bankruptcy/consolidation disappeared in 2001.) The engine that replaced it is known, technically, as the AMD-110 (P32AC-DM)—but the crew guys call it the “Genesis II.” So does everyone else. Now you can, too. Impress your friends!
Both Metro North and Amtrak shared the total roster of 52 Genesis locomotives (MN has 31). The new machines are indeed impressive: At 69 feet long, each 12-cylinder, four-cycle engine packs a whopping 4,000 horsepower, which is why while you might have seen the FL9s doubled up to pull a long train, each GII can manage quite well on its own.
Still, Metro North lost something special when it consigned the FL9 to retirement (it conducted a “Farewell to the FL9” excursion on October 23, 2005). The Genesis II engines look like huge shoeboxes from the side and, well, they sort of look like huge shoeboxes from the front, too. Gone are the FL9’s sweeping curves, the gleaming chrome of its ventilation grilles—and those porthole windows!
But at least you remember them—as do I, very fondly.
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