By Daniel Garcia
Revised by James Bow
GO Transit’s locomotives 510 through 515 were General Motors Diesel Division F40PHs, the first of their kind built in Canada. They were GO Transit’s second purchase of purpose-designed passenger locomotives, following the GP40TC units. The F40PHs operated from 1978 to 1990 before being sold to other agencies and shipped off-site.
Streamline Comes Back in Style (Sort of)
In 1977, GO Transit anticipated an expansion of its network. Increased ridership on the Lakeshore line, the launch of the new Georgetown line, and the anticipated start of the Richmond Hill line meant it was time to purchase more locomotives to run the fleet. At the time, the GP40 locomotive had been performing admirably across North America, so GO looked to General Motors to build a set of these vehicles for passenger use.
GM, however, had brought a new locomotive onto the market. The F40PH was designed by General Motors for Amtrak to update its ragtag fleet of used locomotives from the various railroads it’d taken over passenger service from. The new design would not only replace the aging equipment but also provide a more uniform look for the fleet and simplify maintenance. The F40 was designed to be a lightweight, speedy locomotive based on the GP40 design, modified with a cowl (full-width) body. Inside, the locomotive was powered by the GP40’s 16-cylinder engine and featured the updated electrical systems of the later GP40-2 models.
Amtrak had also asked that a Head End Power generator be built into the engine in order to provide electrical power to the passenger cars, reducing the need for a separate HEP unit, in theory. In practice, however, the HEP generator sucked power from the F40PH’s main diesel engine. So, while a dedicated engine was theoretically capable of having 3,000 horsepower, only 2,400 hp was made available for pulling. Still, the F40PH proved popular with Amtrak and, by 1984, the US passenger carrier had a fleet of 210 units.
Underpowered Screamers
In 1978, GO Transit took delivery of six F40PHs, numbered 510-515. However, GO found that while the equipment may have been adequate for Amtrak’s shorter, lighter trains, the vehicles were hard-pressed to pull GO’s long line of bilevel cars through rush-hour service. The horsepower requirements for the trains, combined with the power leeched by the HEP generators, required GO’s F40PHs to run at full power almost all of the time. As a result, the F40PHs were “affectionately” referred to as “Screamers”, “Thunder Liners” and “Thunder Wagons” by crew members.
When the F59PHs came to market soon after, featuring a separate HEP generator that didn’t draw power from the main engine, GO jumped at the chance to purchase these vehicles instead, and they became the mainstay of the fleet for many years.
GO retired its F40PH units from service in February 1990, ahead of the older GP40-2L series locomotives, once sufficient replacements arrived from a second order of F59PH locomotives (locomotives 536-547). All six were sold to Amtrak, renumbered 410-415, and shipped to the American company in April 1990 where they were overhauled and retrofitted with dynamic brakes. All units have since been retired and scrapped, although one was purchased by Titan Transport and leased to Montreal’s Agence Metropolitaine de Transport for a short period.
F40PH Series Locomotives Image Archive
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GO Transit F40 locomotive #510 waits in a yard before entering service in this August 1978 shot. The photographer is unknown. |
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GO Transit GMDD F40PH #510 sitting at Pickering Station in July, 1983. Photo by Bill Carr, from the collection of Dan Garcia. |
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A Lakeshore GO train led by F40 locomotive #511 heads eastbound, approaching Sunnyside in this November 1987 shot. The photographer is unknown. |
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The F40PHs were still running while the Skydome (now the Rogers Centre) was being built in 1988. Here, Unit 512 leads a train of Bilevels past construction into Union Station. Photo donated from the Daniel Garcia collection. |
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GO Transit F40 locomotive #512 rests at Willowbrook on April 22, 1989. The photographer is unknown. |
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GO Transit GMDD F40PH #513 pulling an eastbound train past Port Credit Station in July, 1981. Photo by Bill Carr, from the collection of Daniel Garcia. |
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A GO Train, led by F40PH locomotive #515 heads west along the CN main line to Brantford, past Dundas Mountain near Highway 8 on a special excursion on December 26, 1979. The photographer is unknown. |
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The F40PHs were a precursor of the more modern F59 series locomotives, but attempts were still made to design a more streamlined appearance from the typical GPs. Photo donated from the collection of Daniel Garcia. |
