New SC-44 Charger Pacific Surfliner Test Trains.
In late spring of 2018, the California Department of Transportation started receiving the first
of its brand new SC-44 Charger locomotives for Amtrak's Pacific Surfliner.
Over the next year, these locomotives will be placed into Pacific Surfliner service between
San Diego, Los Angeles, and San Luis Obispo.
For more information on the SC-44 locomotive, take a look at my video from last year featuring
the locomotives being tested on the Amtrak San Joaquin train in Bakersfield, California.
This new order of SC-44s consists of 16 units.
The first two were painted in the same Caltrans paint scheme that is being used on the SC-44
locomotives now in use on the San Joaquin and Capitol Corridor trains.
The rest of the units will be painted in a scheme to match the current Pacific Surfliner
passenger cars.
In early June of 2018, Amtrak began testing the first of the new Charger locomotives on
the Pacific Surfliner route, first between Los Angeles and San Luis Obispo and then,
between Los Angeles and San Diego.
These trips were made at night so as to cause minimal impact to the regularly scheduled
trains.
Let’s take a brief look at the the Chargers pulling a test train to San Diego on two consecutive
nights.
Afterward, we will watch the current F59PHI locomotives pulling various Surfliner trains.
Thanks for joining me for this first look at the new SC-44 Charger locomotives testing
on the Pacific Surfliner Route.
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That’s it for now.
Until next time, I’m Mike Armstrong.
I’ll see you down the line!
Thanks for watching.