GP40FH-2

When NJ Transit ordered the [GP40FH-2s] in the spring of 1987, MK committed that they could complete 7 of the units before year's end. NJ Transit set some very stiff penalties for missing the delivery. The seventh unit of the order, NJT 4136 was going to be completed in Boise on December 22 and need to be in Kearney, NJ by the 31st. MK decided that they better put a rider on the unit to ensure that it moved right along. Even though I was in marketing, I was single at the time and thus, qualified as a rider.

I landed in Boise about 3 in the afternoon with about 300lbs of canned food in a suitcase. In my rush to get ready, I remembered that I would need enough food to last 10-14 days but never considered that they have supermarkets in Boise! Oh well, live and learn.

They picked me up and drove me out to the shop and we waited for the unit to be completed and the UP crew to come over from Napa, ID They arrived at about 10 PM and we departed at about 11. Some one was doing something on the unit right until the last minute. The UP crew ran the unit to Napa as a light engine and "drove" it right onto the perishables train that ran between Hinkele, OR and North Platte (I have long since forgot the symbol). The power had cut away and was waiting for us. It was no small feat to get the UP to stop this train to pick the unit up. Power for the train was an eleven day old C40-8 (or Dash 8-40C) number 9103 and an SD60. The GE was so new I didn't even know what it was and assumed it was a C39-8E which is what it looked like. The 4136 was left running to provide heat but was otherwise intended to be freight. Thus even though it was part of the consist, I was never on line.

Because I was curious about the new GE, I rode on the lead unit until about 2 in the morning (which was 4 am to my body) and decided it was time to get a little sleep. I thanked the crew and started down the walkway of the unit while we were grinding up some hill at 20 mph. I got to the rear of the unit and started around the corner only to discover that GE had not included a grab on that corner! I immediately sprung to the back walkway grab but decided that was one hell of an oversight! I notice that Conrail and others retrofitted several units with a grab at a latter date. I worked my way through the SD60 and to the back door of 4136 and tried to open it. It was at that point that I found that it was painted shut and no one had discovered this in our haste to leave Boise! I worked my way back the head end and waited until we stopped to meet the Pioneer and walked back to the 4136.

I spent most of Christmas even in North Platte and finally started to move to our train at 5pm. The unit managed to face forward after it had traveled through the servicing facilities at North Platte. The lead unit was now a CNW SD60 (8123 I believe) an UP SD40-2 and then the 4136.

We departed North Platte at about 7 PM and again I rode on the lead unit for about 2 or 3 hours and then went to sleep on the 4136. At Fremont, Nebraska a CNW clerk came on the unit and said that I need to go to the office and sign a release. I had already done so for the UP and Conrail but I guess the CNW want you to do it at the point of contact. As he drove me out to the train the CNW engineer radioed that the CNW cab signals were not working on the SD60. He asked if the could add a GP50 that sat back at the yard office. They told him no but that they could swap it out. This left us just a bit underpowered. I managed to stay awake until the Missouri River Bridge (and of course slept over the Kate Shelly Bridge). I woke up just east of the crew change a Boone, Iowa. I was thrilled to still be on the move on Christmas day!

The crew in the second unit noticed me sitting up in the unit and pretty soon on came back to see me. He walked in the door and asked if the unit was running which I said yes. He asked if I could put it on line as we were a bit underpowered and I said yes if you have a jumper cable. The answer was no. I said that I could run it from here if the engineer could just tell me what he wants over the radio. So that's what we did for the next few hours until the crew change at Clinton but it was hard hearing what he wanted when the engine was in run eight. I was afraid that I might give him power at the wrong time.

At Clinton I saw the new engineer coming back to the unit. He climbed up and said that I heard that you were giving a little help across Iowa. I said yes but that it was hard hear the radio in run eight. I said how about flashing the light on that SD40-2 when you want me to make a change. He said better yet, when the light is on, give me run 8, when the light is off, put her in idle. I said OK, "runner her like a helper" and he said exactly.

I spent the rest of Christmas running a train on the CNW main across Illinois! Well not quite, but its nice to dream. I shot a picture of the control stand in run 8 just before we went through Ronald Reagan's hometown of Dixon, IL.

The CNW parked the entire train on the IHB at about 6pm and we had to wait until the 26th as CR/IHB were shut down for Christmas. I finally got to Blue Island at about 7 am on the 26th. I went to the yard office to find out how long we would be and if they had a shower anywhere. The yardmaster said I was going out on NPSE around 1 PM and that there must be a shower in that building because "Steve" takes one every day before his stock broker class. I thanked them, went back to 4136 and grabbed my gear and headed off to "that building". Inside I found crew rooms, offices, lockers and utilities but no shower. I was about to give up when I discovered a pipe with a valve on it running up the side of one of the walls in the crew locker room. The pipe turned about where a shower head would turn and there was a pallet under it and a drain under that. I turned it on and found hot water coming out of it. At that point I decided that I was to badly in need of a shower to find fault with "Steve's" arrangements!

I went back to the engine and soon the IHB's Road Forman of engines showed up with some hot soup. I said thanks and he said you are welcome but that the yard master had noticed a fellow Scotsman was on the engines and had wanted to show you a little courtesy. I said what are you talking about and he said your an Armstrong! Since both of my parents were half-German, I guess I had always identified more with that country. I ate the soup and then went and thanked my fellow Scotsman!

We departed Blue Island at about 1:30pm with me again on the head end. The two guys on the CR crew that ran the train to Elkhart had a great sense of humor and I enjoyed every minute of the trip. The one exception is when we got to CP Gibson and we had a signal aspect that indicated that we were going to go straight on the Porter Branch. The switch was lined to go north on the Kankakee line and we were going way to fast. The engineer pinched her down and the three SD40's held on tight and we made it around.

I fell asleep again east of Toledo and woke up just as we were coming into Buffalo. I was surprised at how fast we went over CP Draw. We recrewed out at the fire station in Depew and again I went to the head end. I watched Tim Wakeman and Doug Ellison take our picture as we roared through Utica. When we got to Selkirk the crew asked them what they wanted them to do with the 4136. The yardmaster said drop your train on track number whatever in the receiving yard and put the 4136 in the local yard. "SEEN had already left for today and the unit will go out on tomorrow's". They dropped me in the local yard and I was just starting to prepare for another night on the unit when a B23-7 flashes by me. Just then my boss drives up in a rental car. He told me that the B23-7 is for you. He said that we ordered a special train just for you (I guess I had become the 4136 as he would have never done this for me).

I remember two things about my ride down the river line that night, one that B23 had the flattest wheels I had ever ridden on and two, we didn't meet a single train on the line from Selkirk to North Bergen. Actually, I also remember how great it was to tear down the same right away that I had ridden over numbers time before on the NYSW at CP5 at least 4 times the speed! I also enjoyed the ride over the P&H and remembered how neat it was riding beside the PATH trains. I stepped off the unit at 11pm eastern standard time (I departed 11 PM Rocky Mountain Time on the 22) on Sunday the 27th just 2 hours short of 5 days.

I hope you have enjoyed this.

~John Armstrong, November 2, 2000