YouTube Video Update - GE GENESIS at 30

This video commemorates 30 years since the completion of the first Amtrak P40DC GENESIS diesel locomotive by General Electric. As mentioned in the previous blog post, the P42DC is GE’s most powerful and reliable passenger model. While there are, of course, so many YouTube videos capturing these locomotives, this one features footage that I filmed in the years 2010, 2011, and 2016. Locations include Rochester, New York; Gaithersburg, Maryland; and the famous Horseshoe Curve in Altoona, Pennsylvania. As you can see, all the units shown are from the P42 breed wearing Amtrak numbers 1 to 207. The P40’s on the other hand were numbered from 800 to 843.

You might be wondering how the GENESIS got its name. GE called the original 4,000-horsepower model the DASH 8-40BP while Amtrak dubbed it the AMD-103. However, these names involving letters and numbers were rather boring, so GE organized an employee contest at its Erie, PA locomotive factory to come up with the most distinctive name for those particular passenger diesels. The GENESIS would soon be declared the best choice. Following the 1993-1994 production of the Amtrak P40DC, GE expanded the GENESIS line with two additional types: the 3,200-hp P32AC-DM (introduced in 1995) and the 4,250-hp P42DC (1996). Since the P40 was initially called the DASH 8-40BP by the builder, the P42 would have possessed a freight-style name like a DASH 9-42BP as that features more advanced equipment present on the DASH 9 freight locomotives. And what about the dual-mode, AC-traction P32? Well, it would theoretically be designated as an AC3200BP-DM, a similar nomenclature to the freight-service AC4400CW. Amtrak numbered its P32’s from 700 to 717.

Although Amtrak was the primary customer of the GE GENESIS, the only other purchasers were Metro-North and VIA Rail Canada, which bought the P32 and P42 respectively. An additional four dual-mode units were built for the Connecticut Department of Transportation (associated with Metro-North) in 2001 and were painted in the retrospective New Haven Railroad “McGinnis” scheme. While the P32 has the same monocoque design as do the P40 and P42, it is powered by the 12-cylinder 7FDL diesel engine and includes four alternating current traction motors. In contrast, the other two models are equipped with the 16-cylinder engine and four direct current motors.

Aside from the roster numbers and paint schemes, the external differences between the GENESIS models are a little bit challenging to find but still visible. The P32’s, for example, can be spotted by their third-rail contact shoes and their associated equipment on the truck frames. These are intended to operate in the New York area where the electrified third rail is provided to prevent exhaust emissions from steam and diesel locomotives. The units can be powered by the third rail in the city or by their onboard diesel engines outside of the area. The P32’s can also be identified by the absence of the rear access door, which is normally present on the P40 and P42. However, there is a rear hostler's window similar to the one that was originally found on the P40 only.

Both the P32 and P42 continued production until late 2001 when new crashworthiness and exhaust emissions standards resulted in the end of building passenger diesel locomotives in their existing designs. For companies like GE, which has been manufacturing numerous diesels predominantly for freight duty, it can be difficult and expensive to engineer a modern passenger product compliant to those requirements. Amtrak, however, had continued operating its remaining GENESIS units until the early 2020’s when the new Siemens ALC-42 Charger diesel emerged to gradually replace the P40’s and P42’s. While the award-winning design of the GENESIS at first received some criticism from old-time railroad fans, it will always be remembered by younger trainspotters like me. Who knows? Maybe these venerable locomotives will all be retired sooner than we think.

The five-note chord of a Nathan Airchime K5LA horn and the rhythm of a chugging GE 7FDL diesel engine make up the music to an Amtrak fan’s ears. Despite their dominance on America’s only interstate passenger railroad, the P42DC and its two sister models are indeed like no other GE locomotive ever produced. Memories will live on as you watch my video of the GENESIS hauling all kinds of passenger trains over the years from the single-level Amfleets to the long-distance double-decker Superliners. Only time will tell whether these workhorses are going away for good but until then, long live the queen of Amtrak!