7
CAB ROOF AIR CONDITIONERS (GO & METRA,
as
-
retrofitted
)
The fleet of GO units eventually received overhauls in the late 90’s/early
2000’s for continued service as GO’s primary commuter power. Starting in
late 2001, rooftop mounted RV-style air conditioners started appearing on
some of the rebuilt units and it would take about two years for the rest of the
fleet to get them. This necessitated removal of the air vent on the cab rooftop
on units so equipped. Metra locos received twin AC units when they were
rebuilt before delivery to the Windy City.
FUEL TANK SIZE
The first phase of F59PH locomotives had small 1500-gallon fuel tanks. Phase
II & III units had slightly larger 1850-gallon tanks. This extra fuel would give
a later phase F59PH just over 2 more hours of run time at full throttle.
EMERGENCY LIGHT (METROLINK)
The Red Emergency Light is supposed to turn on whenever the train is put into
emergency braking (the “Big Hole”) to warn oncoming trains that there may
be a problem ahead. This red light was also common on other railroads like
the SP and Amtrak.
RED MARKER LIGHTS (METRA, METROLINK, TRE)
Sometimes referred to as “bug eyes” or “beast eyes”, these were a detail on all
US F59PH locomotives (sorry, Canada gets the full compliment of class lights).
The reason for just having red markers was twofold: some railroads required
lit red markers on all trains day or night (even for light engine moves), and
being the power in a push-pull train set makes the need for the red markers
understandable.
E-BELLS (GO TRANSIT,
as
-
retrofitted
)
As delivered, all F59PH locos had standard sweet-sounding brass bells.
However, during their 2011 rebuild, the remaining eight GO units had their
mechanical bells replaced with electronic bells.
REMOVING THE SHELL
If you need to open up your F59PH to install a crew or a decoder, things should be
pretty straightforward and easy. In a perfect world, nothing would ever go wrong,
and an HO sized crew would open their own doors and walk in. If you must get
inside your F59PH, you will need to follow these steps:
