Amtrak California

Moving through my project to take full advantage of JMRI Decoder Pro's roster and work toward converting my whole collection of locos to DCC, I've come to my models of Amtrak California locos used in the San Joaquin and Capitol Corridor service. First is an Athearn F59PHI from the original 1990s run:

The first run didn't have a DCC socket, so this loco has a hard wired Digitrax DH126 decoder, as well as a factory incandescent headlight. Over the years, I've been able to railfan and ride behind these in their territory up north:

I shot the loco above, the prototype of my Athearn loco, in Emeryville in 1996. The original Athearn paint scheme reflects this. More recently, these locos have been rebuilt and carry a new paint scheme:

Next is an Atlas Amtrak California 8-32BWH. These were part of Amtrak's 1991 order of Amtrak's 8-32BWHs and were delivered in the original Pepsi Can paint scheme. However, although, two locos were owned by Amtrak California from the start, the standard Amtrak paint was confusing, and the California locos were often sent out of state on other Amtrak trains. As a result, the two California locos were repainted in specialized paint, renumbered 2051 and 2052, and are used interchangeably with Amtrak California F59PHIs and SC-44s.

This loco is one that still doesn't have a decoder, but since it's a fairly recent Atlas, it has an 8-pin DCC socket. I look forward to being able to get decent lighting for the head and ditch lights. The photo below is a prototype I shot in Martinez about 2018.

In this case, the loco was running in MU with an Amtrak P42, which up to the arrival of the SC-44s was common both on Amtrak California and the Surfliners but is less so now. The locos were in push mode.