8-32PHW

From RailroadfanWiki
Jump to: navigation, search

The General Electric 8-32PHW (also reffered to as P32-8WH) is a 4 axle, 3,200 HP locomotive built in the early 1990's for Amtrak. The engines were partly funded for by the state of California and worked out their first years in California "Surfliner" and "San Joquian" service. Built before GE's P40 and P42 passenger locomotives, the 8-32PHW was essentially a passenger version of the freight 8-40BW with a less powerful engine and head end power.

Amtrak ordered 20 units, number 500-519. As delivered, the 8-32PHW's wore a modified version of Amtrak's standard "Phase III" paint scheme, being gray with large red white and blue stripes wrapping around the unit. The scheme looked much like the design Pepsi Cola was using for their drink cans at the time, and the units were nicknamed "Pepsi Cans". Phase III gave way to Phase IV, which had the engines sporting silver paint with with blue and red stripes. Phase IV eventually evolved into Phase V, featuring silver paint with a large blue wave. Most of the 8-32PHW's have been repainted into Phase V as of this writing.

The state of California eventually purchased 2 of the 8-32PHW's to suplement F59PHI's in "Amtrak California" passenger service. The units are numbered 2051 and 2052 and currently are back up power when F59's aren't available.

The 8-32PHW sees a variety of uses on Amtrak. Though not standard road units, they do show up on various Amtrak trains from time to time. The fleet is spread out, with units stationed in Washington D.C., Chicago, Seattle, California and New Orleans. Most of the time, the units can be found in MOW service or switching Amtrak yards.

Back to GE Passenger Locomotives