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Amtrak F40PH (NPCU) No. 90278

(Requested by The Trainfan 9782).
(Requires the F40PH Metra 157 'City of Palatine' from Microcosmologist).

NPCU No. 90278 was originally built in 1977 as F40PH No. 278, and entered service in December of that year. Her first livery was the - in my opinion, unsightly - Phase 2. By 1982 this had given way to Phase 3.

During her life as a proper locomotive, 278 was used on passenger services throughout the eastern US, running in states such as Virginia (or - as Billy Joel would have put it - Come out, Virginia), Ohio, Illinois, and Michigan. She was retired in late 2001; at the time she was 24 years old.

Throughout 2002 and 2003, F40PH No. 278 was leased to MBTA and used on commuter trains out of Boston. Following the end of her lease, the locomotive was placed in storage in Bear, Delaware. She was still carrying the Phase 3 livery at this time. Fortunately, this wasn’t the engine of the line for the old locomotive.

In 2007, the former No. 278 was taken to the Beech Grove Shops in Indiana, where she was converted into an NPCU and renumbered to 90278. Following the conversion, the former locomotive was painted in Phase 5 colours and sent to Oregon. Whilst there the NPCU found use on Amtrak’s Cascade service, running in push-pull mode with F59PHi and P42DC locomotives.

Nowadays NPCU No. 90278 is based in California, and can often be found on Pacific Surfliner services (if my research is correct). At one point in 2019, she was in storage in Los Angeles due to issues with her PTC (Positive Train Control) equipment. The issues have since been rectified, and 90278 is still in service today. The former locomotive is now 44 years old.