@GG1 4877 posted:I think it is a generational thing. While I love the classic F units and especially the E6 and earlier design E-units, this is my generation's F-unit. I love the tough looking lines of the F40PH.
They were new to me when they came to Amtrak and I was all of 6 years old, but they became memorable to me when they came to NJT and I was 13. I'd watch them pulling matched strings of Comet II cars down to the shore and for once in my lifetime I regularly saw matching passenger trains.
My first HO passenger train on my home layout didn't have matching cars because prior to the F40s/Comet cars arriving as the shore trains rarely had matching cars. I was just mimicking what I saw.
To see the F40 closing on on 50 years of service in the not too distant future warms my heart.
Seeing an operating F or E unit too does as well too!
I'm in my twenties, so I definitely saw the f40phs, whether it be in person (If I remember correctly) or through 80s-90s movies. One of my first ho locos was a f40ph amtrack with silhouette passenger cars. While the E and F units are far more iconic (and beautiful) in real life and in the hobby, I appreciate both. Being alive when an engine was in service makes a train more relatable.
