Here's some video I shot of Amtrak's California Zephyr making its station stop at Ottumwa, Iowa, on August 12th, 2013. I made this trip to see the 2nd unit on the train, one of Amtrak's new ACS-64 electric locomotives. These engines are built by Siemens in Sacramento, CA, and will be used on Amtrak's Northeast Corridor, eventually replacing the AEM-7 and HHP-8 electrics currently in use there. After being built in Sacramento, the engines are delivered to the NEC on the California Zephyr (Emeryville, CA - Chicago, IL) and the Capitol Limited (Chicago, IL - Washington, DC). Some of the units are being tested right on the NEC, while others have run on the FRA's Pueblo, CO test track and then delivered. Either way, they'll all pass through here sometime or another. Here we see #603 as it travels with the Zephyr, in between the P42's #41 and #57. After the train arrived, I got some shots of the engine on the east end of the Ottumwa platform, before the train departs. Another interesting part of this consist was a private car on the end of the train, "Sierra Hotel", an original California Zephyr vista dome/lounge car built in 1948. Enjoy!

• published: 13 Aug 2013
• views: 217