The GE P30CH, also known as the "POOCH", was one of the first diesel-electric passenger locomotives built for Amtrak in its early years. The design was based on the GE U30C. Great Western Railway No. ... Amtrak train in downtown Orlando, Florida Amtrak’s high-speed Acela Express at Penn Station New York, NY Amtrak, is the brand name of the intercity passenger train system created on May 1, 1971 in the United States. ... BN 5383 operating at the Illinois Railway Museum. ...

Twenty-five P30CHs was ordered by Amtrak in 1974, just after Amtrak ordered forty EMD SDP40Fs in 1973. Unlike the SDP40F's, the P30CH was the first Amtrak locomotive to offer HEP (Head End Power). Santa Fe Railroad 5261, an SDP40F works eastbound in Caliente, California, in the late 1980s. ... Head end power (also known as hotel power) is a method of providing electricity to the carriages of a train, usually the passenger carriages of a long distance hotel train. ...

The six axle P30CHs were never very popular on Amtrak as Amtrak shifted preference to the EMD F40PH in 1976. The P30CHs in the later years were used regularly into the mid-1980s on the Sunset Limited and Auto Train routes. They had their final runs in late 1990, all were subsequently scrapped. Caltrain train at Mountain View Amtrak 345 pulls a passenger train through Porter, Indiana. ... Sunset Limited (eastbound) at the Houston train station. ... Auto Train is an 855-mile-(1376-km-)long scheduled train service for passengers and their automobiles, operated by Amtrak between Lorton, Virginia (near Washington, D.C.) and Sanford, Florida (near Orlando). ... This article is about the year. ...

Trivia

The nickname "POOCH" was given by crews and railfans because the designation closely matched the word "P30CH/POOCH". Railfans practicing their hobby at Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. ...

Data on locomotive

• Year built: 1976
• Manufacturer: GE
• Railroad: Amtrak
• Number Built: 25
• Length: 72 feet 4 inches
• Height: 15 feet 4.5 inches
• Width: 10 feet 8.8 inches
• Weight: 386,000 pounds (193 tons)
• Cost per locomotive: $480,000
• Axles: 6
• AAR wheel arrangement: C-C

The AAR wheel arrangement system is a method of classifying locomotive (or unit) wheel arrangements that was developed by the Association of American Railroads. ...

Reference

• Solomon, Brian (2004). Amtrak, 105, St. Paul, MN: MBI Publishing. ISBN 0-7603-1765-8.