Former New Haven FL9 Locomotives Scrapped in NJ

(SOURCE:  Trains.com Newswire, By Steve Glischinski)

MORRISTOWN, N.J. – This spring, the “Streamliners at Spencer” festival in North Carolina will bring together nearly 20 examples of streamlined motive power, including former New Haven FL9 No. 2019 from the Railroad Museum of New England. While No. 2019 has been preserved and restored, three of its sister locomotives met a different fate: They are being scrapped this week at the Morristown & Erie Railway yard in Morristown.

The three locomotives, former Amtrak Nos. 485, 486, and 487 built in 1957 for the New York, New Haven & Hartford, were owned by RRPX, a railroad leasing company owned by Morristown & Erie owner Wes Weis. Weis tells Trains News Wire the FL9s were scrapped because they had been stripped for parts and were vandalized.

In addition to the FL9s, three Alco locomotives were or will be cut up by C&K Scrap Metals of Newark since they have major mechanical or other issues.

According to Weis, a former CN M420W that was scrapped had a broken Hi-AD truck, seized turbo, and the drive had failed between the main generator and the auxiliary generator. Ex-Canadian Pacific C424 No. 4231 had a failed prime mover while out on lease. Former Erie Mining RS11 No. 7205 had been for sale for four years with no takers, and had been vandalized.

The FL9, New Haven Class EDER-5, is a dual-power locomotive capable of operation as a diesel-electric or an electric powered by a third rail. General Motors Electro-Motive Division built 60 units for the New Haven between 1956 and 1960. They were the last F units built.

FL9s served the New Haven and successor Penn Central, then several owners including Conrail, New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and the Connecticut Department of Transportation. A total of 12 FL9s were sold to Amtrak, with six, including the three scrapped units, remanufactured between 1979 and 1981 by Morrison-Knudsen. Amtrak finally retired them in June 2002.

Two other FL9s, ex-Amtrak Nos. 488 and 489, operate on Morristown & Erie affiliate Maine Eastern Railroad pulling excursion trains between Brunswick and Rockland, Maine. Former Amtrak No. 484 operates on the Orford Express tourist train out of Sherbrooke, Quebec.

There is several other MTA/Metro-North and Connecticut Department of Transportation FL9s preserved, and CDOT still owns six out-of-service FL9Ms stored at New Haven, Conn.