When Amtrak began operations in 1971 they had to get used locomotives from the railroads rather than buy brand new ones. These included a group of FP7âs and F7Bâs from the Southern Pacific and some F7Bâs from Burlington Northern. They werenât able to paint all of the SPâs FP7âs right away and just used simple patching on some units, like #118, to mark the units as Amtrak property. Some B-units, like #399, received the pointless arrow while others received simpler paint jobs.
HO F7B Locomotive, AMTK #399 Video Overview
When Amtrak began operations in 1971 they had to get used locomotives from the railroads rather than buy brand new ones. These included a group of FP7âs and F7Bâs from the Southern Pacific and some F7Bâs from Burlington Northern. They werenât able to paint all of the SPâs FP7âs right away and just used simple patching on some units, like #118, to mark the units as Amtrak property. Some B-units, like #399, received the pointless arrow while others received simpler paint jobs.