No way, Jose.

They got exposed to the Amtrak GEs when an AAPRRCO train (or two) showed up on the line.

The real reason Amtrak (and now NJ Transit) F40s run on the line now is because they're easily regeared to "F40FH" freight gearing to handle the 3% grades at each end of the line and lower speeds on the rest of the line (40 mph speed limit, I think). Can the GE P40s be regeared? I would think so, but never assume......

The P40's and P42's are a nearly identical locomotive, with two major differences -- the P42's are equipped with a NYAB CCB1 electronic air brake system, and an electronic fuel injection system for the FDL diesel engine. The CCB1 air brake system is no longer supported by NYAB/Knorr, and as a result, passenger railroads such as Amtrak, Metro-North and others are now looking at upgrading this air brake system to the more modern and supportable Knorr CCB2 system to extend the life of the locomotive. Both model locomotives use blended brake, which is the utilization of dynamic brakes in conjunction with a service brake application as controlled by the automatic brake handle.

As the P40's have a 26L brake system with a 30CW desktop brake valve, plus a mechanical governor driven FDL diesel engine, in my opinion, this is the better of the two locomotive models to be preserved for operation. The weakness of these locomotives are two things. First is the locomotive carbody which has been observed to suffer from a high degree of rust and rot as these locomotives age. As the locomotive carbody is of a monocoque design in which there is no true platform of the locomotive, but rather the entire locomotive carbody IS the platform, there has been frequent discussion by those of us in the industry as to the durability of the carbody into the future with continued stress and fatigue from daily operation. It is a definite cause for concern. The second big weakness of these locomotives is in the design of the trucks. Both Amtrak's and Metro-North's fleet of locomotives have experienced an on-going issue of stress cracks in the truck frames, requiring the removal and repair of these truck frames to allow for continuing service. Any organization that wishes to preserve a P40 locomotive for continued operation, it would be recommended to have at least one spare complete truck frame on hand to mitigate this issue and allow for continuing operation of the locomotive while making repairs to the removed cracked truck frame.

We already had enough trouble with people going into midlife crisis mode when the F40PH was brought up for preservation and a dime a dozen. Best part was parts were plenty and easy to find since they were basically
GP40-2. The Genesis series is a mess of computers and hard to find parts. Best bet would be to have it as a static display or as an NPCU. May also want to look at the ones that pulled the presidential inaugural train as It has a big public interest story.

It may be a matter of price, if a Genesis unit can be had for a significant discount of the price of an F40 I'm sure excursion operators might take a look. I don't know what the asking price for used Genesis units is at the moment, but there certainly doesn't seem to be any demand for them, other than the oil industry for their GE traction motors, whereas I have heard that F40s are in demand and that Larry's wants a lot to lease them.

P40's/P42's sound a lot like NYC Niagaras; so specialized for a narrow operating envelope that they have no chance of a second service life.

So if there is preservation, units will have to be acquired with that in mind; and static preservation (if I understand the issue with monocoque bodies; they are like aircraft in that every operation induces fatigue that will render the thing unsafe to operate).

How's this for an interesting afterlife:

A native-owned shortline in northern Manitoba, the Keewatin Railway, has purchased some of these GE units and at least two ex-LIRR bilevel coaches to re-equip their mixed train service. They will supplement or replace a handful of tattered ex-VIA/CN blue and yellow cars and some equally worn out 4-axle EMD and MLW freight units.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQ8zCnEeZ24

Not sure what speed Keewatin's track is rated for, but I suspect it's closer to 10 mph than 100......

Well, I'll be, I figured someone would give it a try, but assumed it would be an established operation that knows the challenges with those units. I hope those guys know what they're in for all the way up there.

They apparently were worked on at the Wabtec shop in Albia IA, earlier this year, Butch Getz photo there (click to expand).

To be honest, grabbing a P40 would be advantageous for a lot of the mainline steam groups. A good chunk of the converted P40 fleet has been upgraded with PTC, has HEP, and they're "Amtrak Certified" at the moment. With how insurance and rail operators are treating mainline steam, having those units might help a little in getting Big Steam out there in the public

Here is a poor cell phone video that shows what the consist looks like: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/PCumszT36U8 I hope in the future someone can catch it running at track speed, which sounds like it is 10MPH. I'll bet those units won't like running in the first or second notch all the time.

I was curious how the P40s were working out on the Keewatin Railway, apparently not well. This video claims that the high level ex-Long Island coaches the four GEs were being used with won't work there because there is no way to get into the cars (the GEs are in the first four and a half minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOVY_gLwSoI. This other video shows them moving to the shop a few months back, they apparently had been stored at a paper mill with mechanical problems: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVdOu6CU-j0. I have been unable to find any videos of the P40s moving trains unaided other than the video I posted over a year ago, crawling along.