F59PH

In 1987, GO Transit marked its twentieth year of operation. The commuter rail service had made significant progress since its inception in 1967.

 

It had expanded to six commuter rail lines and offered hourly or better seven-days-a-week service between Oakville and Pickering.
However, the locomotives that were originally acquired and those purchased in the 1970s had begun to show their age.

 

Hence, it was time for GO Transit to acquire a new generation of locomotives that could accommodate railway transportation needs in the 1990s.

 

To accomplish this, they required a specialized locomotive that could quickly accelerate while pulling up to ten new Hawker-Siddeley/ UTDC Bi Level coaches.
The new locomotive also needed to be designed to cut down on fuel consumption by using a separate HEP generator to power the coaches.

Working closely with GO Transit, GMD designed the F59PH locomotive which features a powerful 12-cylinder two-stroke diesel engine (12-710G3A), a full-width North American comfort cab with HEP, powered by a smaller 600hp GM 8-cylinder diesel.

 

The first sixteen units of F59PH were delivered to GO Transit in 1988. They were numbered 520 to 535 and given the Class GCE-430G.

Over the next six years, GMD supplied additional 33 units to GO Transit with further improvements. New features included larger fuel tank and 2 different rear grille styles along other minor modifications.

In 1994, the last batch of four units, were delivered to GO Transit, but were very quickly sold to Dallas’ Trinity Railway Express.
Other locomotives were leased to British Columbia’s West Coast Express and Metrolink in California.

 

Starting 2007 GO Transit began phasing out its fleet of F59PHs. GO started replacing them with new locomotives, the MPI MP40PH-3C.
Many of the F95ph’s were sold to other railroads, like NCDOT, AMT, Metra and RB-Railway Group. Some of the NS DOT units were rebuilt into cab control units without prime movers.

 

The F59PH units numbered 557-564 were kept, and in January 2011 they received a Rebuilt that included replacing and overhauling components and a new coat of paint.
Most of these units also had their mechanical bells replaced with electronic ones.