Amtrak E60CH 603

The E60CH was a passenger version (with electric head end power rather than steam heat) of the General Electric E60, a six-axle electric locomotive capable of 5100 horsepower. Amtrak ordered the E60 in the 1970s to replace the old Pennsylvania GG1. The first batch was the steam-heated E60CP, and the second batch was the E60CH. Despite high expectations, the E60s were not good engines in Amtrak service.

They were too heavy to run well, and problems with the bogies gave them the tendency to derail at high speeds. Once Amtrak received the much more agile AEM7 in 1984, that became its primary electric, and the E60 engines found themselves quickly demoted to slow trains. They were not completely retired until 2003. Amtrak E60CH No. 603 went to the Pennsylvania Railroad Museum, where it sits next to the GG1 it replaced.