Meet above the Susquehanna

Meet above the Susquehanna

With the retirement of Amtrak’s remaining fleet of AEM-7 electric locomotives imminent,
I’ve been returning to many of my photographs of her in various settings along the Northeast Corridor.

The Swedish-designed U.S.-built locomotives assumed the “hard act to follow” mantle of the venerable Pennsylvania Railroad GG1s following their retirement, allowing Amtrak to continue providing reliable high-speed service along this vital route from Washington to New York, and ultimately to Boston.

The premium very high speed service was taken over several years ago from the AEM-7/Amfleet trains by the European designed tilt-trains which Amtrak branded Acela Express, leaving the AEM-7 to pull Northeast Regional and long-distance trains along the corridor. The latter duties will now be taken up by the new Siemens ACS-64 Cities Sprinter locomotives (*), now arriving in sufficient numbers to allow the “Swedish Meatball” (one of the many nicknames for the AEM-7) to hum off into the sunset after 36 years of a job well done.

In this late afternoon moment in May 2013, AEM-7 No. 921 leads a southbound Northeast Corridor consist crossing the Susquehanna River between Perryville and Havre de Grace in northeastern Maryland in the direction of Washington while another train passes in the northbound direction. The southbound train was also carrying some vintage private cars on this occasion, which accounts for the different profile from the Amfleet cars at the rear.

©2016 Steve Ember