No Looking Back. Metrolink F59PHR 851, built in May 1992 as the first locomotive for the railroad, shoves out of the place it has called home for 34 years - the Metrolink Central Maintenance Facility - for the last time. The veteran locomotive was donated to the Fullerton Train Museum, where it will now reside next to one of the mainlines over which it ran countless miles throughout the past three decades. Though Metrolink service did not begin until October of 1992, 851 was put to use quickly after its delivery. Photos from that summer show it running numerous demonstration trains to promote the upcoming commuter rail service starting in June 1992. It would run in its original configuration for 18 years, when it was one of seven F59PHs selected for an overhaul and upgrade to Tier 2 emissions standards in 2010; subsequently it was reclassified as an F59PHR. Following overhaul, 851 continued to roam the Southern California rails for another decade before mechanical issues sidelined it in the early 2020s, and new F125 locomotives coming online required that its engine block be cut and the locomotive decommissioned. As its sibling F59PH and PHI locomotives were largely being sold off following the fleet’s retirement, a deal was made to donate the 851 to the Fullerton Train Museum, located at the Fullerton station.
After a great deal of waiting, the move was finally scheduled on January 25, 2026 to bring 851 from CMF to the museum. 851 was on the point shoving out of the yard into Los Angeles Union Station where it changed directions to head towards Fullerton. Finally, after carefully moving at walking speed over the worn BNSF siding into the museum, 851 was dropped off at its new home. For a locomotive that was the face of a new era of passenger railroads in Southern California in the early 90s, ushering in the start of Metrolink and serving commuters well for three decades, it is fitting that the 851 is now preserved alongside its old home rails to carry on its legacy in the region.
Taken on the railroad property at which I work, with full PPE.
