Train Simulator: Amtrak P30CH Loco Add-On Steam DLC

The General Electric P30CH, affectionately nicknamed the “Pooch,” was among the first all-new diesel-electric locomotives built for Amtrak, and is now available for Train Simulator. Nicknamed after the similarities in its P30CH designation, the “Pooch” locomotives were designed around General Electric’s 3,000-horsepower U30C, but with a streamlined “cowl” more attractive for passenger service. The P30CH was also the first Amtrak diesel locomotive built from the factory that offered Head End Power (HEP), supplied by auxiliary powerplants and alternators. As the first Amtrak diesels equipped with HEP, the Pooches first went to work hauling short-distance Amfleet-equipped trains, then were also employed on select long-distance trains such as the Chicago-New Orleans Panama Limited and the Washington, D.C.-Savannah (Georgia) segment of the Palmetto. With Amtrak’s decision to standardize on the Electro-Motive F40PH, the P30CH was destined to become an orphan in a world of F40PHs, a fact exemplified by Amtrak’s willingness to lease the Pooches to the Southern Pacific in 1978 for Bay Area commuter service. But the big P30CHs found a pair of regular homes that extended their operational lives into the early 1990s. One of those regular assignments was Amtrak’s Los Angeles-New Orleans Sunset Limited, which called upon pairs of the Pooches to make the nearly 2,000-mile run across the American southwest. And the other was Amtrak’s Auto-Train operation between Lorton, Virginia and Sanford,