Guest contributor, Peter Lawson, is a locomotive product engineer at GE Transportation.
It’s been fascinating to witness history in the making and to be tied to it ever so slightly. I’ve been following President-elect Barack Obama’s whistle-stop tour from Philadelphia, through Wilmington, then Baltimore and finally to our nation’s capital for his inauguration.
Guest contributor, Peter Lawson, is a locomotive product engineer at GE Transportation.
It’s been fascinating to witness history in the making and to be tied to it ever so slightly. I’ve been following President-elect Barack Obama’s whistle-stop tour from Philadelphia, through Wilmington, then Baltimore and finally to our nation’s capital for his inauguration.
Our friends at Amtrak tell me that there are actually two “presidential” units – No. 44 (for the 44th President of the United States) and No. 120 (for the date of the inauguration, Jan. 20) that took the tour.
Both locomotives were produced by GE. The GE Transportation Genesis P42 locomotives, in production from 1992 to 2001, boast 16-cylinder engines that generate 4,250 horsepower, reaching a top speed of 110 mph. Also, while the Genesis P42 locomotives guaranteed the president-elect’s timely arrival, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the GE Transportation global signaling products that helped keep him safe along the historic journey.
