I had heard there was a Siemens ALC42 “Charger” in the area on Amtrak 21 and 22, and during the afternoon of April 06, 2026, I found it coupled to the north end of the Heartland Flyer at Fort Worth Central Station. I parked and walked to the south end of the TEXRail platform to take advantage of the afternoon western sun shining on the locomotive. First up to include with it was a westbound TRE at 2:12 pm on the way to T&P station.
Not far behind at 2:21 pm was Amtrak 21 arriving from Dallas and pulling down to the far south end of the platform.
A good-sized crowd was ready to board Train 21 the Texas Eagle.
Amtrak’s local crew uncoupled the 311 from the Heartland Flyer and pulled it north to a parking spot in the Oklahoma City BNSF connector track. The northbound Texas Eagle train 22 arrived at 2:53 pm and I just barely was able to get both locomotives in this 24mm wide angle view.
I wanted a good 3/4 roster view since the sun angle was good, but that was not possible here with Amtrak employee cars parked just to the left. I hung around to await developments, and while thusly engaged a westbound TEXRail train pulled in at straight up 3:00 pm. An Amtrak employee who was walking by told me the 311 was here for a few days of crew orientation before they start replacing the worn out P42’s on the Texas Eagle sometime this fall.
After taking the above photo I turned to the right for this side view of the 311 with the station signage.
The action can be non-stop at times here and at 3:06 pm a westbound TRE pulled into the station.
The Amtrak crew showed up to clear the way for the Heartland Flyer’s departure for Oklahoma City later on by moving the 311 to their storage spur on the southeast side of the station. I got in the car and slowly make my way over there. By the time I arrived the crew had left and I was able to get the roster shot I desired.
This locomotive was built in 2022, so the paint has held up pretty well and it looks like it has been washed regularly. Enjoy the TRE F59’s while you can as by the end of the year the first of these Siemen Chargers in TRE paint will arrive to begin replacing all of the old F59’s.