City of Raleigh

***NCDOT 1792 City of Ralegh*** (February 2, 1995 - May 13, 2010) was an EMD GP40PH-2 Piedmont Train, and formerly the flagship of the fleet.

It was known as the flagship, the alpha, and the heart of the Piedmont fleet. It was the first Piedmont to enter service.

It was the other half of the Piedmont's EMD GP40PH-2 fleet, the other one being former locomotive 1768 City of Charlotte, which was removed from the Piedmont roster in 1999, and sold in 2001.

*1792 City of Raleigh was involved in a career ending crossing accident on May 13, 2010, and even though this iconic locomotive is gone, it is heavily remembered by the railfans it inspired and passengers it served in its 15 years of service.*

## Appearance

1792 was designed with a EMD GP40PH-2 engine and had a N\*C on the front along with the NC flag design. It was painted blue in the lower front and white at the top.

She was red and white striped on her side and the words "NORTH CAROLINA" were painted black above the stripes.

The words "City of Raleigh were written in yellow under her number "1792" on the side.

## Career

### Early History

1792 was a rebuild of L&N engine 3006, reusing many parts from that locomotive, including the horn and headlights.

A sister train, 1768, was built not long after. The two began their career as freight trains, operated by Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific.

The locomotives did not have names on their side plates at the time, but had their later namesake cities incorporation date.

The two worked together often and also paired up with other freight trains, however, they didn't leave NC, except for a few times. The two worked together in 1992, 1993, and 1994 numerously until Norfolk Southern stopped operating them, and they were re-routed as passenger trains.

1792 was the first locomotive to begin the testing session, and later came back with successful results. 1768 later joined up, and they were then owned by the Piedmont.

   When the two became passenger trains in 1995, 1792 was named City of Raleigh, where it was first used, and 1768 was named after the town it was built and designed at. This idea became the main naming of the Piedmont locomotive fleet.

### Early Piedmont Service (1995 - 1999)

The two worked together constantly throughout the late 90s, sometimes even combined during service. When combined, 1792 would normally be in front.

Originally, 1792 would be Raleigh - Charlotte bound, a namesake idea. Sister train 1768 would be Charlotte - Raleigh bound.

While that early idea seemed smart and useful at first, with the newer proposed locomotives in the future, this would have affected the balance and such. Another reason for this was the lack of usage from the locomotives.

1792 was used much more often than 1768, as 1768 showed signs of mechanical malfunctions. Because of that reason, 1792 carried 1768 much more often during service, which stained the engine schedules.

Several Amtrak trains helped serve the Piedmont, which was suffering from financial collapse. Although the Piedmont was well attended by passengers, the lack of use from 1768, and the short number of locomotives affected the schedules, making the train arrival times difficult.

With difficult times and such, this made it hard for passengers to know the arrival/depart of the trains, so this was a major effect towards the Piedmont.

### July 1997 Incident

In July 1997, Efland NC, it is believed that an impatient driver had decided to cross the train tracks when the gates went down, despite constant horns sounding from the locomotive and nearby automobiles, he continued last second, and almost made it, but the rear side of the car was hit by Piedmont 1792, causing the car to spin into the train and almost flip over.

1792 left the scene with minor scratches and dents to her front plate and wheels. Most damage was just plate scratches and dents, including burn damage. The train was delayed, and most passengers were transported by another Amtrak.

### Budget Issues (1998 - 1999)

In 1999, the Piedmont budget had gotten much worse, putting the service in danger of bankruptcy. With the low budget, the Piedmont had to act quick, and ended up permanently deactivating 1768 City of Charlotte.

Although this was a hard choice to make, the locomotive had rarely been used during it's passenger career, and was mostly just towed by 1792 City of Raleigh.

That being said, the cost and maintenance on the locomotive and the lack of usage from it had made the Piedmont deactivate this locomotive, and it was towed to a maintenance shed. With only one State Owned locomotive, a few Amtrak trains serve the Piedmont in assist.

Later on, increased money from the deactivation had led to a new Piedmont, 1797 City of Asheville. This unit was an EMD F59PHI, built in 1998 specifically for NCDOT. That unit had a sister locomotive with construction underways, although funding had delayed it's construction.

At this point, the Piedmont was served by two engines.

### Later Piedmont Life (2000/2008)

1792 had made it's career interesting, as it was later the only GP40 unit in service. With its sister's deactivation in 1999, and auctioning in 2001, a new Piedmont, that had construction delayed from 1998 due to low fundage, had construction restarted.

In February 2002, that new engine finally debuted. It was titled 1755 City of Salisbury. That engine was the sister of 1797. In 2005, that engine was in an accident, which led to the front of the locomotive being remodeled.

The Piedmont coaches started remodeling in 2007, being changed from their original grey striped design to the modern day blue paint. A few coaches with the original scheme stayed with 1792 and rarely appeared on the F59PHI units.

On April 18, 2008, Piedmont 1792 had taken part in an out of state journey, leading Amtrak's Silver Star to Miami, Florida. What made this unique was the rare occurrence of a Piedmont assisting an out of state Amtrak.

After the trip, 1792 had broken down, likely due to the long journey and lack of cooldowns. This led to 1792 going to Beech Grove for repairs that lasted until April 31.

After that, it was uncertain if 1792 was going to be in service for a month, but thankfully the engine returned. This was thought to have been because of the more often appearances of the F59PHI units.

1792's appearances became uncommon, as the newer locomotives needed less maintenance and were more modern than 1792.

On February 13, 2009, 1792 City of Raleigh was used to assist several CSX Freight trains.

## 2010 Crash

   On May 13, 2010, 1792 City of Raleigh was crossing through Mebane around 8 AM. A lowboy truck, which was carrying an excavator, was stuck on the crossing.

The conductor of 1792 had blasted the locomotive's horn several times, although it was in vain.

1792 had slammed into the trailer, throwing the excavator off in the process, and flipping the trailer over, driving onto it, derailing.

1792 had burst into flames from the impact, and had burned primarily inside the engine. Oil and fuel inside the train had caused the fire to become very strong, and the locomotive had burned for a few minutes.

The Fire Department was very close by, so they were able to extinguish the flames very soon after. The train had been evacuated, although the crew had been stunned during the crash and had to be escorted out from firefighters.

The fire mostly affected the right side of the train. Cleanup was in affect soon after. Most passengers were taken to their destination from a bus, and all of them were refunded their ticket money. 1792 had remained on the tracks for at least 2 hours.

9 hours later, 1792 was taken to Raleigh NC's Rail Yards. Video of the accident was supposedly recorded on security cameras from the then abandoned White Furniture Company.

### Fate

After being brought back to Raleigh from the Beech Grove, on September 29, 2010, the locomotive was scrapped. Everything except the bell, wheels, and horn were scrapped and sold.

Many efforts had been made to save 1792, although only 14% of the locomotive was savable.

### Reactions

Many NC Railfans were shocked to hear about 1792's crash, and some were hoping that she would recover. Once her announcement was made about the damage and retirement, some people were sad to hear about the engine's fate and the way she would go.

The cause of this unit's fate was heavily criticised, as negligence from a careless truck driver caused the oldest and sole surviving GP unit's retirement.

Another heavily criticised motive was that NCDOT had never made another engine bearing this unit's name. One reason is that because of Raleigh's importance, being the NC Capital, it would seem honarable to make a "Special" engine to bear that name.

The only Piedmont basis that is built currently is an EMD F59PH.

### Aftermath

The rails had been seriously damaged from the crash. 1792's basis, the GP40PH-2 was discontinued in North America, and another one was not going to be imported from another country.

The accident caused many safety concerns in the area, notably at that crossing. A safety sign stating "Low vehicles may drag" was ignored, and would have prevented the incident, had it not been ignored.

While it took 2 hours to remove the locomotive and coaches, it took 9 hours to clean up the soil that was contaminated from engine fuel and flames. A tree was also destroyed by the derailing locomotive.

NCDOT responded to the locomotives fate by making a memorial. The memorial was originally located at the station 1792 was scrapped at.

The memorial consists of a small fountain with 1792's bell on it. Nearby is a 1999 photo of 1792 City of Raleigh and 1768 City of Charlotte, taken from an NC Rail documentary.

The memorial was moved in June 2011, and is now in the station where the 1999 documentary photo was believed to have been taken.

NCDOT never made it clear if the engine would have been retired at any point. It had taken at least a few days to fix the rail lines and resume rail traffic. One passenger remained in the hospital for a great deal of time.

1792's whistle was sounded on May 13, 2015, in tribute five years after the incident.

## Possible Remake

An office rumor was that in Fall 2018, a new City of Raleigh will enter service. If possible, the engine is likely going to be an EMD F59PH.

Another idea was that former locomotive 1768 City of Charlotte, the sister engine of 1792, will rejoin the Piedmont, and be repainted into its old Piedmont color scheme. It will also bare the name and number of its ill-fated sister.

Another theory to support this claim is since 1768 City of Charlotte was taken out of the Fort Lee rail yards, on August 3, 2017. The engine had been abandoned since 2016.

NCDOT has kept silent about another remake for 1792. It is possible that in 2020, there will be some word on a remake for the locomotive.

A petition is available for two new locomotives named 1792 City of Raleigh and 1768 City of Charlotte, to enter service. (

Https://www.change.org/p/ncdot-ncdot-bring-back-1792-city-of-raleigh-and-1768-city-of-charlotte-locomotives?source\_location=petition\_n) the petition goals tto have the locomotives replaced by EMD GP40ph-2's like their original counterparts. av