GP Fleet

The EMD GP40PH-2 Locomotive Fleet was a fleet of EMD GP40PH-2, numbered 1792 and 1768. They originally were unique freight locomotives operated by Norfolk Southern and/or CSX from 1992 - 1995. They later were changed to passenger service.

Freight Career (1992 - 1995)
Both locomotives were rebuilds of a freight locomotive. The locomotives that they were built from were scrapped freight engines.

During the rebuilds, they were both given unique North Carolina designs. The only difference was that 1768 was given brown instead of blue.

The Locomotives were not given names at the time, instead, they were given numbers, hinting their future names: 1792, being the incorporation date of Raleigh, where the locomotive was built at, and 1768 being the incorporation of Charlotte, that locomotive's debut area.

It is unknown if these locomotives were christened, although they were both debuted shortly after each other.

The locomotives freight career ended in 1995, after they outlived usefulness to their owners. Their plans for freight changed to passenger.

Piedmont Service
When the locomotives became passenger units, they were then given their hinted names. 1792 was City of Raleigh, and 1768 was City of Charlotte.

The passenger testing began in May of 1995, starting with City of Raleigh. City of Charlotte was not as good as a passenger train, due to its lack of maintenance. Because of that, 1768 mostly was towed by City of Raleigh, during service.

In 1996, City of Charlotte's original brown paint plate under the cab was changed to blue, just like City of Raleigh, ending that point out difference.

In July, 1997, City of Raleigh, crossing through Efland NC, crashed into a Toyota Camry that crossed the tracks at the last second. This was the first Piedmont incident. City of Raleigh left the scene with minor damage to the front plate, mostly burn damage.

Deactivation of 1768
In 1999, Piedmont 1768 was permanently deactivated due to budget issues, and since that locomotive was the lesser used, it was more justifiable to deactivate that one instead of 1792.

After deactivation, the funding for the new EMD F59PHI's 1797 City of Asheville and 1755 City of Salisbury had continued. The construction started in 1998, and 1797 later entered service later in 1999,

Later Years
With one GP40 Locomotive, the Piedmont mostly kept that locomotive as the lead engine, and the use for the GP unit in the Piedmont boomed with NC Railfans. In 2001, the former locomotive 1768 City of Charlotte was auctioned to Virginia Railway Express.

1792 was used much more often, alongside the new EMD F59PHI units.

Disbanding
On May 13, 2010, 1792 City of Raleigh crashed in Mebane NC after colliding with a lowboy truck. Due to this being the last GP locomotive after the deactivation of 1768 in 1999, the fleet was officially disbanded, further proven by the scrapping of 1792 in 2011.