A Guide To Amtrak's Paint Schemes


This is a simple guide to Amtrak's Current "In-Use" paint schemes that are used on their locomotives and passenger cars. Amtrak has had a total of 6 different paint schemes used on their equipment over the years. On Amtrak's locomotives, Phase I, the first paint scheme consisted of silver body paint with Amtrak's original "Chevron" logo on each side with a black roof and red nose. Phase I on passenger cars consisted of Amtrak's logo on one end of the car along with a "cigar band" consisting of a wide red stripe, a narrow white stripe in the middle and a wide blue stripe on the bottom. Phase II looked essentially the same as Phase I on both cars and engines but without the logo. Both of these paint schemes are no longer in use on any car or locomotive Amtrak has currently in service with the exception of Heritage Units. Use the table below to navigate through photos and descriptions of Amtrak's current paint schemes...

On the P42DC shown above, Phase III was the paint scheme on this unit as delivered from GE. This was the mainstay for Amtrak as far as paint schemes as it first was unveiled on Amfleet II Coaches in the early 1980's and lasted until around 1994 before Phase IV was released.

On this F40PHR, Phase III is shown here on what were the most commonly seen locomotives running on Amtrak for many years until their eventual replacement by the GE Genesis units (P42DC, etc...). Note the brighter color blue used on the F40's compared to the P42's as shown in the top photo.

This Amfleet I Coach shows Phase III on a typical passenger car. Most cars have now since been repainted and this paint scheme is now becoming rare.

The P42 shown above was repainted into this scheme at some point. This survived as Amtrak's official paint scheme starting around 1994 and lasting until 2001 when the second order of P42's were delivered in the new Phase V paint.

Near the end of their careers on Amtrak, a few F40's received the Phase IV paint as noted on #406 in this photo, taken in 2000 as F40's were becoming trailing units on Long-Distance trains.

Phase IV on an Amfleet II Coach. This scheme was relatively standard on most of Amtrak's inter-city equipment for several years.

This P42DC was delivered in Amtrak's current Phase V paint. Two variations of this scheme exist with the first being in the above photo featuring a red pinstripe with a blue color over the fuel tank and over the trucks along with a smaller Amtrak logo in front of the cab door.

This P42DC features the simplified Phase V paint with the blue stripe along the bottom removed as well as the red pinstripe and small Amtrak logo in front of the cab door. This is now the standard paint for all of Amtrak's road power.

Phase VI (also refered to as "Phase IVb") is a take of the Phase IV paint scheme utilizing Amtrak's new "Travelmark" logo and seating class. "Custom Class" is now "Business Class" as shown on the coach in the above photo. The paint scheme also uses a slightly brighter blue color. This is quickly becoming the standard Amtrak paint scheme nationwide on most of the inter-city equipment.

Amtrak's paint scheme for its Acela Express Equipment. Phase V on the P42's was a take of this paint scheme. Amtrak, for a time had plans to change its entire identity to Acela including it's operations outside of the Northeast Corridor, thus this paint scheme was introduced as part of that transition. The actual changeover of all services to Acela never materialized but the paint scheme stuck.

Thankfully, this paint scheme didn't last very long. It was applied to Amfleet I Coaches in the Northeast as part of the Capstone 2000 Rebuild Project to upgrade these coaches for use on the new Acela branding of services. The Capstone project would continue in terms of refurbishing the coaches so that regular coaches for example would have 72 seats and updated decor. With David Gunn taking over Amtrak in 2002, all plans to change all of Amtrak service over to the "Acela" branding were scrapped with the exception of the Acela Express High-Speed Trains keeping their name. Amfleet coaches at that point began being repainted into the now current Phase VI paint scheme.

Amtrak California uses this paint scheme on its fleet of F59PHI's featuring a dark royal blue with silver paint and white pinstripes. These locomotives are owned by the State Of California and rarely venture from their home territory operating Pacific Surfliner Trains between San Diego & Los Angeles with some service as far North as San Luis Obispo, CA.

Amtrak California's paint scheme used on Pacific Surfliner Passenger Cars. These state-owned cars operate between San Diego & Los Angeles with some service to San Luis Obispo, and feature the dark royal blue with silver and white similar to the F59PHI locomotives.