By Railfan & Railroad Staff

A newly formed non-profit announced last week that it had acquired an Amtrak AEM-7 locomotive for preservation. Amtrak 927 is the fourth AEM-7 saved for preservation. 

Locomotive 927 is one of 54 units built for Amtrak by General Motors Electro-Motive Division and ASEA between 1978 and 1988. The AEM-7 was the workhorse of the Northeast and Keystone Corridors until retirement in June 2016. Because the design was based on the Swedish SJ Rc4 locomotive, the AEM-7s were affectionately nicknamed “Swedish Meatballs.” Their boxy shape also earned them the nickname “Toasters.”

Northeast Rail Heritage, Inc., was founded in 2023 to preserve historic equipment important to the northeastern U.S. President Mike Huhn said saving 927 was an opportunity his group could not pass up. The locomotive was previously owned by Seaview Transportation Co. 

“Mechanically, it’s fully intact, with only a few missing exterior lighting fixtures,” he said. “We plan to cosmetically restore it to its original Phase III paint scheme and keep it serviceable for potential future operations.”

The locomotive is currently in Rhode Island and plans are underway to move it to a new home in the future.

The other AEM-7s preserved include 915 at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in Strasburg; 917 at the Danbury Railway Museum in Connecticut; and 945 at the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, Ill.

For more information, visit NortheastRailHeritage.org.