This diesel engine pulled Chicago area mainline passenger and commuter trains before becoming a California movie star.

It was built for the Chicago & North Western Railroad in July 1950 by General Motors Electro-Motive Division (EMD). It contains two V-12 diesel engines driving dual DC generators, providing 2,250 horsepower. It served on the renowned "400" trains until the 1971 Amtrak takeover, then transferred to commuter service.

In 1992 it was moved to California where it appeared in movies such as "Torque" starring the actor Ice Cube, filmed on the Arizona & California Railroad in 2004. It was then purchased by a private owner who moved it to the museum in 2006 for display and storage.

These units were built in pairs. This one was C&NW 5022A (construction number 11493) paired with C&NW 5022B (construction number 11494), but 5022B was scrapped in the early 2000s. The locomotive′s two 567B prime movers drive generators that power the traction motors on the outermost axles on each truck (configuration A1A-A1A).

The unusual numbering of the pair 5022A and 5022B is not to be confused with the usual designation of "A-unit" for diesels with cabs, and "B-unit" for those without. 5022A and 5022B were both "A-units."

The C&NW′s most famous train was the "400," which traveled the 400 miles from Chicago to Minneapolis/St. Paul in 400 minutes. It was renamed the "Twin Cities 400" when the other passenger trains were given "400" names also. The "Twin Cities 400" ran from 1935 to 1963.

In the 1960s the steam boiler was replaced with a head end power (HEP) generator for Chicago commuter service, and in 1974 this locomotive became Chicago Regional Transportation 519. It then became METRA 519, and was retired in 1991.

In 1992 it went to Pacific Rail Dismantlers on the west coast as PRDX 519, then was purchased in 1997 by Monad Railway Equipment as MREX 97, where it became available for movie use and was displayed at Fullerton Railroad Days for several years. In the movie "Torque" in 2004, actor Ice Cube landed a motorcycle on top of a moving train, with filming done on the Arizona & California Railroad (location not determined).

In 2006 the unit was purchased by the Florida East Coast Railway as FEC 97 for business train service, to be moved out of California on the BNSF, but it did not have alignment control couplers. So it went to the Pacific Harbor Line shops for modification, but it was determined to be too costly and the deal fell through.

In 2007 Sonia Orlenko bought it and moved it to the Arizona Railway Museum for display and storage. Sonia was writer, director, and producer of the film "Rhapsody on Rails" (1997).

The locomotive was sold to Iowa Pacific Holdings in 2012, but it remains at the museum awaiting further disposition.

	3/21/2010 - Locomotive numbered FEC 97 in anticipation of shipment (that never materialized).
	3/21/2010 - Side view of the locomotive.
	8/1980 - E-8 in service on the METRA "CNW" line in Chicago.
	5/1980 - C&NW 519, at Oelwein, Iowa.  Jim Shepherd photo.

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