Between May 1988 and May 1994, 72 F59PH locomotives were built for two commuter transit railroads:
GO Transit of
Toronto and
Metrolink of
Los Angeles. GO Transit began retiring its F59PH locomotives in 2008 in favor of newer
MPI MPXpress locomotives. Most were purchased by other operators including
Exo (10 locomotives),
Metra (3),
NCDOT (11) for use on the
Piedmont, and
Trinity Railway Express (7). Five of the NCDOT units were rebuilt into
cab control units without prime movers. Seven Metrolink units were rebuilt as
F59PHR. The non-rebuilt Metrolink locomotives were retired by 2020. Five of those were purchased by NCDOT in 2018. Metrolink donated F59PHR No. 851 to the
Fullerton Train Museum in January 2026. The first nine F59PHI units were purchased by
Caltrans for use on
Amtrak California services and entered service in 1994. A total of 83 locomotives were built, most for commuter rail and Amtrak corridor services on the West Coast. Two F59PHI locomotives were built in 1995 for
Philip Morris Companies to haul the
Marlboro Unlimited, a custom built luxury train to carry winners of a Philip Morris sweepstakes around the country. After Philip Morris cancelled the train, the units were stored before being sold to Metrolink in 1998. Some units are still in service with the original owners, while others have been retired. The 21 ex-Amtrak units were sold to
Metra in 2018. ==Original owners==