Saving this Channel's Namesake
Coaster 2105 is an F40PHM-2C type diesel-electric locomotive that was completed in November of 1994 for the San Diego Coaster commuter rail service. The locomotive pulled commuter trains along the Pacific Ocean Coast for over two decades. Growing up, this was Mike Armstrong's favorite locomotive, both because he had a model of it as a kid and because he got to ride behind it numerous times on the Coaster.
It was announced in 2018 that locomotive 2105 and the other Coaster F40s would be retired, so Mike immediately began planning to save the locomotive. San Diego's North County Transit District, the agency that operates the Coaster, donated all five of the Coaster F40s to the Pacific Southwest Railway Museum (PSRM). The museum was only interested in preserving locomotive 2103 and in 2022, actively began looking for homes for the other locomotives.
Mike worked with PSRM and the Southern California Railway Museum (SCRM) in Perris, CA to save the 2105 and transfer ownership to SCRM. A deal was reached in July of 2022 and finally, after nearly three years in storage, Coaster 2105 arrived at the Southern California Railway Museum for everyone to enjoy. Today, the locomotive continues to be used on occasion on the museum's weekend excursion trains.
