F40PH

About

F40PH is a diesel-electric locomotive that once served as the standard engine train for Amtrak’s fleets. On 4chan, images of F40PH trains have been primarily used as a counter-response to the contentious Furry Friday threads, which became known as “F40PH Friday.” Among F40PH enthusiasts, the great scale of the locomotive is comparable to that of Chuck Norris or Billy Mays.

Origin

The strange phenomenon of posting train images began in early 2007, largely in reaction to the heavy influx of furry porn threads on 4chan’s /b/ (random) board in honor of Furry Fridays, one of 4chan’s quirky traditions that has been around since 2005.

The Urban Dictionary¹ entry for “F40PH Friday” was first submitted on August 30th, 2007:

What replaced Fur Friday at /b/
“It’s F40ph Friday” Bob cried. Let’s post some trainz!

According to several firsthand accounts¹⁰, the F40PH Friday campaign officially began in early 2008 with intent to replace Furry Friday threads. This effort soon led to a head-to-head clash between those who wanted to retain “Furry Friday” and those who wanted “F40PH Friday” threads to replace the former¹¹.

Spread

While F40PH image threads initially gained prominence through its usage against Furry Friday threads, many users have also come to appreciate the train for its respectable stature in the history of American railroad. Today, images of F40PH still appear on 4chan² and other similar imageboard communities, sometimes in following the custom of F40PH fridays and other times in honor of the train in itself.

Eventually, 4chan’s F40PH enthusiasm spread out across other forums and imageboard sites, most notably on 1chan.net³, an imageboard community built around the common interest of railroads and train-spotting, as well as spawning a number of tribute videos and sites on YouTube⁴ and YTMND.⁵

The phenomenon has been documented on ED⁶ and Wikifur⁷, while the fame of F40PH has also reached other locomotive enthusiast communities and forums, such as Trains.com⁸ and Rail Forums⁹.

Excerpt from Encyclopedia Dramatica:

Some F40PH facts:
# With F40PH you WIN THE GAME
# Most of those Chuck Norris “facts” are really about the Michael Jackson.
# Adding a F40PH to almost anything will make it auto win.

Usage

Typically, F40PH threads can be generated with the aid of a directory dumper software and the obligatory battlecry YIFF IN HELL, FURFAGS. Due to the polarized opinions on furry porn threads and locomotive threads, F40PH train threads may be received differently depending on the culture within each imageboard. For example, any mentions or image uploads of F40PH on Fchan will result in an immediate ban.