Mechanical Department "No no that's fine shove that 20 pound set all around the yard... those shoes aren't hell and a half to change..."
The Missabe Road: Safety First
coborn35 wrote:What about the SD70M-2's? SD70's?
If you were asking me that question, obviously, the locomotives you mentioned are "Direct Current" locomotives. Norfolk Southern owns 80 EMD SD70, narrow cabs, and about 130 EMD SD70M-2's. The SD70M-2's and all other SD70's NS owns were derated to 4,000 horsepower.
Rich
I heard that NS was trying out the ACE in November (see link below). Anyone know if this is true? and if so what was the outcome. I know they have 17 SD80MACs (Their only AC Locos) and have amassed more SD70M-2's than they have ES40C's so its does seem possible.
http://railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=175839
I just saw two UP MAC-HII 3 weeks ago in Marble city OKlahoma the town I grew up in
its on the KCS main line
thay were at the head of a coal drag
I never heard anything about them being put off the roster (The MAC-HIIs) and I am sure there aren't any plans for getting rid of them in the near future... All four of them are used on basically only local freights out of Winnepeg, their maintenence base. This can make for some pretty odd consists, such as one I caught a few years back in Upsala, Ontario. (Sorry about the quality, my photography wasn't as good back then!)
And as for buying SD70ACes, that's just a rumour. This kind of rumour has been around for decades, so please don't accept it as fact. For years I had it coming from more reliable sources that CP was getting SD70MACs, and as you can see....
Go here for my rail shots! http://www.railpictures.net/showphotos.php?userid=9296
Building the CPR Kootenay division in N scale, blog here: http://kootenaymodelrailway.wordpress.com/
Trainmaster.Curt wrote:Yeah, those SD90MAC H-II's are loud suckers, and massive, i hope to get some on video here in Winnipeg
Better hurry, as EMD may pull a GE, and stop supporting them!
The price for SD70ACes various depending on accessories, KCS ordered theirs without the HTCR radial steer truck and they cost $2.11 million, they paid $2.17 million for their batch of ES44ACs recently delivered to KCSdeM. Like anything else price is negotiable, larger quantities give the buyer more leverage.
UP has pretty much given up on the SD90MAC-H, they still have 20 of the first batch on the roster, but they are in secondary service where a failure doesn't cause big problems. The entire second batch was returned to EMD, along with the prototype. All 41 were leased to KCS who didn't have much luck with them either. All of these are now stored. In contrast CP is willing to allow EMD to tinker with their 4 SD90MAC-H locomotives, they seem to be running more steadily now, but they are restricted to working close to the EMD maintenance facility in Winnipeg, MB.They cycle between Saskatoon, and Thunder Bay on secondary manifests and grain trains.
There are no plans to dispose of CP's SD90MACs with the 4300hp. engine. They are restricted to Canadian service only, because CP saves money by not keeping up the FRA certification.
With UP and now CP dumping those SD90s, I wonder what will become of them? Is there a lease market for them? They're fairly new, but I guess they're not much younger than the ALCO Centuries were when railroads started getting rid of them.
Second question, because I can't tell by looking at them, are the variations of the SD90 really that much bigger than an SD70ACe? To my eyes, they look about the same.