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Why so few SD.80 MACS?
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I'll vouch for the ride quality of SD40-2s, Mark! I once had the pleasure to ride one through southwest Montana at 40mph on relatively old, jointed rail. Aside from the flanges bottoming out on a few joint bars (don't hit your head on the cab roof!), it rode quite well. <br /> <br />To take one more step on the SD70MAC - AC4400 debate, from my experience, mine run crews in Appalachia *vastly* prefer the flood loading capabilities of the GEs. They can really get down and crawl without much throttle tweaking, and fine speed adjustments are possible, which really comes in handy when the loader bogs down (which it will). Hopefully EMD addressed this in the SD70ACe. <br /> <br />Also, since I'm jumping in late (very interesting thread, by the way), I couldn't help but notice someone mentioned the POTB earlier. Now there's a railroad! Just to hear those old 567s beating a fast cadence up the Salmonberry Canyon was easily worth the hike and the drive down the logging roads. I never realized it takes Run 7 just to get a light SD9 up the hill, though! Wow. Now I understand why those Dash 7s didn't last long. When somebody told me they couldn't pull themselves up the grade, they literally must not have been kidding. <br /> <br />In October and November when the leaves fall down along the river, it isn't uncommon to triple the hill with a decent-sized train. I even heard one tale of it taking five trips -- that crew didn't make it to Banks! I'll bet the POTB's ongoing struggle to survive might make for an interesting story. <br /> <br />And speaking of locomotives that sound good, for a year I lived in an apartment on the east side of Cleveland that bordered the rapid transit, NKP and the Cleveland Shortline (CSX). NS had a slight EB grade out of their East 55th St. yard (I say "had" because the yard is now closed), and were never ones to overpower anything. You could always tell by the bark when there was a GP38 in the consist. I once saw them send a loaded coal train out behind four of 'em. You could hear those babies coming from a mile away! <br /> <br />Scott Lothes <br />Cleveland, OH
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