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t-time: I think what you're saying is that you've read reports that SD70ACe's are being built right now. There are not. SD70MACs with flared radiators are not, repeat, not, SD70ACe's, in spite of what anyone might tell you. The SD70ACe is a radically different design than the SD70MAC and would be very difficult to visually confuse the two, if you study them just a little bit. As of Monday, December 30, there have been no orders placed for SD70ACe's that EMD will confirm. EMD will let us know the day they have an order and can make that fact public. They won't even hint until then, and wisely so -- would you want to give your competitor the news that a deal is in the offing? Not hardly. I've heard reports that CSX may take the last of its current SD70MAC order as SD70ACe's, and that BNSF may get some too, but EMD will neither confirm nor deny that. I'm not even going to be a pest and ask them, because they're not going to tell me anything until the deal is closed. We'll report as soon as we know something accurate and truthful, but we're not in the business of speculation, guesswork, or being wrong. (That's sometimes more FUN, I admit, but when you do that it tends to close doors.) The SD70ACe, according to EMD, will not go into production until well into 2004. To summarize, the only SD70ACe's that exist today are the four prototype units, which as far as I know are all still at the Pueblo Test Track. santaras: Isn't it amazing that copies of the magazine get to Canada before the U.S.! That's because here, USPS holds for tonnage. Yes, EMD and GE ARE offering a very similar product. That's what happens as technology matures -- it converges. The good news is that you probably can't go far wrong buying either one. The bad news is that it actually makes your job much harder. How, if you're the builder, do you convince the railroad that your product is measurably better? And how, if you're the mechanical officer, do you convince your board of directors that you bought the right one? And how, if you're that mechanical officer and you admit that there isn't much difference between the two, do you propose to justify your salary -- or even your job's existence? It's always more fun when technology is moving rapidly, at least from my point of view. That's when people can take big risks and get big rewards, and have big failures, too. I would not, despite all that, say that EMD and GE are building the same product. There are significant differences between the two -- albeit subtle differences -- but when you're buying a thousand locomotives here and a thousand there, subtleties add up. One key difference is that, to summarize, EMD substantially redesigned everything in the locomotive EXCEPT the engine, and GE substantially redesigned ONLY the engine. That, in my mind, presents a railroad with a sharply drawn choice. EMD had very good reasons for doing what they did, and I'm looking forward to hearing GE's reasons. Eric: EMD says the H engine can be made to meet Tier 2.
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