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Well the passion for the SD40-2 is noteworthy, but its for Congress and the railroads to decide. And decide they will. We will sit on the sidelines and continue to watch. If the railroads overhaul SD40's, buy AC4400's or SD70's, or whatever, it will be for what works for that particular railroad or service. Back in the late 90's the CSX folks I worked with said they planned on keeping their SD40-2 fleet running as long as they could, and it still looks that way. Let's remember history, the SD40's took many years to develop so maybe (just maybe) if the bugs get worked out 6000 HP locomotives will return. For now I wouldn't put my money on it. To answer the original thread question: no one that I know of (from my contacts back in LaGrange.) Our point about the DC SD70's is that they are running very well, which is the ultimate goal. Maybe the C44's are too, I don't know. I would guess they are from the new BNSF orders. The point that we all agree on is that they have to run, whatever model, whatever manufacturer! When I rode the 4300 HP SD90MAC's I thought it was incredable watching 185,000 lbs of tractive effort show on the screen while we were doing 1.1 mph in TH 8. Or when the crew of a CR eastbound manifest train didn't believe that they could stop the train with just the dynamic brakes of two SD80MAC's coming downhill into Altoona with our train still on the mountain. Or when we accelerated up the mountains of western MASS after having to stop on the grade (with all 10000 HP and 40 cylinders!). So keep in mind that this stuff is fabulous when it works, it may just take more time to get 6000 HP up to reasonable reliability. I don't expect the railroads to buy new ones but they haven't scrapped the ones they have yet. I know there are people in LaGrange and Erie working very hard on it.
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