beaulieu wrote:Nope UP doesn't have any SD50s left, must have been an SD60. The only way too tell them apart is count hood doors. No railroad has retired any SD60s except UP and Soo Line. Neither railroad wanted to retire and lose them but the buyout at the end of the lease was just too much money.
They finally retired the remaining MP/D&RGW SD50s then. I know that the DRGW units had been collected at Little Rock.
6 of them CSX's went by today towards St. Louis behind a freshly shopped/re-painted UP SD50 (I THINK... I dont know my modern desiels)
Come to think of it there are ALOT of private road name rolling stock and fresh new Railbox high cubes shorts in that one train. It's almost like the major railroads have left the rolling stock to the private name roads to carry.
ouengr wrote: Many of the units that you mentioned are nearly twenty years old and heavily worn. Many of the class ones have been disposing of SD60's recently. It is only a matter of time before the first wide cabs are scrapped. I have seen pictures of UP deadlines that include SD60Ms and C40-8W. I was a litttle suprised until I saw built dates of 1989.In many cases the units are just too old to keep reliably in service. Repuilding the units does not make sence due to the fuel consumption issues. The new EMD and GE locomotives are just to efficient to make rebuilding programs feasible for twenty years old high horsepower units.
Many of the units that you mentioned are nearly twenty years old and heavily worn. Many of the class ones have been disposing of SD60's recently. It is only a matter of time before the first wide cabs are scrapped. I have seen pictures of UP deadlines that include SD60Ms and C40-8W. I was a litttle suprised until I saw built dates of 1989.
In many cases the units are just too old to keep reliably in service. Repuilding the units does not make sence due to the fuel consumption issues. The new EMD and GE locomotives are just to efficient to make rebuilding programs feasible for twenty years old high horsepower units.
The neweer locos are definitely more effiecient but that doesn't mean production can keep up with demand for that quantity of new power. EMD is consistently subcontracting to meet goals. It is more likely, if retirement is the reason for storage lines and not slower traffic, that they will be sold to leasing firms and leased back. The UP and the x-SP tunnel motors now owned by GECX, LTEX, and others is a good example.
Eventually quite a few of these "older" units will go sooner than they otherwise might as they will be unable to meet EPA standards.
LC
neil300 wrote:I stopped by Rice yard in Waycross, GA on Thursday and checked out the loco storage tracks. Instead of the lines of GE Dash-7s that was there last time the tracks are now full of more modern and still useful power like SD40-2, SD50, SD60/60M, C40-8, C40-8W, and at least one SD80MAC. Which leads me to the question. What is the deal? Is there an overhaul program going on there or something?
Its no big deal,these units are in storage right now due to a downturn in traffic. This is the case on all of the class 1's right now. Things should be picking up soon with the annual fall grain rush and you'll be seeing all of these stored units back on the road.
Bryan Jones
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