Norfolk Southern 4610 where is it and where is it going

[samfp1943]

If you look real close 4610 is in the building behind the new SD80MAC displaying their new 'Admiral Safety Cabs"

Juniata Shops at Altoona,Pa. ( July 2011 )

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=368899

here is the TRAINS Thread linked:

  http://cs.trains.com/TRCCS/themes/trc/forums/thread.aspx?ThreadID=195453&PageIndex=1

[rrnut282]

THU08SEP2011

Assigned to local train L68 from Muncie to Fort Wayne.  It's on the point Eastbound (northbound) short hood leading, paired with PRR 5401 (SD38).  As I type this in the afternoon, it is locked up in the clear at the Bluffton Ethanol Plant (right outside my window). 

I would expect it to be on L69 tomorrow Fort Wayne to Muncie as typically NS keeps locomotives assigned to these paired local trains for several weeks at a time.  Muncie has several locals that it originates, so it could bounce around East-Central Indiana for quite a while.  As always, it will go where it's needed, not where you want to photograph it.

[Georgia Railroader]

I worked a local several months back and we had this unit. Sharp looking.

[bushhog8fan]

anyone got up to date picture of it?

[oltmannd]

Now at Bellevue

[samfp1943]

Hopefully here is an image of 4610:

http://southern-railway.railfan.net/sry/gpsd/sou4610.jpg

[blue streak 1]

wabash1

Chris is right the southern never had duel control stands it was the N&W and it was sd40 engines that had duel control stands. duel control stamds are useless as i never got up and switch seats to run the engine. and last i saw it it was in GA. but not brunswick but i can recheck

N&W also got some GP-9s with dual controls. Were used on branch line operations such as the Abington branch if the train did not need to go to the end of the line.  

[oltmannd]

Arrived Conway at 2:15AM on an extra of 19G.

[bob4189]

As of about 2 hours ago, 8PM 7/13/11, it was on a heavy westbound freight leaving Altoona, PA and was in good company with 2 GP-38-2s, a GP-38-3, and 2 SD40-2s.  NS has been running some really weird power combinations here lately but a green engine really sticks out. 

[wabash1]

Chris is right the southern never had duel control stands it was the N&W and it was sd40 engines that had duel control stands. duel control stamds are useless as i never got up and switch seats to run the engine. and last i saw it it was in GA. but not brunswick but i can recheck

[NSDash9]

Let me comment on several things in this thread:

NS 4610 is currently working at the NS yard in Brunswick, GA.

The GP59 was not an experimental locomotive model. It was simply a 12-cylinder, 3,000 horsepower variant offered at the time, as EMD had done with its past locomotive series:

EMD 40 series = GP38/GP39/GP40
Dash 2 line = GP38-2/GP39-2/GP40-2
50 series = GP49/GP50

As was mentioned, the GP59's were purchased by Norfolk Southern and assigned on paper to its Southern Railway operating subsidiary at the time. 

The GP59's do NOT have dual control stands. All but two units are equipped with a bi-directional control stand with the long hood designated as the front.  The other two (NS 4607 and 4608 - ex EMD demo units 9 and 10) are equipped with a standard single control stand with the short hood designated as the front. 

The Southern Railway never equipped any of its locomotives with dual control stands.  It equipped its new high hood locomotives with a bi-directional control stand with the long hood designated as the front from the delivery of the SD45's in 1967 to the merger with N&W in 1982.

Chris Toth
NSDash9.com
http://nsdash9.com

. 

[WSOR 3801]

 The GP59s were covered in the May-June 1995 issue of Diesel Era.  IIRC, they were sublettered for Southern, and were set up for long hood forward.  I have to go back and check.

[carnej1]

ns&emdfan

I must disagree in a non aggresive way. The GP59 was an experimental platform for the GP60 yes the motors were diffrent but they did not need to test the motors in the field since the were already in the GP and SD 50 and 60. They were testing the frame and how well a modern microprocessor controlled  4 axle locomotive would perform since the motor and the electric generator, traction motors etc. were already being used on other 6 axle units. But these were actually the last units orderd by the southernalong with the SD 60s but  they were recived after the merger, hince the 4610 being painted in southern scheme by the NS a sure fire way to confirm this fact is the next time you see a SD or GP60 if your able to look in the cab youll notice that they have dual control stands since the southern ran there locos long hood foward most of the time. once again im not being aggresive about this.

 Given that the first GP60 was outshopped in October 1985 and NS didn't place their large order for GP59s until 1989 (by which time ATSF,SP, and others were already operating fleets of GP60's) it is not correct to say that the GP59s were"experimental" units for the 60 series. What may be confusing you is that NS did purchase the first three GP59s built from EMD in 1986. These demonstrator units had been outshopped in June 1985 so the Southern could not have ordered the units in 1981.

 Southern did purchase 6 GP39X units in 1980 which were experimental testbeds for the 50 series (GP49/50) but these were high nose locomotives .

I will happily provide multiple references on build dates if you are still in doubt ( the diesel shop website has all this info and I also have several reference books)...

[silicon212]

ns&emdfan

I must disagree in a non aggresive way. The GP59 was an experimental platform for the GP60 yes the motors were diffrent but they did not need to test the motors in the field since the were already in the GP and SD 50 and 60. They were testing the frame and how well a modern microprocessor controlled  4 axle locomotive would perform since the motor and the electric generator, traction motors etc. were already being used on other 6 axle units. But these were actually the last units orderd by the southernalong with the SD 60s but  they were recived after the merger, hince the 4610 being painted in southern scheme by the NS a sure fire way to confirm this fact is the next time you see a SD or GP60 if your able to look in the cab youll notice that they have dual control stands since the southern ran there locos long hood foward most of the time. once again im not being aggresive about this.

 

Better fact check that -

 

The Southern and N&W merged in 1982 to form the current Norfolk Southern, taking the new name from an earlier "Norfolk Southern Railway" that was purchased by Southern in prior years.  No 60 series units existed at this time.  EMD had the 710 engine under development in 1982 and this would form the power for the 60 series two years later.

While the locomotives might have been ordered by 'Southern', in reality there was no individual 'Southern' at the time of the order - it was a NS subsidiary on paper at this point, much like the D&RGW GP60s - at the time of the order on those there was no more D&RGW as it was already SP at this point (even though the ownership of SP was Rio Grande Industries).

With any particular series, i.e. 40 or 50, the 12 cylinder version was one number down i.e. a GP39-2 was a 12-cylinder version of a GP40-2, likewise a GP49 was a 12 cylinder GP50 (Alaska Railroad had a number of these), and a GP59 is a 12 cylinder variant of a GP60.

In the 60 series, the first delivered units were SD60s beginning in 1985 (Oakway Leasing SD60s for Burlington Northern), the first 4-axle variants were GP60s ordered by SPSF for Southern Pacific in December 1987.  The GP59s for NS were all delivered in 1989, as a single order (demonstrator units notwithstanding).  The demonstrators for both the GP59 and GP60 were built alongside eachother in 1985.  Every 60 series unit built (including the 59s) uses an onboard microprocessor.

The 4610 was originally delivered in NS black and was repainted into its current scheme, honoring the Southern, in 1994.  It was repainted again in 2004.

http://www.thedieselshop.us/Data%20EMD%20GP59.HTML

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EMD_GP59

http://www.nsdash9.com/rosters/4606.html

 

 

[ns&emdfan]

I must disagree in a non aggresive way. The GP59 was an experimental platform for the GP60 yes the motors were diffrent but they did not need to test the motors in the field since the were already in the GP and SD 50 and 60. They were testing the frame and how well a modern microprocessor controlled  4 axle locomotive would perform since the motor and the electric generator, traction motors etc. were already being used on other 6 axle units. But these were actually the last units orderd by the southernalong with the SD 60s but  they were recived after the merger, hince the 4610 being painted in southern scheme by the NS a sure fire way to confirm this fact is the next time you see a SD or GP60 if your able to look in the cab youll notice that they have dual control stands since the southern ran there locos long hood foward most of the time. once again im not being aggresive about this.

[silicon212]

ns&emdfan

The NS 4610 is a GP59 which is a experimental version of the GP60 it was the last locomotuve orderd by the southern and NS has painted this loco in green white and gold southern scheme its a one of a kind paint scheme

 

Just to clear up any confusion, a GP59 is not an experimental version of a GP60.  It has a 12 cylinder, 3,000 HP 710 engine while the GP60 has a 3,800HP 16 cylinder 710 engine.  They were on the EMD catalog along with the GP60.  Only NS bought them.  They were built in 1989, long after the end of the Southern as a sovereign railroad.

[bubbajustin]

ns&emdfan

The NS 4610 is a GP59 which is a experimental version of the GP60 it was the last locomotuve orderd by the southern and NS has painted this loco in green white and gold southern scheme its a one of a kind paint scheme

 

That's the loco you were talking to me about isn't it?

[ns&emdfan]

The NS 4610 is a GP59 which is a experimental version of the GP60 it was the last locomotuve orderd by the southern and NS has painted this loco in green white and gold southern scheme its a one of a kind paint scheme

 

[bubbajustin]

What type of loco is it? If it's a SD70 then we probbably can't thlp you. We just don't know I mean it could be doing anything...

[doghouse]

Anything special about this locomotive?

[bubbajustin]

Whell, I don't know...

[ns&emdfan]