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BNSF retiring BN SD70MACs?

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Posted by GDRMCo on Tuesday, September 22, 2015 8:54 AM
They only have to meet Tier 1 upon rebuild iirc, maybe only Tier 0+.

ML

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Posted by Entropy on Tuesday, September 22, 2015 7:14 AM

No BN/BNSF SD70MAC was Tier 2.

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Posted by Leo_Ames on Tuesday, September 15, 2015 10:35 PM

I've been wondering when we'd see something here with the SD70MAC fleet. Glad to see that hopefully at least a significant portion of the fleet has a long life ahead of it.

Can't imagine it encompassing the entire fleet of survivors though. Anyone familiar with the different groups and whether they're leased or owned (I imagine the leased units will be the least likely to enter this program)?

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Posted by caldreamer on Tuesday, September 15, 2015 9:54 PM

Ok, since they first wwre deliverd in 1993 these engines have to had to meet the tier 2 standrads straight from the factory.  So a rebuild would be far less than the 2.2 million dollars for a new engine and they would still meet the r emissions standrad.

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Posted by BILLY HUNTER on Monday, September 14, 2015 9:27 PM
http://trn.trains.com/news/news-wire/2015/09/09-bnsf-overhaul?utm_source=SilverpopMailing&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=TRN_News_Sub_150914_Final&utm_content=
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Posted by BaltACD on Monday, June 21, 2010 11:37 AM

narig01

 My 2 cents Just a comment. A week and a half ago I was thru Lincoln, Ne on SR-2 / US 77 and was surprised to see that the dead line there is gone.(No locos stored). 

         In 15 years of going thru this is the first time I had not seen any stored locomotives.  I meant to post something about this. But this seemed a good place to ask. The query is where did these locomotives go?

Thx IGN

One of two places....back in service or to the bone yard (which could be either a scrap yard or to a leasing firm)

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Posted by narig01 on Sunday, June 20, 2010 8:17 PM

 My 2 cents Just a comment. A week and a half ago I was thru Lincoln, Ne on SR-2 / US 77 and was surprised to see that the dead line there is gone.(No locos stored). 

         In 15 years of going thru this is the first time I had not seen any stored locomotives.  I meant to post something about this. But this seemed a good place to ask. The query is where did these locomotives go?

Thx IGN

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Posted by Evergreen24 on Friday, June 18, 2010 11:36 PM

Oops sorry!!!   I meant another model.

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Posted by YoHo1975 on Thursday, June 17, 2010 12:59 PM
Why would you think the MACs have more miles on them than the average SD40-2. I can't think of a single reason that statement would be true.
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Posted by Evergreen24 on Tuesday, June 15, 2010 7:06 PM

"An average locomotive's lifespan is about 25 to 30 years...."

This could be true, yet this actually went to steam locomotives who lasted that long (!).

As Silicon212 mentioned, the oldest SD70MAC (BNSF 9401) is approaching 17 - 18 years. They have surely racked up more miles than the average SD40-2, but there hasn't been any retirements...yet.  However, BNSF may sell or retire them since they were the earliest examples of operating with Alternating Current and computers. Why? The technology wasn't completely refined as it is today with SD70ACe's or ES44AC's. The inverters then proved to be expensive as they had to generate a variable frequency.

 

A recorrection of the SD70MAC's built:

November 1993 - September 1994
Burlington Northern 9400 - 9474 (Units were not built in sequence)

August 1994 - March 1995
Burlington Northern 9475 - 9499, 9504 - 9541

November 1994 - January 1995
Burlington Northern 9542 - 9571

March 1995 - January 1996
Burlington Northern 9572 - 9710

June - July 1996
Burlington Northern 9713 - 9716 (DPU Test Units)

January 1996
Burlington Northern Santa Fe 9711 - 9712

http://community-2.webtv.net/ajkristopans/60and70SERIES/

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Posted by CSSHEGEWISCH on Tuesday, June 1, 2010 6:44 AM

silicon212

The oldest mainline SD70MACs are approaching 18 years.

Which means that for accounting and tax purposes, they are fully depreciated.

The daily commute is part of everyday life but I get two rides a day out of it. Paul
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Posted by silicon212 on Monday, May 31, 2010 11:52 AM

The oldest mainline SD70MACs are approaching 18 years.

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Posted by coolhandluke on Monday, May 31, 2010 2:54 AM

i would like to know how old were the sd70macs my understanding that they weren't that old if so how old may be 25 years or less

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Posted by YoHo1975 on Tuesday, May 25, 2010 1:33 PM
Andrew Falconer

I saw the new BNSF SD70MACs being delivered over the GTW in 1995 and 1996. I wonder if these are ones that are going to be leased, as the SD70ACe fleet overtakes them in performance.

 Andrew

As far as I know, the units being leased are the earliest units on the roster, the ones that were delivered in BN paint.

I would think that yes, the ACe's coming in along with the general traffic downturn would be why they are up for lease.

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Posted by CSSHEGEWISCH on Tuesday, May 25, 2010 12:11 PM

Older power has customarily been that which was leased out when one road had a power surplus and another had a power shortage.

The daily commute is part of everyday life but I get two rides a day out of it. Paul
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Posted by Andrew Falconer on Tuesday, May 25, 2010 12:53 AM

I saw the new BNSF SD70MACs being delivered over the GTW in 1995 and 1996. I wonder if these are ones that are going to be leased, as the SD70ACe fleet overtakes them in performance.

 Andrew

Andrew

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Posted by rdgk1se3019 on Tuesday, May 18, 2010 1:42 PM

 Looks like this is way off topic now.

Dennis Blank Jr.

CEO,COO,CFO,CMO,Bossman,Slavedriver,Engineer,Trackforeman,Grunt. Birdsboro & Reading Railroad

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Posted by YoHo1975 on Wednesday, May 12, 2010 7:03 PM
Caught the following second hand originally from locophotos
BNSF is sending some of their SD70MACs to Mexico for short-term lease to FXE. I have seen elswhere that 40 is the number. That matches what I have found, here. The following are at El Paso, TX: 9646, 9647, 9649, 9650, 9651, 9652, 9653, 9656, 9658, 9659, 9661, 9663, 9666, 9668, 9673, 9674, 9675, 9682, 9683, 9713, 9714, 9716 There are two light engine moves, Alliance to El Paso. This one departed May 8: 9643, 9670, 9672, 9676, 9677, 9679, 9685, 9687 This one departed May 11: 9648, 9654, 9657, 9669, 9681, 9684 And four more on a vehicle train to El Paso: 9660, 9665, 9678, 9686
Note, no mention of retirement and it is a short term lease
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Posted by GP40-2 on Saturday, May 8, 2010 4:41 PM
YoHo1975

I was basing my comments on Pitt on "number of Air action days" 

Again, the majority of those action days are triggered by one reporting station, the Liberty-Clairton station, which is located in the Monongahela River Valley 15 miles south of Pittsburgh. Because of the geography (low river valley surrounded by very high, steep hills) and a large localized pollution source (US Steel's Clairton Coke Works) this reporting station gets very skewed readings. A large chunk of metro Pittsburgh's electricity is generated by nuclear power (not coal as most believe) and Pennsylvania has a strict auto emission program in place for the region. You really can't do much about the stuff blowing in from the Mid-West until those states are in federal compliance also. Perfect example why air quality needs to be looked at in a large, regional view rather than a metro by metro area basis.
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Posted by YoHo1975 on Saturday, May 8, 2010 1:49 PM

 I will vouch for the Slovak women.

Just don't call them Czech or Czechoslovakian.

 

I was basing my comments on Pitt on "number of Air action days" 

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Posted by GP40-2 on Friday, May 7, 2010 11:27 PM
edbenton

Slovack and German with some Irish here. 

My wife is 100% Slovak. It is amusing when she tells people her heritage, and everybody usually reply "Wow that's interesting." Then they think about it and say "Umm...what's a Slovak?"

That's when I reply "Slovakia is a small Eastern European country that is home to the most beautiful women in the world" Instant points scored with the wife. LOL. Actually, if you have every been to Slovakia or the neighboring Czech Republic you will find that is absolutely true about the women.

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Posted by GP40-2 on Friday, May 7, 2010 11:02 PM
blue streak 1

GP40-2

Sorry, but this really made me chuckle. Do you have any biological statistics showing this trend of " 6-9 inches shorter"?What made you immune to the pollution but not others? How did the smog make other people shorter?

If

ok: No scientific studies at all. However I am 6'3" and when I visited downtown Pitt in the late 60s and 70s I could see over almost the whole crowd. Now when I returned in the late 90s I could no longer do that. Unscientific? Yes! Not a random sampling? Yes! Just was very startling when I was able to see over the crowd. Same effect I also noted in Glascow Scottland at about the same time periods. (another poluted area in the time B4 WW 2 and the 1970s.

I did not live in these polution areas but when in them did not have some of the problems as other contemporarys did have..

As to why shorter? I have no idea. Suspect growth retarded somehow but only suspicion.

 

I suspect it is ethnicity more than anything else. Western Pa also has one of the largest southern Italian populations in the U.S. Historically, the Italians lived in the urban areas such as downtown and other manufacturing towns in the region. The immigrant generation, and the first generation did tend to be shorter in height from what I can remember. However, that is not true anymore. I know some younger guys of Italian ancestry that are quite tall. Mostly likely due to parents marriage outside their ethnic group, or better nutrition than the original immigrants.
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Posted by GP40-2 on Friday, May 7, 2010 10:44 PM
YoHo1975
Pittsburgh still has some of the worst Airquality in the country.

That's really not true. The problem is with one, and only one, particulate reporting station that is located in a valley ***directly*** downwind of the Clairton Coke Works. None of the other reporting stations in Allegheny County report bad air quality. However, all it takes it one "bad" reporting station to get a bad rating.

They have been trying for years to get this station moved to a better location, but to no avail. The problem will go away by 2014 since United States Steel has committed billions of dollars to upgrade the Coke Works, which will make it the most pollution free facility of that type in the world.

Other than Clariton Coke, and the nearby Mon Valley Steel Works, the Pittsburgh area is pretty much free of traditional heavy manufacturing now. The vast majority of any air pollution present is what drifts in from the Mid-West. The Mid-Western states are also under federal orders to reduce that pollution.

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Posted by BNSFwatcher on Friday, May 7, 2010 5:14 PM

Are you a 5'-0" blonde, white female, < 25 y-o-a?  Maybe I could take you away from the (cough) air qualility in Pittsburgh!  We'un's got horses, out here in Montana!

Hays

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Posted by YoHo1975 on Friday, May 7, 2010 2:48 PM
Pittsburgh still has some of the worst Airquality in the country.
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Posted by blue streak 1 on Friday, May 7, 2010 12:31 PM

GP40-2

Sorry, but this really made me chuckle. Do you have any biological statistics showing this trend of " 6-9 inches shorter"?What made you immune to the pollution but not others? How did the smog make other people shorter?

If

ok: No scientific studies at all. However I am 6'3" and when I visited downtown Pitt in the late 60s and 70s I could see over almost the whole crowd. Now when I returned in the late 90s I could no longer do that. Unscientific? Yes! Not a random sampling? Yes! Just was very startling when I was able to see over the crowd. Same effect I also noted in Glascow Scottland at about the same time periods. (another poluted area in the time B4 WW 2 and the 1970s.

I did not live in these polution areas but when in them did not have some of the problems as other contemporarys did have..

As to why shorter? I have no idea. Suspect growth retarded somehow but only suspicion.

 

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Posted by edbenton on Friday, May 7, 2010 9:26 AM

Slovack and German with some Irish here.  Oldest Brother is 5-10 Middle one is 6-1 I am 6-6 we think the Oldest one ended up with more Irish blood than the rest of US. Trouble is I got the IRSIH temper.  My wife is 6-1 so lord help me with the kids my daughter at 3 is already over 3 feet tall my son at 7 is close to 4 and a half feet tall.  My youngest is 7 months and allready is over 28 inches long.  I AM IN TROUBLE for clothes when they get older.  Maybe one of my kids will be able to catch a football or shoot a basketball and get into the pros.  Beter yet be a Linebacker.  I can dream can't I

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Posted by GP40-2 on Friday, May 7, 2010 8:56 AM
blue streak 1
... Another strange effect was thru the 1960s people in the Pittsburgh area were at least 6 - 9 inches shorter than others not in that area.

Smog never had much effect on me but guess I just picked the correct parents. But other people I knew--------------????????!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

Sorry, but this really made me chuckle. Do you have any biological statistics showing this trend of " 6-9 inches shorter"?What made you immune to the pollution but not others? How did the smog make other people shorter?

If anything, I have found that people in Western Pennsylvania tend to be bigger than average due to so many of them being of either German or Eastern European heritage, which in general tend to be a taller people. I'm 6' 2", and I was at best average height for males in my high school.

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Posted by edbenton on Thursday, May 6, 2010 6:39 AM

Why CAT has mixed results is his .  They are like FM an Oddball.  You give the same 3516 that was in the MK5000 series they can make that baby sing for MONTHS at a time.  See RR mechanics like thing SIMPLE PULL AND REPLACE.  That is how they work I have had a couple ex roundhouse workers as in shops were I was a Driver.  NO DIAGNOSTIC SKILLS they throw parts at it til they get it fixed.  Could that be why EMD is still using the BASIC design since the late 30's that way they can keep the old hands from going NUTS.  As soon as I saw EMD came out with the H block series I knew that it was going to be a Failure for this one reason RR's HATE CHANGE.  Look at their History they fought Airbrakes Automatic Couplers heck they have fought ANYTHING that would have brought Change to THEM. 

 

Always at war with those that think OTR trucking is EASY.

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