GE Dash 9 car body differences?

[userjh5174]

Why don't you just research it on google?

[Leo_Ames]

Wizlish

Can someone explain to me why these units are still marked as 40s and not patched to reflect the horsepower change?  Are there other reasons to keep them distinguished?

Where are they not marked as such?

If it's just the designation on the side of the cabs that hasn't been updated, my guess is that they'll be updated at their next major shopping or perhaps even wait until they're repainted someday. To a railfan, it doesn't strike me as too important if that label isn't quite 100% accurate although maybe that's not correct. 

But I bet that inside the cab that all units undergoing uprating are correctly labeled as 4,400 HP in the computer system and on their FRA blue card. Probably correctly identified as such with their model desigination, too. 

Is that not the case?

[BigJim]

Bryan Jones

to uprate the C40-9W's....

There you go, "uprate" would be the proper word. Not upgrade, because they already had the capacity to make 4400 hp with the turn of a key.

[Wizlish]

Bryan Jones

The program to uprate the ... ES40DC's to 4400hp was completed a year and half ago

Can someone explain to me why these units are still marked as 40s and not patched to reflect the horsepower change?  Are there other reasons to keep them distinguished?

[Bryan Jones]

The program to uprate the C40-9W's and ES40DC's to 4400hp was completed a year and half ago. The last ES40DC to be uprated was in August 2014 while the last C40-9W was in September 2014.

additionally there are 4 C40-9's that were also updated to 4400hp.

info can be found on Chris Toth's nsdash9.com website.

Bryan Jones

[BigJim]

Well, if you want to consider something that could always have been done with the simple turning of a key a "program", I guess you're right. It's a non-item as far as I'm concerned. Never made the things perform any better anyway.

[NorthWest]

My understanding was that NS was undergoing a program to permanently upgrade all of their locomotives to 4400 HP as coal traffic has declined. Apparently this program has been completed.

[BigJim]

NorthWest

Thanks. I had not heard that NS had completed the upgrade program.

 

There was no upgrade program that I know of. The HP can be changed up or down by a certain relay inside the control panel. I was told that by placing a piece of plastic between the contacts, HP could be bumped up to 4400. I never took the time to try it, never felt that it was worth the hassel. Every once in a while, I would look at the readout screen to see what was going on across the traction motors and notice that the unit was making 4400 hp instead of the normal 4000. 

[NorthWest]

Thanks. I had not heard that NS had completed the upgrade program.

[Leo_Ames]

NorthWest

There is no carbody difference. The Dash 9-40CW is a Dash 9-44CW with software modifications to reduce horsepower and thus engine wear and fuel consumption.  The software can be overriden by the engineer, and some units have been upgraded to Dash 9-44CWs.

All of them are now rated at 4,400.

Only standard cab C40-9's remain at 4,000, with most of the remaining fleet still at that power rating and likely to remain so until cycled through for their AC44C6M rebuilding. 

[areibel]

Thanks Guys! 

I couldn't see any difference, but I wanted to be sure. 

Al

[NorthWest]

There is no carbody difference. The Dash 9-40CW is a Dash 9-44CW with software modifications to reduce horsepower and thus engine wear and fuel consumption.  The software can be overriden by the engineer, and some units have been upgraded to Dash 9-44CWs.

[caldreamer]

There are no differences.  The Dash 9-40CW is a derated Dash 9-44CW, A ll that wa done was to derate the  horsepower from 4400 to 4000 HP.

[areibel]

I'm not too familiar with the latest GE locomotives, can anyone tell me the spotting differences betweem a Dash9 40 CW and a Dash 9 44 CW?  Or point me in the right direction to find it?  I've looked at a lot of pics but haven't really been able to tell.

And are they close to the later ES4400's?

Thanks!
Al Reibel