Has the BNSF done any additional upgrades to their SD70MAC's to make them SD70MACe's and what is the status of this upgrade program?
There have been no additional units upgraded. It isn’t known, at least publicly, whether additional units will eventually be upgraded. The same thing can be said for the 600 series AC44C4M’s rebuilt from C44-9W’s.
Thank you for the update. Too bad, a that would be an inexpensive way for BNSF o add an additional 20+ years to these AC powered units.
Ira Goldberg
caldreamer Has the BNSF done any additional upgrades to their SD70MAC's to make them SD70MACe's and what is the status of this upgrade program?
i 'm thinking that they are slowly phasing them out. Lately I've seen a lot of the "Grinstien Green" units ,running in 2nd 3rd, on manifests out on the Transcon. They are now in their 20's, and instead of upgrading, they are being phased out.
They also might want to get some time under the units they've already rebuilt before deciding on a large scale program. Has happened before including with some very successful and long lived programs.
Union Pacific's Life Extension program for SD40-2's for instance saw seven prototypes be finished. Only after a year evaluation period did Union Pacific commit to a large-scale rebuilding effort that eventually saw over 400 SD40-2's be reconditioned.
Perhaps more likely since I believe they've had plenty of time to evaluate the results of this first batch (Weren't they done two or perhaps even three years ago?), it's still possible these were successful and motive power planners want to proceed with many more examples, but budget priorities have simply tabled the project for a time.
BNSF's also pretty busy right now and is actively pulling units, including SD70MACs, out of storage. When traffic dies down some we may see more action on rebuilding programs.
If BNSF does start retiring them, I would suspect some would eventually start showing up on select Genessee & Wyoming and Watco properties. Not across the board at every one of their properties, but select ones where they are using older six axle power and could get a 2 for 3 unit reduction on heavier trains.
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