BNSF Orders EMD SD70ACe's for 2006

[Anonymous]

Just reviewed the Second Quarter 2005 BNSF "Alliance Mechanical" Employee News letter:

"EMD has not built a locomotive for BNSF for seven years, but a deal has been inked that calls for BNSF to purchase 30 AC locomotives to be delivered in 2006. The SD70ACe provides unit reduction, fuel savings and additional revenue tonnage capability over SD40-2's. Three SD70ACe's can replace 5 SD40-2's in high tractive effort operations. Operation of fewer units results in significant maintenance and operating savings."

Best regards,
Swafford

[edbenton]

New owners Give them a order. If GM hadn't switched to UP just think how many sd70 BNSF would have bought

[UPTRAIN]

They need some, lol. Spice up that wastepool of GE's.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by UPTRAIN

They need some, lol. Spice up that wastepool of GE's.

i agree ge's suck

[Philcal]

The next year or two is going to be critical for EMD. Many in the industry still consider the EMDs the better locomotive,although GE has made some serious efforts to become and remain the #1 locomotive builder. EMD seems to be staking it all on the AC locomotive, hailing it as the new Geep. Time will tell, but it will be interesting.

[canazar]

Good to hear EMD landed it. Bet there are some folks taking a deep breathe over there

[joegreen]

BNSF had a bad relationship with EMD for those 7 years and after GM sold the EMD locomotive division to a private company they could once again order EMDs without buying from the original EMD builders.

[Anonymous]

those new EMD's should be painted in H3 [tup][yeah][^]

[BNSF_GP60M]

Its about time BNSF got some EMD's. Every day lately there has been nothing but C44-9W and ES44DC going buy the house. It would be nice to see something different. (However a NREX SD45-2 came by a little bit ago. That was cool.[:D] )

[espeefoamer]

Now maybe we will find out if the new owners of EMD keep up the same quality EMDs have always been famous for.Will SD70ACEs be pulling secondary trains 30 years from now?

[Anonymous]

Thanx 4 the info, I appreciate it.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by dingoix

those new EMD's should be painted in H3 [tup][yeah][^]

The first 30 SD70ACe's will be in their new BNSF logo scheme.
Allan.

[Anonymous]

what was the reason for the alleged 'bad blood' between BNSF and EMD anyway? BN bought however many hundreds of sd70macs and the bulk of santa fe power was EMD. name change comes with an attitude change i guess.

[DPD1]

QUOTE: Originally posted by kfuztv

Its about time BNSF got some EMD's. Every day lately there has been nothing but C44-9W and ES44DC going buy the house. It would be nice to see something different. (However a NREX SD45-2 came by a little bit ago. That was cool.[:D] )

Ditto... Lately, seems like you see the first train of the day, you've seen them all. Never been big on GE. I hope the split from GM ends up being a positive thing for EMD. It was known for years that GM never really took that division seriously.

Dave
-DPD Productions - Featuring the TrainTenna LP Gain RR Scanner Antenna-
http://eje.railfan.net/dpdp/

[arbfbe]

The GE's, they can be called roaches. They are everywhere and you just can't get rid of them.

BNSF 5525 had a turbo charger over run last night. It took 45 minutes to burn out all the crankcase oil. What a show. Sparks out the stack for 25' in all directions, flames for 30'-50' straight out the stack. Best 4th of July fountain display I have ever seen. I am glad there was snow on the ground and not extreme fire danger in the forest.

Just another reason to go 2 cycle.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by arbfbe

The GE's, they can be called roaches. They are everywhere and you just can't get rid of them.

BNSF 5525 had a turbo charger over run last night. It took 45 minutes to burn out all the crankcase oil. What a show. Sparks out the stack for 25' in all directions, flames for 30'-50' straight out the stack. Best 4th of July fountain display I have ever seen. I am glad there was snow on the ground and not extreme fire danger in the forest.

Just another reason to go 2 cycle.

LOL......OUCH!
Allan.

[Anonymous]

YES!!! For a while those were my favorite locomotives!!! Love the noses on them babies!!!! They rock!!!! H2 or H3?? It would look awesome it H3!!!!

.......................

[Anonymous]

bitterness between gm n bnsf, cause gm took away auto carrier buisness from
bnsf n gave to up to haul auto traffic,i heard?
also a new ge is roughly 500000 dollars less than a new gm, i heard?
MERRY CHRISTMAS and a safe New Year!!! watch the ice!!

[joegreen]

BNSF will be getting these 30 SD70ACe's in H3, just as the 40 new GP38-2's from NRE will too.

Oh, and by the way the numbers for the SD70ACe's will be 9370-9399.

[UPTRAIN]

QUOTE: Originally posted by arbfbe

The GE's, they can be called roaches. They are everywhere and you just can't get rid of them.

BNSF 5525 had a turbo charger over run last night. It took 45 minutes to burn out all the crankcase oil. What a show. Sparks out the stack for 25' in all directions, flames for 30'-50' straight out the stack. Best 4th of July fountain display I have ever seen. I am glad there was snow on the ground and not extreme fire danger in the forest.

Just another reason to go 2 cycle.

Is the 5525 a GEVO or Dash-9?

[joegreen]

QUOTE: Originally posted by UPTRAIN

QUOTE: Originally posted by arbfbe

The GE's, they can be called roaches. They are everywhere and you just can't get rid of them.

BNSF 5525 had a turbo charger over run last night. It took 45 minutes to burn out all the crankcase oil. What a show. Sparks out the stack for 25' in all directions, flames for 30'-50' straight out the stack. Best 4th of July fountain display I have ever seen. I am glad there was snow on the ground and not extreme fire danger in the forest.

Just another reason to go 2 cycle.

Is the 5525 a GEVO or Dash-9?

It's a DASH9. 5500-5529 were the last DASH9's built for BNSF. I believe they were also the last DASH9's built by GE. GE did build DASH9-40CW's for NS later but they aren't pure DASH9-44CW.

[beaulieu]

QUOTE: Originally posted by farmer03

what was the reason for the alleged 'bad blood' between BNSF and EMD anyway? BN bought however many hundreds of sd70macs and the bulk of santa fe power was EMD. name change comes with an attitude change i guess.

Of course the only people who know for sure won't talk, but it is supposed to be from the time GM took their automobile hauling contract from a process of bidding for each destination and went to a winner take all for the whole package and UP got all of GM's business for west of Chicago. This was a large contract and BNSF had more of GM's business than UP did before then. Along with this EMD became less responsive to problems with the SD75Ms while GE was very responsive. Also you will note that Santa Fe had been a good GM customer until the Dash 8s debut. The story goes that GM used the leverage of their auto hauling contracts to pressure AT&SF to buy the SD75Ms and then when the SD75Ms had problems they weren't helpful.

[Anonymous]

[:)]good morning!!
any one in trainland hear ....when bnsf is getting these ugly ducklings???
thanx have a wonderfull day ye'all!!!

[bnsfkline]

Price shouldn't be the matter in what builder a railroad buys from. It should be the quality. EMD has had a history of putting out quality locomotives. They have had more locomotive models go over the 1,000 mark, and a few gove over the 2,000 mark, and one gone over the 4,000 (SD40 Series) mark in total production.

GE has had only 5 models hit the 1,000 mark and only 2 over the 2,000 mark. That goes to show that EMD know what they are doing.

The one reason why, in my own opinion, why railroads have switched to GE is because they can get their locomotives delivered faster. But delivering faster means some***ty locomotives. Several engineers I have spoken too say that the new GEVO's are not even worth a dollar. They have the same problems that the SD90MAC=H's had, they have troubles linking to the EOT device, they tend to die on the road for no apperent reason, and their generators die very easily. On the other hand, GE has had a good locomotive with AC4400CW, most everyone likes them, 4 out the 5 people I spoke with that have ridden them say they just get down and start lugging and they ride smooth.

The SD70ACe is a good, well thought out locomotive. User and Maintainer friendly, no major problems with them since the Demo incident a couple years ago on the Moffet line. I have heard that UP has started putting the new ACe's teamed up with GEVO's because of the GEVO's problem. Unlike GE, EMD put some thought into their new SD70ACe and SD70M-2. GE just created a new 12 cylinder FDL prime mover and made some internal changes to make the model comply with the Teir 2 standards. EMD used their Tried and True 710 prime mover, and tweaked it. This tweaking didn't make the prime mover worse, but actually made it work even better, and the good part is that EMD was easily able to atain anther 300HP from the engine.

ALl in All, BNSF has made a good choice, and when Mechanical Department sees how well these new ACe's perform, I say BNSF is going to have a change of heart and stop buying GEVOS.

In my final opinion, the SD70ACe and SD70M-2 will bring EMD back to the top. For example, the two models brought in two orders that brought in one new railroad and brought anther railroad back after 20+ years of no new locomotives. EMD sold 16 SD70ACe's to Montana Rail Link after they saw the capabilities of the new locomotives, and Florida East Coast this week ordered 4 New SD70M-2's.

Can GE claim something like that? I think not.

Ok, I am done rambling on now...............

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: BNSF will be getting these 30 SD70ACe's in H3, just as the 40 new GP38-2's from NRE will too.

YES!!!! H3 GP38-2's!!!

[Anonymous]

Good to hear. EMD needs the business, although they've been doing quite well with orders for SD70ACe/SD70M-s from CSX, CN, NS, KCS, UP and MRL. I've even heard the FEC has ordered M-2s and DM&E may get some ACe's if their new line is ever built.

Wonder why BNSF shyed away from EMD products, they bought SD75Ms and SD70MACs new, and BN had the 350 SD70MACs. EMD sales fell off after the SD50/GP50, but they're slowly clawing their way back to the top [:)].

[CaptainChuck]

You can just tell that the new EMD are soo much better by the look! haha jk. They look so sophisticated though. The GEVOs are hardly recognizable, only really tell by the B end. The EMDs are completely new all over, and I like that. Also EMD's now Independant from GM, which might not seem significant but I believe it is. EMD is gonna regain the market. Just look at all the interest in Railroads besides Class I's. FEC, MRL, and KCS (A C1) dont have any GEVOs (That I know of!). And look at BHP. Getting SD70ACes instead of GE's.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by dingoix

QUOTE: BNSF will be getting these 30 SD70ACe's in H3, just as the 40 new GP38-2's from NRE will too.

YES!!!! H3 GP38-2's!!!

Dingoix you goof[;)]. I still like my Athearn H1 GP38-2's. Your realy hooked on those H3's arn't you? Allan.

[Anonymous]

From what I have heard BNSF isn't happy with the some of the GEVO's functions like the DPU System.

[CaptainChuck]

I really havent looked through this entire thread but what is the time period inwhich these units will be delivered?