Why so few SD.80 MACS?

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by brilondon

QUOTE: Originally posted by michaelstevens

I'm not so sure that the SD90s are any more popular.
A railroader friend indicated that the railroads are loathe to invest in the big beasts, as compared to smaller units which provide more flexibility of deployment.
e.g. if you assign 2 of these 90's to a heavy train and one goes "down", out on the road -- will the remaining single unit have enough power to bring the train home ?
Comparatively, if you were using three SD70s (and one went down) the remaining 2 units would have a better chance.

Using this logic why would you not buy a large number of new lower-horse power units and then you could have four 2000 hp units instead of two 4000 hp units. The thing is the newer high horse power units are much more reliable than before. I have heard though that the SD90 's have had a number of problems. This mutes my point so I am going to shut up.

One reason, and there might be others, is the fact that two engines will burn less fuel than four engines. This of course saves the railroads money. Funny thing, railroads like saving money. They can get carried away saving money as is the case in the remote control engines.

[brilondon]

QUOTE: Originally posted by michaelstevens

I'm not so sure that the SD90s are any more popular.
A railroader friend indicated that the railroads are loathe to invest in the big beasts, as compared to smaller units which provide more flexibility of deployment.
e.g. if you assign 2 of these 90's to a heavy train and one goes "down", out on the road -- will the remaining single unit have enough power to bring the train home ?
Comparatively, if you were using three SD70s (and one went down) the remaining 2 units would have a better chance.

Using this logic why would you not buy a large number of new lower-horse power units and then you could have four 2000 hp units instead of two 4000 hp units. The thing is the newer high horse power units are much more reliable than before. I have heard though that the SD90 's have had a number of problems. This mutes my point so I am going to shut up.

[Anonymous]

carnej1 [:)]

stantaras [:)]

Welcome, both of you, to the forums. [;)] I know you will enjoy them.

[stantaras]

Where they successfull in that were they well received by crews and mantenance guys and did they do as advertised?
Thanks for all the replys.

[carnej1]

There were two additional orders for the SD80MAC from CONRAIL and Canadian Pacific but both were switched to different models before production began. CP decided it wanted "convertible"SD90/43MAC's(plus what turned out to be a small number of SD90MAC-H's with the 6k hp HDL engines),apparently they were impressed with the UP program at the time(but since then none of their SD90's have been converted with the HDL). CONRAIL,apparently satisfied with the performance of their small SD80MAC fleet wanted another 30 of the beasts,but it's merger partners CSX and NS did not, so the order was split between SD70MACs for CSX and "spartan cab" SD70's for NS. The latter were all assembled from EMD supplied kits at CONRAIL's Juniata shops, and were delivered in CR colors.
Having both orders for the model changed must have led EMD to conclude that further marketing and development of the model was futile so it was dropped from the catalog. I had the pleasure of watching and photographing the "Big MACs" in service on the Boston line,quite an impressive sight(as are the AC6000CW's that replaced them when CSX took over)

[michaelstevens]

I'm not so sure that the SD90s are any more popular.
A railroader friend indicated that the railroads are loathe to invest in the big beasts, as compared to smaller units which provide more flexibility of deployment.
e.g. if you assign 2 of these 90's to a heavy train and one goes "down", out on the road -- will the remaining single unit have enough power to bring the train home ?
Comparatively, if you were using three SD70s (and one went down) the remaining 2 units would have a better chance.

[SSW9389]

The railroads were unsure of the 20V-710G and the SD90AMC had been announced. Why go for 5000 horsepower when you could have 6000 horsepower.

[stantaras]

Any one know why EMD stopped production of this unit?