KCS ostensibly acquired the Dash-9s to pay back HP hours. That they are ridding themselves of them now makes me wonder what CPKC thinks of their own business forecasts.
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Looks like many of the remainder are also up for sale. I wonder where these were stored to so quickly be vandalized?
https://www8.cpr.ca/snpevweb/snp/Pages/ViewTender.aspx?Tender=6851
While still a possibility down the road as BNSF does more lease returns, I'm surprised to not see CPR having some of these rebuilt for their own roster. Given their preference for GE power and satisfaction with their AC4400CW rebuilds, I'd of lost a bet with these departing so soon after the KCS acquisition.
I wonder if the SD9043MAC's will be departing soon, too. Been some rumors there and I believe that I saw on Loconotes a while back that several have already been cut up (harvested for parts to support the SD70ACU's, I suppose?).
And now it reported by NSDash9 that NS has acquired 44 KCS (nee-BNSF) Dash9s as cores for DC-to-AC rebuilds.
I've seen it said that a lot of the Dash 9 trucks frames at Altoona have been sold to Canadian Pacific.
If true, they presumbly are then modified to accomodate AC propulsion and go under their AC4400CW rebuilds to replace radial trucks. Not sure why Norfolk Southern themselves don't just do it to save money, given that and their own successful test of converted Dash 9 trucks under a AC44C6M.
I bet traction motors with a lot of life left in them are also saved, given that they're still running 400 or so Dash 9's on a daily basis. Probably those that are still operative but have a lot of miles under their belt since rebuilding aren't retained by NS for reuse.
I imagine operable computer modules are also pulled and retained for reuse, given their lack of availability. Any exceptions would probably be one that has proven to be long lived that NS has rarely had to replace, with consequently little demand to stockpile replacements for.
If you're on Facebook, I bet someone at the AltoonaWorks or NSDash9 pages could elaborate on what NS is retaining for use at Altoona from their own AC44C6M rebuilds (And what they're getting back from Ft. Worth), and what they're perhaps selling to others for repurposing besides the truck frames.
Any one know if NS keeps all the removed DC equipment for spares? Or do they have too many parts and sell them to other RRs especially short lines ?
I believe CPR bought those 40 examples from Union Pacific in January 2001. That's the same month Progress Rail started acquiring SD70ACU's from Norfolk Southern (Going by the sale dates on the AltoonaWorks site).
Perhaps they just didn't know this step was about to be taken and it actually would've influenced Canadian Pacific's planning had they known these were going to become available on the market.
I am curious as to why CP acquired more former UP 90MACs instead of the already rebuilt 70ACUs. Then again, they were the first Siemens-to-MELCO rewire and lessons are always learned as you go along.
Good catch.
Given Canadian Pacific's 60 ACU's that Progress Rail handled the job on, perhaps kgbw49 was thinking that CPR might be in the market for the several dozen M-2's that Progress acquired from Norfolk Southern?
Progress would surely rather recondition and resell these than part out such modern power. And getting the contract to upgrade them to AC traction would be icing on the cake in this era of little new locomotive construction.
I suspect on the off chance that Canadian Pacific does end up buying used power from Progress in the next few years for another rebuilding program, it might be some or all of the reconditioned SD70ACU's that Progess similarly acquired from NS.
They're halfway there to being fully rebuilt thanks to their ACU upgrade, just in need of heavy mechanical overhauls that NS deferred to get them online as quickly as possible. And CPR obviously already is operating 60 of their own ACU's.
kgbw49Question: If CP ends up satisfied with their SD70ACU rebuilds might they also be a potential customer for SD70M-2 rebuilds to AC? Or will they have enough AC units if the merger is approved and/or enough Dash-9 to ACM feedstock?
CPR would seem to already be reasonably satisfied with their SD70ACU's. They went shopping and bought 40 ex-UP SD9043MAC's early last year for future ACU cores, after 18 or so months of experience operating their own SD70ACU's. Only the KCS acquisition has put a temporary halt to the program.
While neither CPR or KCS bought Dash 9's new, I've seen it said on Loconotes that those KCS Dash 9's that they bought used a year or two ago (100 of them iirc, BNSF lease returns) are primarily for paying back horsepower hours owed to other roads. They're being portrayed as a shorter-term addition to their fleet.
Instead of being throwaway power like they were viewed at KCS, maybe the merged CPR system will have them rebuilt as AC44C6M's. But whatever that impact might have on further EMD rebuilds (such as buying more used Dash 9's for rebuild in lieu of their own EMD's) is impossible to say.
Question: If CP ends up satisfied with their SD70ACU rebuilds might they also be a potential customer for SD70M-2 rebuilds to AC? Or will they have enough AC units if the merger is approved and/or enough Dash-9 to ACM feedstock?
CN's SD70M-2 fleet has gradually been going through contract shops for a bunch of upgrades for several years now (some have even been repainted), though I think this work falls short of a full overhaul.
Currently there are several of our Dash-9s at the GE/Wabtec Texas plant, supposedly they are going to get rebuilt into AC44's but I haven't seen anything official yet. A couple shop guys have also mentioned plans to send some SD75's out for a similar DC-to-AC rebuild, rumours about that have been floating around for even longer but once again I've yet to see anything official in writing.
I could definitely see our SD70M-2s being rebuild fodder in the future, they still aren't the most reliable and if these other rebuild programs actually come to fruition they could end up being the last DC traction units in our high horsepower fleet (the Dash-8s should all be gone by this point).
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Leo_AmesBeing newish locomotives with a lot of the former NS fleet under Progress ownership and with Canadian National as a potential customer for SD70M-2 to SD70ACe rebuilds, I could see this experiment slowly paying off for Progress Rail even if NS doesn't decide to buy.
Employment is way down at Altoona. So even if it was NS doing it, the people left have their hands full just doing routine work. No excess capacity to handle a new project unless they bring people back, which goes against PSR.
Being newish locomotives with a lot of the former NS fleet under Progress ownership and with Canadian National as a potential customer for SD70M-2 to SD70ACe rebuilds, I could see this experiment slowly paying off for Progress Rail even if NS doesn't decide to buy.
So for those keeping score, Progress Rail has come up with a DC-to-AC package for the SD90MAC to SD70ACU, the SD70 to SD70ACC and now the SD70M-2 to TBD. The hardware is certainly the same but packaging it so as to fit on the preexisting model should be interesting.
rrnut282 Curious. Altoona too busy?
Curious. Altoona too busy?
What persons were responsible for NS delaying buying AC traction locos when othe RRs started many years earlier. Are any of those persons still around? There is one advantage for NS doing these conversions. They can reuse the DC coponents in any loco that has a DC component failure. Or is that not a PSR procedure?
Word is two SD70M-2s are heading to Progress Rail for an AC traction install.
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