I suspect it is ethnicity more than anything else. Western Pa also has one of the largest southern Italian populations in the U.S. Historically, the Italians lived in the urban areas such as downtown and other manufacturing towns in the region. The immigrant generation, and the first generation did tend to be shorter in height from what I can remember. However, that is not true anymore. I know some younger guys of Italian ancestry that are quite tall. Mostly likely due to parents marriage outside their ethnic group, or better nutrition than the original immigrants.
My wife is 100% Slovak. It is amusing when she tells people her heritage, and everybody usually reply “Wow that’s interesting.” Then they think about it and say “Umm…what’s a Slovak?”
That’s when I reply “Slovakia is a small Eastern European country that is home to the most beautiful women in the world” Instant points scored with the wife. LOL. Actually, if you have every been to Slovakia or the neighboring Czech Republic you will find that is absolutely true about the women.
I will vouch for the Slovak women.
Just don’t call them Czech or Czechoslovakian.
I was basing my comments on Pitt on “number of Air action days”
Again, the majority of those action days are triggered by one reporting station, the Liberty-Clairton station, which is located in the Monongahela River Valley 15 miles south of Pittsburgh. Because of the geography (low river valley surrounded by very high, steep hills) and a large localized pollution source (US Steel’s Clairton Coke Works) this reporting station gets very skewed readings. A large chunk of metro Pittsburgh’s electricity is generated by nuclear power (not coal as most believe) and Pennsylvania has a strict auto emission program in place for the region. You really can’t do much about the stuff blowing in from the Mid-West until those states are in federal compliance also. Perfect example why air quality needs to be looked at in a large, regional view rather than a metro by metro area basis.
Caught the following second hand originally from locophotos
Note, no mention of retirement and it is a short term lease
Looks like this is way off topic now.
I saw the new BNSF SD70MACs being delivered over the GTW in 1995 and 1996. I wonder if these are ones that are going to be leased, as the SD70ACe fleet overtakes them in performance.
Andrew
Older power has customarily been that which was leased out when one road had a power surplus and another had a power shortage.
As far as I know, the units being leased are the earliest units on the roster, the ones that were delivered in BN paint.
I would think that yes, the ACe’s coming in along with the general traffic downturn would be why they are up for lease.
i would like to know how old were the sd70macs my understanding that they weren’t that old if so how old may be 25 years or less
The oldest mainline SD70MACs are approaching 18 years.
Which means that for accounting and tax purposes, they are fully depreciated.
“An average locomotive’s lifespan is about 25 to 30 years…”
This could be true, yet this actually went to steam locomotives who lasted that long (!).
As Silicon212 mentioned, the oldest SD70MAC (BNSF 9401) is approaching 17 - 18 years. They have surely racked up more miles than the average SD40-2, but there hasn’t been any retirements…yet. However, BNSF may sell or retire them since they were the earliest examples of operating with Alternating Current and computers. Why? The technology wasn’t completely refined as it is today with SD70ACe’s or ES44AC’s. The inverters then proved to be expensive as they had to generate a variable frequency.
A recorrection of the SD70MAC’s built:
November 1993 - September 1994
Burlington Northern 9400 - 9474 (Units were not built in sequence)
August 1994 - March 1995
Burlington Northern 9475 - 9499, 9504 - 9541
November 1994 - January 1995
Burlington Northern 9542 - 9571
March 1995 - January 1996
Burlington Northern 9572 - 9710
June - July 1996
Burlington Northern 9713 - 9716 (DPU Test Units)
January 1996
Burlington Northern Santa Fe 9711 - 9712
Why would you think the MACs have more miles on them than the average SD40-2. I can’t think of a single reason that statement would be true.
Oops sorry!!! 
I meant another model.
[2c] Just a comment. A week and a half ago I was thru Lincoln, Ne on SR-2 / US 77 and was surprised to see that the dead line there is gone.(No locos stored).
In 15 years of going thru this is the first time I had not seen any stored locomotives. I meant to post something about this. But this seemed a good place to ask. The query is where did these locomotives go?
Thx IGN
One of two places…back in service or to the bone yard (which could be either a scrap yard or to a leasing firm)
Ok, since they first wwre deliverd in 1993 these engines have to had to meet the tier 2 standrads straight from the factory. So a rebuild would be far less than the 2.2 million dollars for a new engine and they would still meet the r emissions standrad.
I’ve been wondering when we’d see something here with the SD70MAC fleet. Glad to see that hopefully at least a significant portion of the fleet has a long life ahead of it.
Can’t imagine it encompassing the entire fleet of survivors though. Anyone familiar with the different groups and whether they’re leased or owned (I imagine the leased units will be the least likely to enter this program)?