With one unit already retired, it appears that more are being moved in that direction. Additionally, none of the remaining 19 units are provisioned for PTC. This is a sure sign that they’re not currently expected to last into the PTC era, at least according to current plans…
Currently, only 9 of the 19 remaining units are in active service. The rest are out of service for some mechanical malady, including grounded generators - nearly akin to blowing your prime mover in locomotive terms.
Here in CSX territory I don’t an awful lot of EMD units except for some older models like GP-38’s, GP-40’s, the occasional SD40-2 and such. It’s pretty much GE territory. Occasionally there’s an SD70, but it seems to be the exception, not the rule.
Other than for foamer variety, why? As Northwest pointed out the thundercabs are junk, and at only 19 units, a small subfleet. CSX seems to be OK with a majority GE fleet, so why are you so against it?
Ah, but you see, that’s a part of the challenge of being a railfan! In this run-through power day and age, especially if you live near a busy main line, you might see anything.
Here in CSX country along the old RF&P I’ve seen locomotives from the Union Pacific, BNSF, NS, to say nothing of some colorful leasers. You’ve just got to be patient.
GE’s are slow to load, but they pull good…Don’t know about the SD70’s, but I remember that 3 SD-40’s, would out preform a set of the old DASH 9’s, and they rode a lot better…Especially the old “BN” merger ones. Also earlier GE’s “wore out”, while the EMD’s kept going. On “Z” & “Q”'s the "GEEP 40’s were far better than the “B 40’s”
For what variety CSX might lack at the head of intermodals and such, they make up for it with their older EMD’s that have outlasted the last 4 axle GE’s in the fleet (Not to mention all U-Boats and Dash 7’s).
More variety there than in a long time thanks to several rebuild programs that have been underway in recent years, upgrading classics for another 15-20 years of service. Not to mention some old friends that remain providing useful service as road slugs and look much as they did when first outshopped from La Grange back in the 1960’s.
Look away from the priority trains and I think CSX is pretty interesting from a locomotive perspective.
Are they doing the same to their SD70MACs or not? And what’s CSX gonna do with the ACEs they still have? Retire them like the other ones or just store them for a long time?
In the Chicago area, the road power is dominated by GE’s with some EMD’s making an appearance. Yard and transfer is a little different, a couple of gensets work at Barr and various EMD’s handle yard and transfer duties, including GP15T’s and the occasional slug set. SD40-3’s with their flat cabs are also starting to turn up.
Loud cabs seem to be a favorite issue of contention for what I imagine will someday be known as phase 1 SD70ACe’s. Always seems to get mentioned before anything else at forums when folks that say they work at CSX discuss these units.
Even if they were better loved, there are only 19 of them after the retirement and sale of one of them. CSX wasn’t impressed enough about some aspect of them to order more.
20 non-standard oddballs in a fleet of over 4,000 units, no matter how well they perform, are often an attractive target of elimination well before their time.
The early SD70ACes had enough cab noise that BNSF banned them from leading after union complaints. They also had the usual new-engine-model teething issues that were eventually resolved. They are still known for extremely rough riding however, and there are tons of stories of them shaking their doors open.
Remember that the first half of production of the SD70ACe was while EMD was under ownership of Greenbriar. I would safely say there is a huge difference between the Greenbriar SD70ACe and the Caterpillar SD70ACe (takeover was 2010). I am told that the SD70ACe got a complete rebuff, which is why CAT elected to build all new demos, and that the SD70ACes built 2012 and after were much better. Probably that change greatly improved the EMD reputation and possibly saved the SD70ACe line in general.