GEs seem to be dominate on east coast railroads, which leads to the question why? One railfan I ask said that EMD recently had a order from UP for 1,000 units which flooded EMD hence that is why GEs are being purchased more. Is this true, or is my view correct (eastern railroads just perfer GE over EMD) or are we both wrong?
UP did order 1,000 SD70M from EMD, but that order has been delivered, although EMD may be building more SD70Ms for subsequent orders for UP.
Thanks to GM shutting down locomotive production at LaGrange in 1988, and also GE working on their infrastructure, GE is simply able to deliver more locomotives, faster than EMD and with railroads in their power crunch, more GEs are going to be sold. Market economics. The 1k order of SD70Ms for UP was placed either in 1999 or 2000, with the last of them being delivered in 2004. GE just simply has more capacity to build locomotives currently than EMD does. I also believe the current SD70ACe/SD70M-2 is becoming a hit with railroads - with all but I believe CP placing orders for them. NS has SD70M-2s and CSX has SD70ACe’s. That being said, until EMD can get more production capability, you will see more new GEVOs than ACe’s.
That EMD order for 1000 SD70Ms was spread out over several years; it was also split up among several production locations. I doubt that this order kept EMD busy enough not to consider any other order that may have been forthcoming, and in fact you’ll find orders for other railroads produced during this time, if I remember correctly.
Of course, production now has to be SD70ACEs or SD70M-2s, because the good ol’ SD70Ms wouldn’t meet today’s standards.
The statement that GE gets more orders than EMD due to higher production capacity has been around for years. Companies match their production to sales. If EMD needed the capacity for larger orders they would have increased their capacity to do so. This is from a retiree who has worked his entire career in the manufacturing industry.
Carl-what’s the difference between SD70M and SD70M-2?
Of course the first difference is the SD70M only meets the Tier 1 emission requirements while the SD70M-2 meets Tier 2. Physically the the SD70M-2 looks just like the SD70ACe or a tweaked SD90MAC-H second series. The obvious differences between the SD70M Tier 1 and the SD70M-2 are a much larger radiator to provide cooling for the Intercooler(intake air after the turbo), and the dynamic brakes are moved from the rear of the cab to the rear of the locomotive. The cab is the more boxy style like the SD90MAC-H second design, but is not exactly the same.
So the part about “meeting today’s standards”, is in reference to emisions, not performance?
This brings a question to my mind. I am a purchasing agent for a construction company and sales is a very important part of our structure. With the railroad market and not so many major railroads out there anymore due to murgers and takeovers, does EMD and GE really have saleman for their locomotives. Probably one guy and I’m sure he made a killing on the 1000 engines to UP. Then probably blown away when MRL order 16 ACE’s.
Yes, they have salesmen (or marketing people). No, there’s not just one. I couldn’t tell you what they earn.
S. Hadid
I think I’m in the wrong business. I should be a purchasing agent for a top railroad, as long as I get to test the engines out, of course.
Just let me know if you need an assistant.[;)]
You got it.
Bert
Mostly, although I believe they increased crashworthyness standards too. More strength in the nose of the locomotive. And I think they had to make the fuel tank stronger.
doesn’t “-2” mean it has had an electrical update (i.e. GP38-2)?
Yes, -2s and later models have modular electrical cabinets. Much easier to troubleshoot problems.
Saying that GE’s dominate the east coast may not necessarrily be true. CR hadn’t ordered one since it’s last C40-8W. The ES44’s for CSX were the first GE’s in years. They had been buying SD70MAC’s in between. GE’s are the standard out in the west. BNSF has about 1800 C44-9W’s, and UP has a fleet of around 800 AC44’s hauling coal trains. If you see a stack train on the Transcon odds are 3 out of 4 would be a C44-9W.
| Here in the north-north west (Wyoming) EMDs are the rulers. Mainly because the GEs can’t hold the tracks as well as say an SD75M or an SD70MAC with 15,000 tons of coal in tow. I noticed recently that there are more and more SD70ACes moving in around here too. |
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Remember, BNSF refused to purchase any GM EMD locomotives for several years because GM gave all their western auto and parts business to UP, cutting BNSF out of that business. While it might have made some sense for the automobile end of GM’s business, it undoubtedly cut pretty heavily into their locomotive business - no doubt causing a lot of pulling of hair by those salesmen/marketing guys.
After GM sold EMD (so don’t refer to the product as a GM product anymore), BNSF quickly moved to start purchasing new EMDs again. Some say they prefer the EMD but had little choice considering GM’s stupid blunder.
You are getting this information from where? It’s totally untrue. GM did not “give” its auto business to UP. UP and BNSF competed for it and UP offered the better price and service package. UP’s price was uneconomic from BNSF’s point of view, and the track capacity it used up BNSF put to better profit in other business lanes. BNSF did not retaliate by cutting off purchases from EMD. (As a historical note, the auto-hauling business has always been cutthroat and marginally profitable.)
S. Hadid