After taking delivery of 52 SD70M-2’s and 50 GE ES40DC’s in 2005, NS has ordered an additional 178 Locomotives, up from an earlier report of 138. Another 100 GEVO’s and an additional 78 SD70M-2’s are reported to be on order. Reports are that EMD is beginning to deliver the latest SD70M-2’s as this is written, above and beyond the 52 already ordered in '05 which numbered from 2649-2700. Some low 2700 numbered units from the 2006 order have already been spotted. A link to a thread from Trainorders http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?2,1083753
thanks for the info are they going to replace older engines also.
Haven’t heard about any specific retirements upcoming… doesn’t mean there won’t be though…NS has been so in need of power that I doubt that anything big will happen soon as far as retirements…NS has been retiring older power already over the past several years…older ex-Conrail GP38’s…GE Dash-7’s and some of the oddball Dash-8’s, such as C32-8’s and some C39-8’s. Some older GP38 and GP38AC power as well as older GP50’s are being rebuilt into GP38-2 and GP38-3 status…There are still some pre-Dash-2 locomotives on the roster, such as SD40’s and GP38’s from original NS heritage.