Does anyone know how many wide cab’d SD60F’s in the “new” paint scheme the SOO had?
I didnt know they had any??!!!???
Then I saw one on railpictures.net??
Did they really have them??
Those appear to be SD60Ms.I believe the SD60F is a wide body cowl unit.These are a Canadian unit only.
Oh, the photo said SD60F.
Heres the link: http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=124564
Soo line doesnt have sd60f’s - they have SD60M’s and they bought 5 of them - i dont know if all of them are still in service.
CN was the only road to buy SD60F’s.
CP(SOO) 6058-6062 are SD60M’s , they are leased power and maybe purchased by CP according to THE DIESEL SHOP
But why paint them in the SOO scheme?
It’s a long-term lease- SOO is a CP subsidiary.
Think of it this way - its CP-ish red, but kept the Soo Line logo. Kind of a compromise.
soo line had them before CP even bought the SOO
CP owned 54% of the Soo Line when it was formed in 1961. They gave up trying to sell their share and bought the shares they did not own.
Hmmm… seems to be gone now! You can go to the www.railpictures.net home page, and do a search for “EMD SD60M” and “Soo Line”, and get your fill – 27 photos of five engines!!!
When Soo ordered their SD60s, the first (IIRC) 40 were done in the old red and white (actually a very light gray) with black lettering, while the rest were done in the “candy apple” red, with the speed lettering. On the last five of the order, they opted for the “North American safety cab”, making them SD60Ms. I’m not entirely sure, but the added cost of the widecabs may have been a reason why the SOO 6000 class had the odd number of 63 units! All five of the Ms are in service. Interestingly, since CP has their own 6000-series locomotives (SD40-2s), it is possible to see two locomotives owned by the same railroad with the same number, even on the same train!
They are not painted in CP red, it is Soo’s own paint scheme. The CP red paint scheme was more-or-less inspired by the final Soo paint scheme, and was originally used on the “dual flags” units, painted after CP decided to integrate the Soo and D&H into their system. Then, they tried separating the eastern lines as StL&H (St Lawrence & Hudson), which also carried the same red paint, and for a short time prior to the introduction of the beaver scheme (and re-integration of StL&H), CP locomotives were painted in red with only “CP Rail” on the sides!
The three Soo line orders for SD60’s were each for 21 units, in 1987, 1989 and again in 1989.
Soo came out with the Candy Apple red in July 1989 (4403 or 6607 were first).
CP 6034 came out with the dual flag scheme March 25, 1993.
Fuzzybroken and nanaimo have it right there are three orders of SD60s spread over three batches. Soo decided to order 5 of the third batch with the new cab. The first two orders were painted in the gray with red nose paint scheme, while the third order was the first new units in the Candy Apple Red scheme. The original plan was to replace all the former Milwaukee GP40 and SD40-2s with 105 SD60s ordered over 5 years, 21 per year. Only the first three orders were placed. As a side note to this the 55 SD60s that went to the C&NW were originally intended for the Soo Line but the financing fell through. This is related to the Milwaukee purchase, and the delay in the spinoff of the WC. This is also why the units were on a long term lease, most, but not all, previous Soo Line locomotives were purchased.
The 5 SD60Ms are the exception they are owned by the Soo Line, all the other SD60s were leased.
I sent in a correction to railpictures, maybe it’ll be better.