High-horsepower, six-axle road locomotives are generally regarded to be units making between 3,800 to 4,400 hp. Over the last four decades the horsepower output has steadily grown to the high end of this range for the majority of the North American locomotives built. When this threshold was first reached with EMDs SD60 at 3,800 hp and General Electric’s C39-8 at 3,900 hp during the 1980s, standard cabs were on the verge of elimination. This meant relatively few road units in this horsepower range were ever built with standard cabs.
Some railroads, like Santa Fe, never purchased any six-axle, high-horsepower road power with standard cabs, while Norfolk Southern was one of the last Class I railroads to begin ordering comfort cabs. With the recent retirement of Canadian National’s remaining Dash 8 fleet, which dominated iron ore service in Minnesota, finding this type of unit in regular mainline duties, outside of local service, has become harder to do. Here’s a survey of the Class I railroads and whether they still roster any such units.
Standard-cab, 3,800- to 4,400-hp locomotives still in operation
BNSF: No high horsepower standard cab locomotives left.
Canadian National: Still rosters former Illinois Central SD70s and former Oakway Leasing SD60s in active service. These can be seen on regional trains primarily in the Midwest. Its remaining fleet of former Union Pacific C40-8s are stored and their chances to return to service are low.
CPKC: Uses many former Soo Line SD60s in secondary mainline service, primarily in the United States.
CSX: Reacquired a number of its own C40-8s when it purchased Pan Am Railway a few years ago. These typically see service on former Pan Am main lines but are slowly being scrapped.
Norfolk Southern: No high horsepower standard cab locomotives left. Most of its standard cabs were converted to comfort cab-equipped SD60Es, SD70ACCs, and AC44C6Ms.
Union Pacific: Still rosters a handful of SD60s, but only sees occasional mainline duties.
