Predicting the future is tricky business. Circumstances can change at the drop of a hat, opening up previously unforeseen possibilities. However, with analysis and careful guesswork, a prediction can be made. With that in mind, let us examine the future of the locomotive on the U.S. rail network. The current state of railroading To predict […]
CN DC to AC Canadian National is receiving its next DC-to-AC rebuilds this summer. The first conversions already on CN’s roster are 50 former Canadian National C44-9Ws converted to AC-traction AC44C6Ms by Wabtec in its Ft. Worth, Texas, facility in 2022 and 2023. The latest group of rebuilds on order include additional AC44C6Ms and EMD […]
The New York Central diesel roster showed diversity in an era known for experimentation. Major railroads with deep financial pockets have the freedom to spend money for equipment like the proverbial kid in the candy store. Among them, you’d have to include the mighty New York Central. Nicknamed the “The Water Level Route,” […]
A friend asked me recently what was the first locomotive I clearly remember. The answer might be surprising: it was huge (to a 4-year-old, anyway), it was rare, it was a little scary, and it was orange. And to use the accepted sound nomenclature, it “burbled.” I’m referring, of course, to Elgin, Joliet & Eastern’s […]
Class I ‘bandit’: Milwaukee Road painted locomotive Locomotive rosters are constantly in a state of flux. Power is being returned off lease, sold, or scrapped in house. CPKC did the latter recently with a group of locomotives stored at its St. Paul, Minn., diesel shop. The group included the last Milwaukee Road “bandit”-painted locomotive on […]
The current era of transition for Amtrak’s roster harkens back to motive power that shaped the passenger rail carrier — for better or for worse. Excluding EMD F40PHs, as they’re in a league of their own, here are five memorable Amtrak locomotives. SDP40F Initially rolled out in 1973, the SDP40Fs became the […]
Although a latecomer to the hood unit market, EMD became the dominant builder of road switchers with the GP7. Dynamic brakes are indicated by a protruding housing (“blister”) with grids atop the middle of the long hood, with rooftop cooling fans above it. The radiators are at the end of the hood, with an intake […]
Of all the mainline steam locomotives running these days — and there is an uncanny amount of them — I can’t think of one with as many distinct transitions as Reading 4-8-4 No. 2102. By my count, she’s a cat with at least five lives, with four more to go, if you believe that sort […]
General Electric AC6000CW The modern horsepower race between builders culminated in the 1990s with both General Electric and EMD producing six-axle locomotives with 6,000-hp prime movers. Unfortunately, the concept never caught on, with only two domestic railroads, Union Pacific and CSX, purchasing General Electric’s design. In the race to get the locomotives on the road, […]
NC&StL locomotives were distinctive but disappeared all too soon. The Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railway had its share of unique items and was a pioneer. Historian Dain L. Schult says the “NC,” as it was known, was the only southern road to try a Camelback and a duplex; neither type worked out. It […]
General Electric locomotives One year after Genesee & Wyoming’s June 2023 announcement it was buying second-hand General Electric power from Wabtec to bolster its fleet, the rollout of these locomotives on many of its properties is well underway. The comfort cab-equipped locomotives are part of a vast rearrangement of power on many Genesee & Wyoming […]
Prior to the Hudsons, Mountains, and Northerns, the 4-6-2 Pacific-type was celebrated as THE passenger locomotive at the turn of the 20th century. Outperformed in later years by their bigger, faster, and stronger successors, the smaller racehorses continued to hold their own until the end of steam along North America’s railroads. Though, it can be […]
