Norfolk Southern’s heritage locomotive fleet will get a refresh in the coming years, the railroad announced when it shared a video of a shiny Virginian SD70ACe No. 1069 rolling out of the paint shop at Juniata, Pa.
“Drumroll pleaseeee….. the Virginian restoration is complete! It took 10 carmen 550+ hours to restore and repaint NS1069. Over 72 gallons of primer, paint, and clear coat were used. Thank you to our team at Juniata Locomotive Shop for their incredible work,” NS said in social media posts last week.
“Over the next few years, all 20 of our Heritage locomotives will be getting a fresh coat of paint in the color schemes of our predecessor railroads,” NS said.
The program began as part of the railroad’s 30th anniversary celebration in 2012.
— Updated at 8:50 a.m. with photo of Virginian unit.
NS and its employees should be proud of these locomotives and the history they represent. It would be nice if a little more effort were put into placing them in the lead where more people could appreciate them. They might stay a little cleaner there as well.
It would be nice if more railroads did this.
Those NS employees did an absolutely beautiful job on this unit. Their pride and workmanship is clearly evident. Thank you for doing such an excellent job.
Would love to see BNSF do this, but I guess it would diminish management bonuses.
Nice to see them stay with the program.
Only 11 years and they have to be repainted already? Sounds like they weren’t done right in the first place.
They were done right. but they weren’t , maintained right, If you don’t wash a paint job, it takes on all the grit and atmosphereic gases and begins to look shabby. Union Pacific used to have the cleanest looking engines but Lance Fritz and his penny pincher’s did away with loco-washing because they saw it as an unnecessary cost. The UP Fleet shows now as a grubby black soot on Armour yellow and Harbor Mist gray shadow of itself..
So kudos to NS for keeping their heritage fleet up to snuff. If you are going to have them as ambassadors for the railroads history, you might as well keep them looking or nice or you history must not mean much!
This article answers the question of one Norfolk Southern locomotive with the Southern Railway heritage paint scheme that fell on its side from a derailment. So, the unit will be repainted in the Southern scheme if not already.
The Southern unit was repaired and repainted earlier this year, along with the Reading unit. This “news” story is anything but. This info has been out for months now.
The SD70ACe is the successor to the SD70MAC with design changes to comply with emission standards. The engine fires with 15% lower internal pressure to improve emissions and features fewer internal components in the inverter. The SD70ACe is equipped with EMD’s 16-710-G3C-T2 prime mover, rated at 4,300 horsepower (3,200 kW); later Tier 3 models are rated at 4,500 horsepower (3,400 kW), and have a thermal efficiency of almost 36%. Early models featured a bad cab design which was noticed first on CSX as crews reported annoying disturbances such as prime mover noises, traction motors and more. The cab was also known for rattling, leading to the nickname “Thundercabs”. As a result, these units are also not approved for leading trains.
Dr. Güntürk Üstün
A wonderful job done with care.
Dr. Güntürk Üstün
Why not add a few CR component northeastern railroads whose trackage NS currently operates… L&HR/LEHIGH & HUDSON RIVER or RARITAN RIVER or LEHIGH & NEW ENGLAND.
How about a Pittsburgh & West Virginia unit this time around?
They’re not adding new units, just refreshing all 20 of the engines they already have.
Great. Maybe they can do a proper EL safety cab this go’round.
Daniel I don’t think the did a EL. But they did do a Eire and a Lackawanna (DL&W)
No, they later repainted a former EL SD45-2 into factory paint. Nice belated gesture but the EL was around twice as long as PC, had more than a few profitable years and came within a hairbreadth of avoiding ConRail Fools Day. However, the EL was an unloved stepchild of the N&W whilst PC became operationally functional by former Southern Railway wunderkids who, still, rightly see their work as a success.
Geez 11 years already since this program?… Where did the time go
Great Job NS, love seeing heritage painted units from all railroads.
A very “bright and shiny” image is exactly what NS needs right now.
Great news.