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 properties that is forcing existing locomotives to be sidelined, reassigned, or retired. Many units being retired are part of the company’s agreement with U.S. Department of Justice and Environmental Protection Agency that address Clean Air Act violations [see “Genesee & Wyoming agrees to settlement …,” Trains News Wire, Jan. 25, 2023]. The consent decree agreed to by G&W requires the retirement and destruction of 88 older locomotives from various G&W properties.
The units being acquired are former CSX C40-8W and BNSF C44-9W from Wabtec’s fleet of second-hand power [see “Genesee & Wyoming upgrades fleet,” Trains.com, Sept. 18, 2023]. To date the following railroads are known to have comfort-cab General Electric locomotives on their properties: Alabama & Gulf Coast, Arizona & California, Bay Line, Buffalo & Pittsburgh, Chicago Ft. Wayne & Eastern, Indiana & Ohio, Kyle, Missouri & Northern Arkansas, New England Central.
As the newly acquired power is repainted, Genesee & Wyoming has selected a handful of the General Electric units to wear special paint. Two have recently been repainted honoring G&Ws veterans and service members. Bay Line C40-8W No. 4059 and Alabama & Gulf Coast C44-9W No. 4423 currently wear the special design.
Two additional C44-9Ws have been repainted into a heritage type scheme that closely represents the railroad’s earliest diesel locomotive paint scheme. Using Genesee & Wyoming’s GNWR reporting mark, GNWR C44-9W No. 1899 is assigned to Buffalo & Pittsburgh while GNWR C44-9W No. 4055 is on Alabama & Gulf Coast’s roster.
The AGR directly behind my house on NS trackage rights out of Mobile. The new locomotives are really nice especially the veterans unit and I’m sure the crews really like them. But I sure miss the sounds of the SD 40s pulling the hlill northbound as they came through town. You could hear them coming from a mile away.