Legendary among Alco operators, the Arkansas & Missouri Railroad is an independent Class III railroad operating 139-miles of onetime Frisco trackage between Monett, Mo., and Fort Smith, Ark. In addition to freight service, the road also operates passenger excursions. The road’s all-Alco fleet is dominated by 16 C420s of various heritage, but also includes such rarities as an RS1, a single RS32, a handful of T6 switchers, a trio of MLW-built M420s and a Bombardier HR412. This roster lists active and stored A&M locomotives and complements Jeff Mast’s story “Alcos in the Ozarks” published in Locomotive 2009.
BNSF roster
BNSF employs more than 6,600 locomotives to handle trains on its 32,000-mile system. Headquartered in the railway’s James J. Hill Network Operations Center in Fort Worth, Texas, BNSF’s Locomotive Utilization Team is charged with the responsibility of assigning, managing and monitoring this fleet system-wide, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. David Lustig takes an inside look at BNSF’s locomotive utilization in “Power Plays: How to Manage 6,000 locomotives, BNSF-style,” published in Locomotive 2009.
The feature includes a fold-out map locating and identifying all trains on BNSF’s Southern Transcon line at 12:01 CDT, June 19, 2009. Accompanying data includes the location, operating symbol and locomotive consist of each train on the map. This roster, lists all BNSF locomotives at the time of the story’s publication.
Genesee Valley Transportation operates its 300-plus mile network of New York and Pennsylvania lines with a fleet of well-maintained Alco and MLW locomotives. A single GE 44-tonner acquired in 1990 along with the Lowville & Beaver River in Upstate New York and an ex-Delaware Lackawanna & Western EMD SC on display at Steamtown in Scranton, Pa., are the only non-Alco locomotives in the GVT fleet. This roster, created to complement Scott A. Hartley’s “Northeastern Alco Giant,” published in Locomotive 2009, lists all active and stored locomotives in the GVT fleet, along with their heritage. GVT-owned reporting marks carried by individual locomotives are also listed, including DL (Delaware-Lackawanna), DLW (Depew, Lancaster & Western), LBR (Lowville & Beaver River) and MHWA (Mohawk, Adirondack & Northern).
Kansas City Southern SD45T-3
Southern Pacific was EMD’s sole SD45T-2 customer, purchasing all 247 units built, including 64 carrying subsidiary SSW reporting marks and Cotton Belt lettering. By 1999, Union Pacific which had inherited the fleet with its acquisition of SP in September 1996, was retiring the 20-cylinder ’45T-2s en masse. A number of retirees have found them have found new homes after being retired after the UP merger. Kansas City Southern acquired 10 ex-SP SD45T-2s in 1996. All were completely rebuilt, upgraded with microprocessor controls and re-engined with 3,000-hp 16-645E3 engines by Boise Locomotive before being delivered.
For more information, see Joseph A. Strapac’s “Tunnel Motor Tribute” in Locomotive 2009. Additional rosters, including an as-built tunnel motor tally and files detailing secondhand SD45T-2 and SD40T-2 purchases by Bessemer & Lake Erie, Kansas City Southern and several regional carriers can also be found on this page.
Portland and Western, one of some 63 regional and shortline railroads owned and operated by Genesee & Wyoming Inc., in the United States, Canada, Australia and the Netherlands, operates a 520-mile regional system in northwestern Oregon. P&W employs a well-maintained fleet of secondhand EMD locomotives to move some 90,000 carload of paper, steel, grain, forest products, chemicals, aggregates, fertilizers and consumer goods per year. This roster includes the complete history of the locomotives in service on P&W as of August 2009. Scott Lothes profiled the P&W fleet and the men who maintain them in “ER for EMDs” published in Locomotive 2009.
Regionals
Including:
- New York, Susquehanna & Western
- R.J. Corman
- Wheeling & Lake Erie
Southern Pacific and Denver, Rio Grande & Western were EMD’s sole SD40T-2 customers: 229 by SP, another 10 to subsidiary Cotton Belt and 73 to DRG&W. The 1988 union of SP and Rio Grande brought the entire tunnel motor population under the ownership of the newly formed Southern Pacific Lines. In September 1996, Union Pacific inherited the lot with its SP takeover.
As UP began retiring the SD40T-2s and their SD45T-2 big brothers, a number found post-retirement careers in the service of lease fleet operators such as CIT Financial and Helm; others found work on regional roads, including New York Susquehanna & Western, R.J. Corman lines and on Wheeling & Lake Erie.
For more information, see Joseph A. Strapac’s “Tunnel Motor Tribute” in Locomotive 2009. Additional rosters, including an as-built tunnel motor tally and files detailing secondhand SD45T-2 and SD40T-2 purchases by Bessemer & Lake Erie, Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range, and Kansas City Southern can also be found on this page.
Norfolk Southern SD40E rebuilds
In the great Pennsylvania Railroad tradition, Norfolk Southern’s latest generation of Horseshoe Curve helper locomotives are Altoona-built. The SD40E — E for EM2000 microprocessor — is a product of Norfolk Southern’s Juniata Locomotive Shop in Altoona, Pa. Created using the cores of retired NS and Conrail SD50s, the 6300-series SD40Es are essentially brand-new locomotives, featuring rebuilt 16-645E3 EMD engines rated at 3,000 hp for greater fuel efficiency and reliability, an auxiliary power unit, a new cab interior (with air-conditioning), cab signals, Locomotive Speed Limiter, and Helper Link equipment.
An electronic system devised to allow helpers to uncouple from the trains they are assisting without first bringing the train to a stop, Helper Link establishes braking communication and continuity between a train and its helpers without a physical train-line connection. The system preserves all operational and safety features of continuous train-line air, but the lack of an actual train-line connection allows helper units to uncouple at speed from the train they are assisting.
The SD40E program is ongoing at Juniata. This roster lists those locomotives know to be completed by August 2009. For more on these locomotives, as well as helper operations on Horseshoe Curve, see “Helpers Battle Horseshoe Curve,” by M. Ross Valentine in Locomotive 2009.
Tunnel Motor Tally — As Built
Including:
- SD45T-2
- SD40T-2
Prompted by Southern Pacific’s quest for a robust mountain goat of a locomotive that could perform in high altitudes and endure the superheated, asphyxiating environment of tunnels and snow sheds, Electro-Motive developed the SD45T-2 “tunnel motor” as part of its Dash 2 line introduced in 1972. With its radiators repositioned to the top of the hood and air intakes located just above the frame where they could draw the coolest, cleanest available air in tunnels, the tunnel motor had an unmistakable boxy look. Among the earliest Dash 2s built, SP SD45T-2s began rolling off EMD assembly lines in February 1972. By June 1975, SP had amassed a fleet of 247 units, 64 of which carried subsidiary SSW reporting marks and Cotton Belt lettering. Not to be confused with the SD45T-2 is the model’s little brother, the 3,000-hp SD40T-2, also developed at SP’s request.
Outwardly similar, the two models can be distinguished by the three radiator-fan access doors above the rear air-intakes on the SD45T-2, compared with just two on the SD40T-2. In addition, the SD45T-2, with its 20-cylinder engine and corresponding elongated carbody fills the frame more than the SD40T-2.
SP was EMD’s only SD45T-2 customer, but Rio Grande purchased 73 SD40T-2s, boosting the model’s production to a total of 312 units.
This tunnel motor tally details as-built SD45T-2 and SD40T-2 production. For more information, see Joseph A. Strapac’s “Tunnel Motor Tribute” in Locomotive 2009. Additional rosters detailing secondhand SD45T-2 and SD40T-2 purchases by Bessemer & Lake Erie, Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range, Kansas City Southern and several regional carriers can also be found on this site.
