Flash in the Wok atop an Induction Cooktop
Back in November of 2022, Norfolk Southern performed adhesion tests on a pair of Knoxville Locomotive Works units on Starkey Hill, specifically ex Norfolk Southern AC44C6F 8520 and then brand new (and still) one-of-a-kind KLW 4400 AC-T4 rebuild 9530. Running as NS 996, one of those adhesion test trains is seen behind the aforementioned KLWX 9530 as it leads NS R&T Dynamometer Car #32, KLWX 8520, 2 AC44C6M's and 62 PGNX coal loads south over the Electric Road overpass as they grind up Starkey Hill.
At the time, (as far as I knew), rebuilds like the KLWX 9530, sporting Cummins QSK-95 prime movers and tons of other unique technologies like higher speed traction motors and all-new electrical systems, were going to be the next chapter for many EMD products of this generation, but despite extensive testing of the 9530 on CN, UP, and NS, no orders materialized, and the 9530 would be merely just a flash in the railroad pan.
I've been fortunate to have shot some relatively uncommon things over the past decade or so, but I didn't think this would be one of the rarest!
Flash in the Wok atop an Induction Cooktop
Back in November of 2022, Norfolk Southern performed adhesion tests on a pair of Knoxville Locomotive Works units on Starkey Hill, specifically ex Norfolk Southern AC44C6F 8520 and then brand new (and still) one-of-a-kind KLW 4400 AC-T4 rebuild 9530. Running as NS 996, one of those adhesion test trains is seen behind the aforementioned KLWX 9530 as it leads NS R&T Dynamometer Car #32, KLWX 8520, 2 AC44C6M's and 62 PGNX coal loads south over the Electric Road overpass as they grind up Starkey Hill.
At the time, (as far as I knew), rebuilds like the KLWX 9530, sporting Cummins QSK-95 prime movers and tons of other unique technologies like higher speed traction motors and all-new electrical systems, were going to be the next chapter for many EMD products of this generation, but despite extensive testing of the 9530 on CN, UP, and NS, no orders materialized, and the 9530 would be merely just a flash in the railroad pan.
I've been fortunate to have shot some relatively uncommon things over the past decade or so, but I didn't think this would be one of the rarest!