View allAll Photos Tagged AC4400CWs
A gathering of eight Southern Pacific AC4400CWs mingle in Provo, Utah while Rio Grande GP40-2s No. 3122, 3120, and 3105 depart with 33 cars for Roper Yard in South Salt Lake on August 4, 1996.
Union Pacific AC4400CWs 7140 and 6215 are seen leading a loaded coal train south passing Black Thunder Mine West Loadout at Black Thunder Junction - 14/05/2018
The rest of the photos from the trip now @ www.milepost39.co.uk/mp39.asp?do=trip&id=26
UP 6378 (ex-SP 311) one of only a handful of former Southern Pacific AC4400CWs still wearing their Erie applied paint schemes rests in between assignments at Dolores Yard.
A loaded Union Pacific coal train headed west accelerates away from the Union Pacific yard office and crew change at MP 576.6 the on the former Los Angeles and Salt Lake Route mainline. Milford is the away from home terminal for crew making the run down some 210 miles from Salt Lake via the Lynndyl Sub or up some 240 miles from Las Vegas. The yard office at left was built in 1982 in a style reminiscent of the grande Spanish Revival passenger depot from 1923 that was torn down in 1980. Fortunately two sister examples still stand in Caliente, NV and Kelso, CA.
Leading the train is faded but unrenumbered Southern Pacific 319. The 279 unit order of GE AC4400CWs was placed in 1995 and was the last big locomotive purchase by the SP before it disappeared into Union Pacic on September 11, 1996.
Milford, Utah
Friday May 2, 2014
UP 1066 leads the UP LSE59-07 local back toward St. Louis after running light power west to the U.S. Silica plant in Pacific MO. Leading the train back east is one of only a very small handful of patched Southern Pacific locomotives left on the Union Pacific roster now.
UP 1066 has been around the St. Louis area a little while now, and when I saw the LSE59 run west to Pacific earlier that afternoon and 1066 was in the consist and would lead the eastbound trip I knew I would have to set up somewhere for it. The Sherman Beach bridge came to mind right away, and would be maybe the only spot for the entire late afternoon eastbound trip that would have enough light for a decent shot. Once I arrived, some hiking, and trailblazing got me down to the water, and I set up. After about 40 minutes of waiting and hoping the rapidly lengthening shadows wouldn't screw up the shot, a westbound stack train rolled by, I assume ZDUNP-07. Not 30 seconds after the last car cleared the LSE59 ran across the bridge. Not 5 minutes later the entire bridge was in shadow. A lot of well timed events had to take place for this shot to happen, and given the tough sun conditions with a late afternoon eastbound runing on east-west trackage I think this turned out nicely.
I remember seeing these pretty frequently back in the late 1990s and early 2000s working around East Texas. Though I didn't realize what I was looking at till the late 2000s and early 2010s. This is the first SP painted GP60 that I remember shooting, though I know I've seen a couple in the past.
To my count the number of remaining patched Southern Pacific units is down to 16. Broken down by 3 AC4400CWs, and 13 GP60s. The GP60s are broken down into 8 Cotton Belt (SSW), and 5 Southern Pacific.
Normally entering Montreal in the afternoon, a very late CP 223 is approaching Montreal the following morning. Veteran AC4400CWs CP 8580 & CP 9802 are up front, with CP 8855 operating mid-train. It has intermodal traffic all the way to the DPU, with mixed freight behind it.
It was a cold clear morning so I headed west with plans to go look for Mass Central and/or New England Central. However, I saw that CSXT had three trains in the area so decided to snag those before heading for those arguably more interesting targets.
Second up was CSXT train M427 (Rigby to Selkirk manifest) at about MP 65.5 on CSXT's Boston Sub mainline, the former Boston and Albany Railroad. A trio of elderly AC4400CWs, including two in as delivered YN2 'bright future' livery lead 115 cars west across the small causeway over the marsh and frozen pond created by a beaver dam which has backed up the waters of Dunn Brook.
Brookfield, Massachusetts
Monday January 10, 2025
Selkirk to Rigby (ex Pan Am) manifest M426 is cresting the 1% climb up Charlton Hill as they curl through CP 57 on CSXT's Boston Line, the former Boston and Albany mainline. The train has an impressive eight unit lashup led by a pair of twenty two year old AC4400CWs in as delivered YN2 bright future livery trailed by a fourteen year old ES44AC-H and five dead in two SD40-2 variants four of which are rebuilt SD40-3 'spongebob' cab units. The five units are presumably headed to Waterville where CSXT has been sending many older EMD's lately for reasons unknown (perhaps maintenance, or storage, or prepping for service on the former Pan Am properties, or something else entirely).
Despite being on the non diverging route, M426 is technically coming off the controlled siding here having run around M436 which can be seen in the distance holding the mainline.
Charlton, Massachusetts
Friday November 11, 2022
The aspens are almost at their peak above the 6.21-mile Moffat Tunnel at East Portal, Colorado, on September 25, 1999. An eastbound Union Pacific coal train pops out of the tunnel led by two GE AC4400CWs: UP No. 6858 and Southern Pacific No. 253.
Just the wide angle take on this classic spot with classic old school power. It doesn't get much better than this around southern New England!
CSXT train R004-13 with 100 empty system steel hoppers on the headpin is headed back to the Pennsylvania coal fields from Granite Shore Power's Merrimack Station in Bow, New Hampshire on CSXT/Pan Am's Northern Mainline. Historically the plant, which was built by Public Service Company of New Hampshire in 1960 (unit 1) and 1968 (unit 2) was one of the Boston and Maine Railroad's most important customers. For decades an average of one 100 car train per week served the plant, and in 2008 (the most recent I could find online) over 534,000 tons were delivered. But in 2015 the plant transitioned from a base load station pumping out 482-megawatts from its two units to a peaker plant operating only during periods of extreme intermittent demand when generation is needed quickly to maintain electrical system stability on the grid. Today it remains, quite controversially, as the last coal fired plant in all of New England, and unit coal trains are few and far between these days. In fact this was the first one since the summer of 2020 (though a handful did run to Selkirk last winter and get cut up and sent in blocks on regularly scheduled manifest trains) so it rightfully drew lots of attention from local fans which was great to see.
I missed the loads going north last weekend, but with perfect timing I decided to forgo a little sleep and try for the returning empties. This was even more of a treat since CSXT assigned the power off of M427 which was an old school classic quartet of two SD40-2s and two YN2 painted AC4400CWs. CSXT 8822 is right at home here on the old Conrail Boston Line (the original Boston and Albany) as she was blt. Sep. 1977 as Conrail 6413.
They are sailing west near milepost 75 in the Village of West Warren alongside the Quaboag River. The dam was built in 1890 to power the adjacent Wright Cotton Mill complex and the waterfall it created has been beloved by photographers ever since. Remarkably, the mill complex with buildings constructed in stages between 1866 and 1912 remained in industrial use until 2006.
Warren, Massachusetts
Wednesday December 14, 2022
Another wider take from this location as CSXT Selkirk to Rigby manifest M426 (formerly Pan Am Railways AYPO) with three old school AC4400CWs in the lead rolls beneath the Lowell Connector overpass headed east on Main 2 approaching CPF BY (short for Bleachery Yard) at about MP 298.5 on Pan Am's Freight Main.
Standing guard at left is the old Boston and Maine Lowell Tower which is much newer than some of its surviving brethren I've shown here before such as Ayer, East Deerfield and Johnsonville. Known as BO in B&M parlance, it opened in 1948 when CTC was installed on the New Hampshire Route and it replaced two older towers known as Hale Street and Bleachery. This tower was one of the last handful still in service finally closing in 1984 when control was transferred to North Billerica. Now property of the MBTA it survives an office for Keolis engineering department personnel.
To their right parked in No. 1 Turnout is MEC 345 a rebuilt GP40-2 originally blt. Nov. 1968 as a straight GP40 Penn Central 3224. The unit passed to Conrail and then was sold to Guilford around 1995 and I believe it was subsequently sold to GATX rebuilt and leased back around 2015. The Pan Am blue unit recently lost its rear number boards to some theives and they have been amusingly replaced with these red stickers....what a place!
Lowell, Massachusetts
Friday June 10, 2022
Two Southern Pacific GE AC4400CWs lead an eastbound coal train comprised of Chicago & North Western hoppers approaching Tunnel 1 east of Plainview, Colorado, on June 28, 1998.
A pair of former Southern Pacific AC4400CWs work DPU duty on an eastbound Union Pacific coal train at La Fox. The then-unpatched SP 199 was looking somewhat presentable at the time.
CSXT M427 (Rigby Yard to Selkirk manifest) rumbles over the Hudson River at about MP QG 9 on Main Track 3 of modern day CSXT's Castleton Subdivision just minutes from arriving at their destination. A trio of quarter century old GE AC4400CWs lead the train including veteran 485 still dressed in its as delivered YN2 'bright future' livery.
They are emerging from the 598.6 main span of the massive Alfred H. Smith Bridge which in total is 5255 ft long and 139 feet above the Hudson River below. In 1921 a contract for the main grading and drainage work and for all the actual bridge construction except its steel superstructure was awarded to Walsh Construction Company, a well-established Iowa-based railroad builder that would later go on (in 22 joint venture with others) to build the Grand Coulee Dam and, still later, to achieve national prominence as a builder of urban skyscrapers. The 23,000 tons of structural steel required for the bridge would be fabricated in Pittsburgh and erected by Bethlehem Steel's McClintic Marshall subsid- iary under a direct contract with the railroad. Physical work began in early 1922 and two years later on November 20, 1924 the first train crossed the bridge. It was named in honor of Alfred Holland Smith, the president of the New York Central Railroad who authorized the construction of this bridge as part of an extensive project known as the Castleton Cut-Off. He died in a horse-riding accident in Central Park in 1924, only a few months before completion of the bridge. He is sometimes confused with Alfred E. Smith, New York's governor at the time who was aboard that first train and christened the structure in honor of the other fallen Mr. Smith.
This bridge is now the southernmost place a train can cross the Hudson River (excepting NYNJ's barge service) and is used by all CSXT traffic heading into New England via the old B&A as well as any traffic direct to New York City via the historic NYC Main, now Amtrak and Metro North's Hudson Line and on a typical day 18 to 20 trains will cross. The parallel structure beyond is Castleton-on-Hudson bridge opened in 1959 to carry the New York State Thruway's Berkshire extension connection to the Massachusetts Turnpike.
Coeymans, New York
Friday Friday November, 2024
A daylight M701 charges south towards Oak Point yard with consecutively numbered AC4400CWs, #464 and #465. This train was held up due to snowfall the previous night.
CSXT M426 (Selkirk to Rigby manifest) has a trio of elderly AC4400CWs led by repainted 477 as it rounds the curve and is about to plunge into 600 ft long State Line Tunnel at QB164.8 (as measured from South Station in Boston) on modern day CSXT's busy Berkshire Sub. The first tunnel here was bored through this ridge in the Taconic Hills around 1840 by the Western Railroad of Massachusetts and was joined by another just to its south about 1912 when new owner New York Central System triple tracked the line. When Conrail singled tracked the route in late 1988, the original tunnel was left vacant and all traffic now moves through the south bore beneath my feet.
Canaan, New York
Friday October 25, 2024
Another Friday and another M426. I wasn't planning on doing this again but when I saw that the train had a nice little bonus on the head end behind the standard pair of CSXT AC4400CWs I figured I'd give it a look. The Selkirk to Rigby manifest is in the interlocking at CPF AY as it pulls out of the Hill Yard around the east leg off the wye and beneath the modern cantilever signals protecting the easy end of the interlocking as they approach Harvard-Groton Road at about PAR milepost 315.5 (measured from Mattawamkeag, ME) and milepost 35.5 (measured from Boston North Station on the Keolis/MBTA Fitchburg Line).
Leading the train are CSXT 483 and 482 both GE AC4400CWs blt. Sep. 2000. And dead in tow trailing are three four axle units being reactivated for service on former Pan Am lines in Maine: CSXT 2790, 1142, and 6026. They are a GP38-2, MP15DC, and GP40-2 built Oct. 1978 as CR 8222, Nov. 1975 as LN 5032 and Sep. 1972 as BO 4126 respectively.
Ayer, Massachusetts
Friday June 17, 2022
Another Friday and another M426. I wasn't planning on doing this again but when I saw that the train had a nice little bonus on the head end behind the standard pair of CSXT AC4400CWs I figured I'd give it a look. The Selkirk to Rigby manifest is accelerating eastbound after finishing their work at the Hill Yard. The old granite Boston and Maine era milepost standing guard here just west of the Sandy Pond Road crossing denotes the mileage to North Station in that old road's namesake city
Leading the train are CSXT 483 and 482 both GE AC4400CWs blt. Sep. 2000. And dead in tow trailing are three four axle units being reactivated for service on former Pan Am lines in Maine: CSXT 2790, 1142, and 6026. They are a GP38-2, MP15DC, and GP40-2 built Oct. 1978 as CR 8222, Nov. 1975 as LN 5032 and Sep. 1972 as BO 4126 respectively.
Ayer, Massachusetts
Friday June 17, 2022
Once a ubiquitous sight on the UP, patched Southern Pacific AC4400CWs are becoming increasingly rare, as the vast majority of them have been repainted. I was lucky enough to stumble upon #6379 entering Englewood Yard yesterday evening on the MFWEW (Ft. Worth-Houston). The train took an indirect routing in order to enter Englewood Yard from the east, and fortunately, this allowed for this shot of the train passing under the signal bridge at W Settegast Junction after rounding the corner at Tower 87.
Houston, TX 4/14/2019
CSXT's overnight Worcester local L002 has returned from Framingham with traffic from CSXT's eastern Mass carload hub which will be added to train M437 for departure west to Selkirk later in the day. The pair of locally assigned ACSES equipped 24 yr old GE AC4400CWs still dressed in their as delivered YN2 'bright future' livery are crossing over Gardner Street at about MP 45.6 on CSXT's Boston Sub as they trundle west on the storage track which is south of the two mains. This is one of the many concrete arches built when the New York Central modernized and grade separated the Boston and Albany through the city around 1911 in conjunction with the Union Station project.
Worcester, Massachusetts
Friday June 28, 2024
I rarely shoot the far west end of CSXT's ex Boston and Albany mainline other than State Line Tunnel and Chatham, so I made a point to go out a couple times this fall to check out some new spots and revisit some old ones. CSXT M426 (Selkirk to Rigby manifest) has a trio of elderly AC4400CWs led by repainted 477 snaking thru the s-curve into the village of East Chatham at about MP 171.3 (as measured from South Station in Boston) on modern day CSXT's busy Berkshire Sub.
The west end of the B&A is a pretty fast railroad making it a challenge to chase, but this day turned out to be different because the NC dispatcher in Jacksonville had called to tell them that the prior westbound train had left a track light in their wake which turned out to be a broken rail just over the state line in Massachusetts. After a pause for a bit at CP171 they were allowed to proceed east they on a restricting indication making for a leisurely chase and many more photos than would otherwise have been possible. For example this view looking down off the Albany Turnpike bridge is only a half mile east of the I90 overpass so I would normally have had to choose one or the other but could never have photographed the same train at both.
Village of East Chatham
Town of Chatham, New York
Friday October 25, 2024
A trio of brand new Union Pacific GE AC4400CWs roll west past the pond at Malone on the way across Iowa in 1996.
After grabbing some photos of the Keolis/MBTA cable train at Concord I decided to see if anything else worthwhile was around. A friend had mentioned seeing a train parked at Graniteville so I went to take a look. Sure enough I found a CSXT M427 (Rigby Yard to Selkirk manifest) tied down on Main 1 at old CPF309 which is now officially known as control point Graniteville at MP PLD124.1 on CSXT's Portland Subdivision mainline.
Alas there was no crew in sight and I didn't expect them to be going anywhere so I grabbed one shot of the rain soaked pair over veteran YN2 dressed CSXT AC4400CWs and moved on west.
Westford, Massachusetts
Friday September 29, 2023
I rarely shoot the far west end of CSXT's ex Boston and Albany mainline other than State Line Tunnel and Chatham, so I made a point to go out a couple times this fall to check out some new spots and revisit some old ones. CSXT M426 (Selkirk to Rigby manifest) has a trio of elderly AC4400CWs led by repainted 477 as it rounds the curve amidst some great late fall foliage at about MP 163.9 (as measured from South Station in Boston) on modern day CSXT's busy Berkshire Sub. This view looks down off the NY State Route 22 overpass above the swamp and small pond alongside Flat Brook.
The west end of the B&A is a pretty fast railroad making it a challenge to chase, but this day turned out to be different because the NC dispatcher in Jacksonville had called informing them that the prior westbound train had left a track light in their wake which turned out to be a broken rail just over the state line in Massachusetts. After a pause for a bit at CP171 they were allowed to proceed east on a restricting indication making for a leisurely chase and many more photos than would otherwise have been possible. This is one such example of that because if they'd been running at track speed I'd have had to choose either this shot or the tunnel or the state line marker....not all three like I got!
Canaan, New York
Friday October 25, 2024
The days are getting longer as spring approaches but there was still a chill in the air and after 5 PM the shadows were creeping in everywhere. But out in Jamesville I found one sliver of light to capture train K665 just three miles into its journey from Worcester to Selkirk. This empty unit ethanol train came up from the Shell facility at the port of Providence, RI on the Providence and Worcester Railroad and was handed off to CSXT at CP45. Ultimately destined to Besenville, IL for interchange to the Canadian Pacific and return for another midwest load of liquid distilled corn. The twin AC4400CWs still wearing old school YN2 paint are approaching MP 48 on the former Boston and Albany mainline.
Worcester, Massachusetts
Sunday March 7, 2021
I rarely shoot the far west end of CSXT's ex Boston and Albany mainline other than State Line Tunnel and Chatham, so I made a point to go out a couple times this fall to check out some new spots and revisit some old ones. CSXT M426 (Selkirk to Rigby manifest) has a trio of elderly AC4400CWs led by repainted 477 stepping out across the New York State Thruway Extension / Interstate 90 amidst some still fabulous fall color. That little green tag beneath the nose of the lead unit still proudly reads CONRAIL.
This overpass is at about MP 171.8 (as measured from South Station in Boston) on modern day CSXT's busy Berkshire Sub mainline, and the 25,344 controlled siding starts immediately on the west side of this single track bridge at CP171. The west end of the B&A is a pretty fast railroad and chasing is normally a challenge, but this day turned out to be different because the NC dispatcher in Jacksonville had called to tell them that the prior westbound train had left a track light in their wake which turned out to be a broken rail just over the state line in Massachusetts. After a pause for a bit they were allowed to proceed east on a restricting indication making for a leisurely chase and many more photos than would otherwise have been possible.
Chatham, New York
Friday October 25, 2024
Westbound Canadian Pacific potash train No. 675 snakes along the Eagle River at East Taft, British Columbia, on July 23, 2011. Two GE AC4400CWs power the train through the lush scenery on this part of the CP’s Shuswap Subdivision main line west of Revelstoke.
CSXT Selkirk to Rigby manifest train M426 has a trio of quarter century old AC4400CWs on the point led by 474 as they climb thru the cut at the crest of the 1% grade of Charlton Hill and approach MP 57 which is right behind me just west of Jones Road on CSXT's Boston Sub, the former Boston and Albany Railroad mainline.
Charlton, Massachusetts
Friday March 21, 2025
One of the few remaining SP-painted AC4400CWs left leads UP train IDULB-12 on Main Track 1 of the UP KC Metro Sub at St. Louis Ave. after working the intermodal ramp at UP's Neff Yard. 4/12/19.
A couple YN2 painted AC4400CWs power autoracks east out of North East, Pennsylvania and towards the New York state line.
CN A403 climbs Steelton Hill in far western Duluth on Jun26, 2016. Power on 403 is CN 2006, CN 8010, CEFX 1022, and CEFX 1005 with a boxcar intensive freight for Proctor. The two CEFX AC4400CWs are in transit from the LS&I to Northshore Mining in a Cliffs Natural Resources family motive power move. The 1022 and 1005 are expected to replace the CITX MACs (130 and 133). It seems to me that NSM could get along without these GEs with their ample roster of SD40-2s. I think they have 11(?) of them on the property so why not hook 3-4 of them up on their 2-3 ore trains per day and call it good. That is how CN runs things in northern Minnesota, but what do I know.
I do know that after the brush clearing for the double track Steelton Hill project the former Skyline Parkway bridge here is a nice shot. Good for a couple of hours during the summer evenings for northbounds. Used to be really tight here with all the tree and brush growth.
A CP Rail SD40-2F was hanging around with a gaggle of half-way presentable AC4400CWs back when Canadian Pacific took a little pride in their locomotive fleet's appearance.
Nowadays the pride is gone and everything is filthy, blistered and burnt. Or scrapped.
Seven units bring UP train MKCSJ-08 up to Clarke on the BNSF St. Joseph Sub in Riverside, MO as they make their trip up to St. Joseph, MO. This consist includes two SD60Ms, two AC4400CWs, a C44-9W, a GP15-1, and a GP38-2.
This train is exercising trackage rights on the BNSF St. Joseph Sub from Kansas City, MO to St. Joseph, MO. It and its counterpart train, the MSJKC, both ran on the UP Falls City Sub, but the 2011 floods destroyed the Rushville Branch east of Atchison, KS, which is why these trains have to use trackage rights on the BNSF to and from KC. 6/8/18.
CP AC4400CWs 9602 & 9762 roll slowly into the west end of the Harvey, ND yard with a unit tanker train on May 2, 2007.
Canon EOS 350D Digital Rebel XT
Canon EFS 18-55mm lens
Coming up to Porubsky's Curve in Topeka, KS on the UP Kansas Sub is UP train ZG4TU-28 with former CNW and SP AC4400CWs for power. Just a short distance away at SJ JCT, this train will hang a left and cross the Kansas River and exit town on the former Rock Island Golden State Route. 4/28/17.
A quartet of GEs leads an eastbound oil train across the bridge at MP 45.2, moving from the south side to the north side of South Boulder Creek. Three of the four units on the head end are slightly older AC4400CWs, with a single ES44AC in the consist, second out. In the distance, you can see the top of the Continental Divide.
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Northshore Mining's 0700 crew has their pair of SD9043MACs in full dynamic as they descend the 1.5 percent grade toward Lake Superior. The train is skirting the west side of Silver Bay's golf course. These big blue beasts will soon be replaced by a pair of CEFX AC4400CWs now on the property from sister railroad LS&I.
Three Southern Pacific AC4400CWs are on the front of this heavy coal train near Castle Gate climbing towards Soldier Summit on their way to Provo from the Utah coalfields with several mid train helpers out of sight. 11 April 1996.
A pair of AC4400CWs on an eastbound general freight alongside the Truckee River, shortly after passing Truckee. 31 March 1996.
It's early morning at Rochelle, Illinois, and an eastbound loaded coal train rumbles across the diamonds led by UP AC4400CWs 6557 and 5967, with a third unit out of view on the tail end.
A westbound ore train was meeting an eastbound Union Pacific C40-8W in the frozen tundra along the former Chicago and North Western main line in 1997.
The UP SD9043MAC and a trio of former Southern Pacific GE AC4400CWs had a load of iron ore from Minnesota heading for Geneva, Utah.
3YardHill comes into the cut above Eagle Mills Jct with a pair of UP spec AC4400CWs. These blues are a source of soreness on my attempts in the north country, but they too deserve occasional documentation.
A rare treat on the Birmingham-Mobile coal rotation, YN2 CW44AC number 537 charges out of the sag at NE Canoe with southbound loaded train C250. CSX began taking delivery of General Electric's then-new AC4400CW in 1994, after witnessing the wonders of AC traction in coal service. Used primarily as coal haulers from the get-go, CSX's AC4400CWs (or CW44ACs, per CSX) could be found leading coal trains in multiples of two or three anywhere on the system. In the 21st century, newer GE models have largely supplanted the venerable CW44s, and they can more commonly be found in manifest service. Sometimes, though, an old soldier still in YN2 will sneak onto the point of a coal train, just like old times. Here at Canoe on a crisp winter morning, the sun has just cracked over the horizon, and south Alabama is coated in a warm glow as 537 does what it was built to do.
It was cold standing on the former Rock Island overpass at the Cedar River as Union Pacific ore load O-PRGV was heading west.
SD9043MAC 8037 was leading a trio of Southern Pacific AC4400CWs on the single track bridge on the former Chicago and North Western. Under UP ownership, this bottleneck would be eliminated as double track was installed.
That 8037 is now SD70ACu Norfolk Southern 7265 and a General Electric AC45CCTE now wears the number UP 8037.