View allAll Photos Tagged AC44C6Ms
6 former KCS now PRLX SD70MACs for Raceland, KY and 5 new QNSL AC44C6Ms fresh from Erie lay over in Frontier Yard.
A pair of AC44C6Ms are working in helper duty as they run light through Coopers with some Fall colors remaining on the hillsides.
The hills of Virginia are showing off some peak Fall colors as a pair of AC44C6Ms shove on the rear of the eastbound grain train. After dropping the helpers in Bluefield yard, the train will continue on towards Roanoke.
A trio of AC44C6Ms shove on the rear of a loaded coal train as it grinds its way through the old mining town of Keystone, WV on the Pocahontas District.
NS U41 rolls out of the north portal of Natural Tunnel with a trio of AC44C6Ms doing the honors. After getting skunked by CSX U090 after dark here last year, this relatively fresh rebuild emerging from the bore was definitely a much better outcome.
Last fall, the C40-8s were ticking off their final miles on the Missabe before being replaced by modernized AC44C6Ms. These locomotives now sit in storage facing a bleak future.
Norfolk Southern has embarked on a rebuild program to convert 125 of its Dash 9-40Cs into wide cab locomotives with AC traction motors. The first two AC44C6Ms have been painted into this attractive blue, grey, and black scheme. NS 4000 led Enola, PA to Knoxville, TN train 37Q down the Lurgan Branch early Monday morning. Bill Kalkman and I had a hunch the night before this might happen and set our alarms accordingly. Almost four hours later we get our first photo in front of Martin's Elevator in Maugansville, MD. And the game was afoot.
A pair of AC44C6Ms power westbound 821 upgrade past John Farm in Shawsville, VA on the Christiansburg District.
The second of Norfolk Southern's "new" AC44C6Ms just rolled into Harrisburg this afternoon leading train 11Z. The train is seen here near North Ferry, as it curves between PA Route 147 and the Susquehanna River.
The D9-40C to AC44C6M program seems to be doing well, with NS investing in several dozen of the units so far and more slated to come. The first two conversions were done by AMP and painted in this blue paint scheme. I've shot NS 4000 several times now, and despite the two units spending most of their early service time together, I've never caught 4001. The locomotive even made it to California before I was able to catch it here on the Buffalo Line today.
Just having left UP's Lesperance Yard, NS Train 96Z is Northbound on TRRA's High Line bound for NS Luther Yard and eventually the St. Louis District. A pair of NS rebuild AC44C6Ms are in charge of the train as it meanders past Laclede's Landing.
Grinding its way up the grade from docks to Proctor Yard is CN's U716 with a train of taconite empties. Scenes like this are no longer possible, as CN has replaced the veteran EMDs with newly rebuilt AC44C6Ms from Wabtec.
KCS 4770 is seen leading CPKC's 120 eastbound across the Pat McKinney Bridge as they head into Jackman to be scanned by customs, and get a crew change. CN 3380 is trailing, the second of two CN AC44C6Ms to run over the Moosehead on this day, with the other being the trailing unit on 121.
A pair of IC SD40-3s lead L516 east over the Minneapolis Sub. Their 15+ year run on the former DM&IR recently came to a close following the introduction of straight air equipped AC44C6Ms. L516 typically rates road power these days, and it has probably been 10-15 years since a pair of SD40 types visited the Minneapolis Sub.
Moments after Class J 611 passed this train nice bonus showed up. NS train P88 is on Main 1 of Norfolk Southern's Danville District, the former Southern Railway mainline. They are crossing the Yadkin River from Rowan County into Davidson County at about MP 327.9 and will head into Linwood yard just ahead after their quick run up from Charlotte. A pair of nice standard cab GE C40-9s lead the train, 8786 and 8833 blt. Jan. and Feb. 1995 respectively. Now this model has been wiped from the roster and now standard cab GEs remain. Both of these have since been rebuilt at into AC44C6Ms, the former at Roanoke Shops in Jan. 2018 and the latter by GE at Erie in Aug. 2016 and they are now numbers 4124 and 4008 respectively.
Linwood, North Carolina
Saturday May 30, 2015
With the light fading fast, a pair of AC44C6Ms are shoving on the rear of an eastbound loaded grainer as it prepares to enter Bluefield yard. Once the train gets into the yard, the pushers will cut off and then head back west for another train to assist up the grade.
A quartet of GE locomotives consisting of two AC44C6Ms, an ES40DC, and a Union Pacific ES44AC, slowly enter Enola Yard on a gloomy Saturday morning in April. Notice the transformer load on the depressed center flat car and 3 Norfolk Southern High Top hoppers on the headpin.
One of the first AC44C6Ms rebuilt by GE in 2015, painted specially in this blue and silver paint scheme, leads NS train 239 on Track 79 of the KCT North-South Corridor by Tower 2 near 12th St. as it makes its way across town to UP's Armourdale Yard in Kansas City, KS, where they'll yard their train and return home to NS's Avondale Yard as light power. 3/4/19.
Bill Kalkman and I made a short trip to SW Virginia this week to photograph a pair NS AC44C6Ms that were recently placed in revenue service. These are the first of 125 D9-40Cs that will be rebuilt by American Motive Power, Inc under contract with GE. The first two units were painted in this attractive blue, grey, and black scheme with gold for cab lettering and the separation stripe on the stylized horse's mane on the long hood. We found the pair sitting in South Yard in Roanoke, VA.
Fishermen go about their Saturday morning hoping for the big catch in the Susquehanna River, while train 20K with brand new consecutive numbered GE AC44C6Ms 4480 and 4481, pass over the Rockville Bridge. These locomotives were rebuilt from Dash 9s at Norfolk Southern's Juniata Shop in Altoona, PA.
Two clean GE AC44C6Ms have this 218 in their grasp as they whisk through this Missouri town of 1,500. At Salisbury, a branchline split off, right about where the curve is in the background of this photo, and continued south to Glasgow where they met up with the Chicago & Alton Railway. Today, hardly anything is left of this branch, as it was abandoned in 1942 and completely dismantled within the next six weeks.
A sad sight at West Wye, as two straight air equipped AC44C6Ms lead a loaded ore train to Two Harbors for the first time ever. Hard pass for me.
With taconite dust flying and AC44C6Ms cooking, Canadian National Train U71781-02 (Unit ore train, Fairlane, Minn.–Duluth, Minn., via Proctor Yard) creates the impression that Hell would not have it while passing over the Cloquet River and up the sustained grade toward the siding at Coons.
Having visited the Iron Range several times in winter, the sight of a train emerging from a pall of steam or cloud of swirling snow is familiar. To see a train piercing a cloud of taconite dust, though, is a new on one me, and certainly a welcome sight against the backdrop of fall foliage.
CN C40-8 2010 leads a Southbound ID through Brimson, MN. With straight air equipped AC44C6Ms arriving on property, the days of the C40-8s and eventually all the old EMDs on the Missabe are numbered.
With one of Norfolk Southern's horse mane AC44C6Ms on the point, 23K slides between the old B&M era searchlights at Farley on its trip west. While this trip started off with some murky weather, west of Gardiner the skies cleared up nicely, and as an added bonus, most of the other railfans that were out hadn't bothered to pursue it this far west, giving my friend Don Marson and I the train mostly to ourselves. The 4002 is leading another fresh graduate of the AC44C6M program, the 4044, and an ex-Conrail C40-8W with about a mile and a half of train behind them.
A trio of AC44C6Ms shove loaded coal train S12 (extra 812) eastbound on the Pochahontas District through one of the larger towns along the line, Welch, WV.
Here they are crossing the Tug Fork and McDowell Street on a bridge that has been serving the railroad since the early 1900s.
The power changes have been fairly quick on the Iron Range this winter. A place where EMDs held down the stronghold for years has now gone from older GEs to brand-new GEs. Rebuilt AC44C6Ms are moving the ore trains now for CN in the Missabe Territory. Older EMDs are still doing local service and occasional ore trains, but the new wave is in full swing. The T-bird trains had the ACs on and off the past 2 years, but they have the newer rebuilds also. Here, the 2 T-birds meet at Sheldon Jct. The loads are heading to Fairlane as the empties use the Rainy Sub for a brief moment to access the loop to head to the mine at Largo. The T-birds run many times a day between Largo and Fairlane with raw iron ore used to make pellets.
Easing by Terminal JCT as it heads for the west leg of the wye at Big Mary is UP train MKSCBB-02 led by a pair of elephant style rebuilt AC44C6Ms. 11/2/19.
The blue hour is upon us on this chilly February day as a pair of AC44C6Ms slowly grind their way eastbound past the Oakvale United Methodist Church in Oakvale, WV with manifest 352.
On the morning of Sunday, June 23rd, 2024, NS4822 leads Norfolk Southern train 24X across CP Hack in Jersey City, New Jersey. NS4822, a AC44C6M, was unveiled on June 8th, 2024 at the Railroaders Memorial Museum in Altoona, Pennsylvania sporting a special paint scheme in appreciation of its railroaders. Just a little reminder as the road number of AC44C6Ms on NS quickly crawls up to the 4900s, the amount of active C44-9Ws are quickly decreasing!
Westbound autorack train 13J takes the connection from the former Nickel Plate Road to the former Pennsylvania RR at Valparaiso with one of the new DC to AC AC44C6Ms for power. NS utilizes part of the old PRR here (which is also shared with the CF&E) as a section of double track with which to meet opposing trains.
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NS C44-9W 9688 leads an autorack train westbound at Pine Junction as they pass by a clean pair of CN AC44C6Ms. The CN power came from Kirk yard to assist an NS baretable train that was having locomotive issues.
On a sweltering July afternoon, a pair of AC44C6Ms are in charge of 13R as it heads through Fort Mill, SC on the former Southern R Line
I truly dislike pretty much everything about CN's AC44C6Ms, but one thing you can't complain about is how spotless most are. So when presented an opportunity to shoot one leading at Paris in some gorgeous evening light, I certainly didn't pass up.
In honor of 3/4 I will post generic C40-8 Iron Range wedge number 781
On the afternoon of June 17th, 2023, a northbound empty ore train smokes it up past Biwabik, Minnesota through the Canadian wildfire haze with a trio of former Chicago & Northwestern Railway C40-8s in the lead. The leader, CN2026, along with many other C40-8s on the Iron Range, were recently retired in favor of new AC44C6Ms, which have been getting straight air modifications at the Proctor shops. The age of C40s running ore trains in Minnesota is now over, and despite the Iron Range consisting of wedge shots, wedge shots, and more wedge shots, it was certainly great to see and shoot a couple of times before their inevitable end.
NS 279 howls west through the sweeping curve at Shawsville in the late afternoon with two of the ever-present AC44C6Ms bracketing an SD70ACe on the head end.
IC 6251 leads a U720, loaded limestone for Fairlane, passing the old depot in Saginaw. This scene is no longer repeatable as the majority of the EMDs have left the Proctor pool in favor of AC44C6Ms. These EMDs are now seen across the CN system, mainly in the Midwest for the time being (6/9/2024)
A spring day in Marysville finds the MPDRVB rolling through town with a threatened NS dash 9 on point. The DC to AC program has been converting these units into AC44C6Ms and by this point the old “Thoroughbred” dash 9s were rare as most were either repainted, like 9860, or rebuilt. Skip about a year and a half later and today almost all of the last remaining thoroughbreds sit out of service awaiting rebuild. Very soon these old horses will be a thing of the past, though not entirely at the same time.
On a warm June afternoon a eastbound intermodal train can be see passing Alliance junction with two somewhat new AC44C6Ms in the lead. In the foreground is the old Lordstown secondary which has been out of service from Alliance to North Jackson sense 2007 nowadays this portion of the line sits empty and totally abandoned and this old Ex Conrail CP Alliance Approach signal sits here next to the mainline and off of the Alliance runner simply standing guard for nothing and no longer protecting any train movements.
A power shortage on the Norfolk Southern rails has led to a few rebuilt but yet to be painted AC44C6Ms to be released into active duty still sporting their primer cabs.
An example of such is seen here as engine No. 4047 motors over the mighty Shermans Creek at CP Cannon on the NS Pittsburgh Line on the head end of train 6T4.
The power changes have been fairly quick on the Iron Range this winter. A place where EMDs held down the stronghold for years has now gone from older GEs to brand-new GEs. Rebuilt AC44C6Ms are moving the ore trains now for CN in the Missabe Territory. Older EMDs are still doing local service and occasional ore trains, but the new wave is in full swing. Couple 3300's head back to Two Harbors with 145 loads out of Minntac. The train has just cleared Biwabik as they pass Embarrass Lake on the Iron Range Sub.
A crusty looking Dash-9 and a newer GE are heading westbound through Christiansburg with a train of empty hoppers heading back to the mines of West Virginia. Love them or hate them, the Dash-9s have been the face of NS motive power for years. Their time is drawing to a close though, as more and more are rebuilt into AC44C6Ms.
A pair of freshly rebuilt Canadian Pacific AC44C6Ms lead an empty ethanol train from Albany. The small town of Dresden is awakened at 4am as the train rumbles through the night.
I'm beginning to see more and more of the AC44C6Ms, which means that these guys are dwindling more and more. NS 8827, a D9-40C, prepares to run the Reed Branch wye so that they can spin the engines so that they could NS 24Q out of Charleston
NS 50V thunders upgrade at just South of Harrisburg with a pair of freshly rebuilt AC44C6Ms on the point.
Former Citirail ES44AC 1403 that is now CN 3931 leading the daily Toronto-Moncton M306 out of Mac Yard via York 2 with 138 cars the pin, behind the 3931 are freshly rebuilt QNSL AC44C6Ms 452-450 to be set off at Joffre Yard in Quebec City heading for there home between Northeastern Quebec and Western Labrador.