View allAll Photos Tagged EMDX
For Forty Friday, a foursome of forties with train 214 in tow slowly crests the hill at Pittsburgh Junction, Ohio, on the foggy Christmas Eve of 2019. The two lead units in EMDX paint are currently stored, and the two trailing BN-painted units have both been rebuilt as tigers in the last two years, renumbered from 6388 to 7023, and 6387 to 7024.
Before the SD70ACe's and even before the grey SD40-3's, this was standard fare on the NSM. The EMDX 40's blended in well with the NSM 40's at least.
It's about 20 degrees below zero as the sun rises over the mountains and the first rays of light cast a warm glow on the outskirts of Whitehall, Montana. The engineer of the MRL's Whitehall Extra is ready to depart eastbound with a train of storage cars that had been pulled off of the 7th Sub, and in just a few minutes the pair of SD70ACe's would break the morning silence as they get the train underway.
====Info====
MRL 5th Sub
Whitehall, MT
MRL Whitehall Extra (Coal/Intermodal; Whitehall, MT to Laurel, MT)
MRL 4318 SD70ACe/LCi Ex. EMDX 1005, BHP 4301 Blt. 2005
MRL 4316 SD70ACe/LCi Ex. EMDX 1006, BHP 4302 Blt. 2005
Digging through the archives takes us back to a decade ago this week, August 8, 2012. NS 8443 and EMDX 2012 lead 61D with an empty ethanol train from the P&OC.
It was an exciting time in Brainerd, MN back here 19 years ago as the former Potlatch paper mill just reopened and this street running trackage to the mill was back in service. BNSF"s Brainerd Local with EMDX 827 and BNSF 2592 run south down the middle of First Ave NE towards the mainline with five cars from the MIssota Paper Mill in April 2003.
Potlatch first closed the mill in 2002. Missota reopened the mill late in March 2003 but only hired back about 1/3 of Potlatch's 600 employees for their scaled-back operation. This meant less rail activity at the mill, which ended up actually making it easier to catch this street running. Back during Potlatch's bigger operation, BNSF assigned a GP to Brainerd to handle the street running and to forward cars to Staples. With the Brainerd switch engine, there wasn't really as much of a set schedule for the street running runs to the mill.
BNSF would get rid of the switch Brainerd engine for good in 2002 when the mill closed for the first time. So for a decade starting in 2003, the Brainerd Local out of Superior handled the street running up to the mill. This local ran afternoons on M, W, and F which made for a great after-work catch for me living in McGregor from 2003-to 2008.
Missota and then Wausau Paper tried to make a go of the Brainerd paper mill for 10 years after Potlatch, but it eventually closed for good in 2013 and this street running trackage remains unused.
EMDX SD70ACE demo’s 1203-1202 cross over the Youghiogheny River at McKeesport, PA. I believe this was the spring of 2013, and the introduction of A1A trucks on these engines?
SD70ACe demonstrator EMDX GM73 leads Q353 at Sand Patch, PA. We're stopped while the Hyndman helper cuts off the rear end of the train at the East Portal of the tunnel, allowing for a quick impromptu photo session.
In a scene typical of the Wisconsin Central during the mid-1990s – A variety of EMDs are gathered around the turntable at Shops yard in North Fond du Lac.
Noteworthy here is that the five locomotives in view were delivered new to five different railroads, The EMDX 6501 was formerly L&N, the WC 6514 BN, the WC 6573 (getting a headlight replaced in this shot) Southern, the WC 590 Milwaukee Road, and the WC 4013 Texas & Pacific.
The EMDX SD40 was on hand as a loaner from EMD during the installation of their EM-2000-1 microprocessor adhesion upgrade system on one of the WCs SD45s. – January 7th, 1996 ~~ A Jeff Hampton Photograph ©
EMDX tier 4 demonstrator ACe's lead elephant style over Banklick Creek Trestle in Independence, Kentucky. The units are testing on train Q573 between Cincinnati and Nashville and have had their share of problems.
Blue SD40-2's 6312 and 7374 race east with a mid-afternoon 214 at New Cumberland on April 5, 2015. The 7374 was rebuilt years ago and is now WE 7016, while the 6312 has been picked as the next unit for rebuild and PTC at the Brewster shop. This leaves just two EMDX-painted units left... the 6314 still in service, and the 6348 that's been stored for quite a while.
The Canadian National L567 local shoves around the north leg of the wye as it backs its train into Keenan Yard in Keenan, Minnesota. The local has backed off of the Missabe Sub and on to the Keenan Sub, where it will work the yard before continuing north to Rainer.
====Info====
CN Keenan Sub
Keenan, MN
CN L56781-15 (Local; Proctor, MN to Rainer, MN)
CN 5485 SD60 Ex. GMTX 9090, EMDX 9090, OWY 9090 Blt. 1986
CN 5424 SD60 Ex. GMTX 9064, EMDX 9064, OWY 9064 Blt. 1986
IC 6264 SD40-3 Ex. IC 6147 SD40-2, IC 6756, BN 6756 Blt. 1976
CN 3268 ET44AC Blt. 2019
Progress Rail (EMDX) SD70ACe-T4 leasers #7205 and 7207 lead KCS train MKCVN around the curve and off the Godfrey Sub at Godfrey, IL. In a few moments, the train will join UP's Springfield Sub for the run down main 1 to East St. Louis. Unfortunately, the KCS yard was plugged today and this train did not make its destination, instead getting parked next to another MKCVN in Venice yard. Hopefully these two stay on the KC-to-STL run for a while.
Thanks to SS for the heads-up call as my son and I were leaving a Boy Scout event this morning. Perfect timing, and finally, perfect weather to match.
While looking for the 201 shot from 11 years ago, I came across this westbound coal empty I didn't remember chasing west from McGregor.
BNSF 9206, 9247, and EMD 9000 lead an empty SUD train over the Gull River west of Baxter, MN on the Brainerd Sub. on the evening of June 24, 2007.
This was the only time I caught the 9206 in H3 before it was renumbered 8107. All these years later I miss seeing the cool, clean DC Glendive motors on the coal trains out of Superior.
Started the New Year with a pretty good chase of Union Pacific SD70AH-T4 #3000 (ex-EMDX 1502) seen here between Dos and Lacy sidings in Western Colo.
It was leading a W. Elk Mine to Cora, IL eastbound loaded coal train.
An MRL Whitehall Extra crew has a train of stored coal hoppers and intermodal well cars in tow as they descend Bozeman Pass and cross the Flynn Creek fill in Hoppers, Montana and head towards Livingston. The pair of SD70ACe's powering the train were both originally built for BHP Iron Ore in Australia but were eventually reimported to the United States where they found their way to the MRL.
====Info====
MRL 2nd Sub
Hoppers, MT
MRL Whitehall Extra (Coal/Intermodal; Whitehall, MT to Laurel, MT)
MRL 4318 SD70ACe/LCi Ex. EMDX 1005, BHP 4301 Blt. 2005
MRL 4316 SD70ACe/LCi Ex. EMDX 1006, BHP 4302 Blt. 2005
A winter storm rolls through Piedmont, Montana and fills the air with heavy snowfall as an extra Montana Rail Link crew pulls a train of storage oil tank cars off the 7th Sub. The pair of MRL SD70ACe's would be cut off in Whitehall and the BNSF unit used to take the train east and hand it off to BNSF.
====Info====
MRL 7th Subdivision
Piedmont, MT
MRL Whitehall Extra (Oil Empties; Whitehall, MT to Piedmont, MT Turn)
MRL 4316 SD70ACe/LCi Ex. EMDX 1006, BHP 4302 Blt. 2005
MRL 4318 SD70ACe/LCi Ex. EMDX 1005, BHP 4301 Blt. 2005
BNSF 984 C44-9W Blt. 1996
With the Rock Island heritage leading a seven unit consist, the Iowa Interstate's BICB gets on the move out of Iowa City, Iowa after holding to meet the 6988 steam special. The train is crossing over the Iowa River as it gets on the move west.
====Info====
IAIS Iowa City Sub
Iowa City, IA
IAIS BICB (Manifest; Blue Island, IL to Council Bluffs, IA)
IAIS 513 ES44AC Blt. 2009
IAIS 504 ES44AC Blt. 2008
IAIS 701 GP38-2 Ex. UP 411, EMDX 742, CR 7942, PC 7942 Blt. 1972
IAIS 502 ES44AC Blt. 2008
IAIS 508 ES44AC Blt. 2008
IAIS 711 GP38-2 Ex. LLPX 2316, UP 1932, EMDX 784, CR 7984, PC 7984 Blt. 1972
New power for CWC Rail, sits at the BNSF Argentine Yard DSF awaiting shipment west. These locomotives will operate on the Colorado Pacific Railroad eastern Colorado over the former Missouri Pacific Pueblo line that was recently returned to service. The railroad was operated for the first year by Watco via the Kansas & Oklahoma Railroad under contract.
The railroad will operate in tandem with Crossroads Agriculture–owned by Colorado Pacific owner, Stefan Soloviev. Crossroads is building a large grain elevator in Kiowa County Colorado to supplement their other facilities. The company expects the new elevator to be operational by the 2022 fall harvest. The CXR logos and reporting marks reflect that affiliation.
The engines were reconditioned by NRE in Paducah, Kentucky from a pair of units in their lot, which were FURX units for some time.
CXR 1923 was built in 2-1966 builder number 31323 frame number 7862-39 as PRR 6078. It passed to Penn Central with the merger as PC 6078, and Conrail as CR 6331. Returned to EMD as EMD 6402, then EMD 402, EMDX 6402, FURX 3019 in 1999, NREX 3019, and finally Colorado Pacific.
By coincidence the other unit has a similar lineage, even though that original FURX core batch came from a variety of sources. CXR 1964 was built in 1-1971 builder number 36926, frame number 7290-31 as PC 6270. To Conrail as CR 6270, then EMD 6427, EMD 427, EMDX 6427, FURX 3045, NREX 3045, finally to Colorado Pacific.
They wear a pretty snappy scheme adapted from the Colorado State Flag, and they've developed a nice logo.
Locomotives: CXR 1964, CXR 1923
8-19-22
Kansas City, KS
After the fair, the 1964/1965 was sold to the New York Central (the only dynamic-brake equipped GP35 on that road), becoming NYC 6155, later PC 2399, later still CR 2399.
© G.Bash photographer.
BN 9601, EMDX 9040, and BNSF 8281 lead a loaded taconite train out of Keewatin over the bridge between Marble and Calumet on the BNSF Casco Sub. back in Feb. 2003. This UKEEMAD all-rail was heading for Granite City, IL via Gunn and Boylston.
Good news on the Range this New Years with the word that Keewatin Taconite will reopen after a 19 month hiatus, but don't expect them to run this part of the Casco as it has mothballed since 2004.
CN's U261 has just come down the Terminal's Illinois Transfer and turned south through the KCS yard at East St. Louis, IL after a long wait at Valley Junction. It'll join the CN St. Louis Subdivision at Church and continue south, a move I haven't seen in a long time.
Visible on the right are two of the three rows of Progress Rail SD70ACe-T4s being stored here. Too bad it didn't work out; they were a bright spot on KCS for such a short time.
A pair of SD60's cruise through the s-curve in Culver, Minnesota as they power CN's L568 south towards Proctor in the early morning sun on a cold winter morning.
====Info====
CN Missabe Subdivision
Culver, MN
CN L56881-15 (Local; Rainer, MN to Proctor, MN)
CN 5416 SD60 Ex. GMTX 9051, EMDX 9051, OWY 9051 Blt. 1986
CN 5426 SD60 Ex. GMTX 9069, EMDX 9069, OWY 9069 Blt. 1986
Wheeling and Lake Erie 218 heads into Rook Yard, crossing high over Interstate 376 on a former N&W trestle. The power for today's train includes two SD40-2's, two GP35's and a GP38-2, all in different paint schemes.
====Info====
WLE Rook Sub
Rook, PA
WE 218 (Manifest; Brewster, OH to Rook, PA)
WE 6987 SD40-2 Ex. FURX 3035, EMDX 6405 SD40 , CR 6356, PC 6103, PRR 6103 Blt. 1966
WE 6984 SD40-2 Ex. CITX 3099, GCFX 3099, SP 7351 SD40R, SP 8484 SD40 Blt. 1968
WE 101 GP35 Ex. NW 1301 Blt. 1964
WE 200 GP35 Ex. WE 2706, NS 2706, SOU 2706 Blt. 1964
WE 252 GP38-2 Ex. NS 5108, SOU 5108 Blt. 1974
E&LS 501 runs south from Channing with loads of logs headed to Louisiana-Pacific before running back north to their yard.
The former GM Electro-Motive Leasing keeps the GM logo and signs on the sides of it as a good memory of better EMD days.
ELS 501 (Former EMDX 6306, SOO 6306, MILW 22)
CSX 6898, a former EMD GP60 Demonstrator, switches Caribbean Distillers in Auburndale, Florida. Today, 6898 is no longer on the CSX roster. Caribbean Distillers an LLC DBA Florida Distillers Company, has been in business for more than 70 years and still continues to bottle liquor for major companies to this day.
CSX was kicking the tires on a trio of EMD SD70M demonstrators in 1993. EMD sent a sharp set of motors all over the country trying to generate sales.
EMDX 7002 was leading CSX coal load U827 which was tied down on the storage track in Lansdowne which drew the area railfans like a magnet. The film (yes, film) was being exposed very rapidly and the sound of analog cameras was deafening.
CSX did not buy the SD70M, instead opting for oodles of GE motors. In a weird twist of fate, however, the 7002 would later wind up on CSX's roster after a swap between CSX and LLPX where CSX gave up some switchers for road power included the demos.
CSX 4677 would run around in Florida's Bone Valley mostly until being retired. and in 2020 would find its way to Oregon and now works for Central Oregon & Pacific.
After taking the siding to meet eastbound 36T, NS 309 gets back on the move west through Rock Glen, New York with SD80MAC 7216 leading the charge.
====Info====
NS Southern Tier
Rock Glen, NY
NS 309 (Manifest; Binghamton, NY to Elkhart, IN)
NS 7216 SD80MAC Ex. CR 4129, EMDX 8001 Blt. 1995
NS 9640 C44-9W Ex. NS 9640 C40-9W Blt. 2001
NS 1162 SD70ACe Blt. 2014
EMDX SD70ACe demonstrator Nº1201 wearing CAT yellow leads NS train 052 into Macon, Georgia on October 28, 2012.
After the morning snow subsided, an MRL Extra Crew slowly rolls across the 7th Sub and approaches Whitehall, Montana with a train of storage oil tank cars in tow. The pair of MRL SD70ACe's would be cut off in Whitehall and the BNSF unit used to take the train east and hand it off to BNSF.
====Info====
MRL 7th Sub
Whitehall, MT
MRL Whitehall Extra (Oil Empties; Whitehall, MT to Piedmont, MT Turn)
MRL 4316 SD70ACe/LCi Ex. EMDX 1006, BHP 4302 Blt. 2005
MRL 4318 SD70ACe/LCi Ex. EMDX 1005, BHP 4301 Blt. 2005
BNSF 984 C44-9W Blt. 1996
A pair of SD60's meet the first light of the rising morning sun as they cruise through the south end of the siding in Alborn, Minnesota leading CN's L568 south towards Proctor.
====Info====
CN Missabe Sub
Alborn, MN
CN L568 (Local; Ranier, MN to Proctor, MN)
CN 5416 SD60 Ex. GMTX 9051, EMDX 9051, OWY 9051 Blt. 1986
CN 5426 SD60 Ex. GMTX 9069, EMDX 9069, OWY 9069 Blt. 1986
Not much is left of this consist in the current 2023 railroading. Back in 2007, this Northtown to KC freight had a dog's breakfast lashup as they made their way south on the Marshall Sub. The train is seen here south of the siding at Ruthven. The rear 4 motors will set out at Garrison for points around Sioux Falls.
BNSF 8600, BNSF 341, KCS 6601, EMDX 9003, BNSF 2977, BNSF 927, NS 2519, and BNSF 4709.
The 341 may be the only unit left in active service and paint, from what I've seen in the research. 4709 would be, but it was wrecked. The rest are long gone or in different capacities. The NS 2519 did make it until 2016 on the NS roster, when the last remaining SD70s were sold off.
The morning sun shines on a pair of Montana Rail Link SD70ACe's as they emerge from the Jefferson River Canyon in Cardwell, Montana on a frigid March morning. An MRL Whitehall Extra crew has a train of coal hoppers and intermodal well cars in tow, pulled from storage on the 7th Sub south of Whitehall.
====Info====
MRL 5th Sub
Cardwell, MT
MRL Whitehall Extra (Coal/Intermodal; Whitehall, MT to Laurel, MT)
MRL 4318 SD70ACe/LCi Ex. EMDX 1005, BHP 4301 Blt. 2005
MRL 4316 SD70ACe/LCi Ex. EMDX 1006, BHP 4302 Blt. 2005
EMDX SD70ACe-T4 #7225 is seen leading CP train 850 through Secretan Saskatchewan in the last light of the day.
CN L579 makes its run up the hill out of the Humber Valley with 3 GP38-2s, all different colours. CN 4713 (1973), CN 4910 (Ex GMTX, EMDX, LLPX, PC) (1972), and BNSF 2316 (Ex BN) (1976) highlight the diversity of CNs local fleet in Toronto in 2023. BNSF 2316 was here to repay horsepower hours to CN, but it was never reliable so CN sent it back in early June 2023.
With a track warrant per the title, the M-VNKC crosses Piasa creek just north of Godfrey, IL with a consist worthy of a few pixels. I haven't seen one of those yellow turds since...those trees don't seem to be getting any smaller either.
A trio of Progress Rail SD70ACe-T4s (7238, 7234, and 7233) continues testing on KCS, leading the MESKCJ north on UP Springfield Sub main 1 at WR Tower in Granite City, IL. The usual spot for northbounds on a summer morning. That's UP's ZG4MQ headed south on main 2.
The paint scheme's boring as hell but clean units are always worthy of a few expended pixels.