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| PHOTOS: I'm Back (1345632) | |||
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PHOTOS: I'm Back |
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Posted by kp5308 on Fri Mar 27 20:05:33 2015 As a resident of Berks County PA that is :o)I decided to take the Sony out with us when we walked about 2 miles of the ex-PRR Schuylkill Valley Branch, now the Thun Trail. When Karen & I left the new home on Spirit Court the horns sounded for the PA Rt 73 crossing & off we went! We caught a general freight at Walnuttown Rd. led by this ES44AC. The 8096 (built in February 2012) is one of the 25 off order 1991 that includes 9 of the Heritage units. Four order numbers comprise the 166 units on the NS roster:  The second engine is one of 100 ex-Union Pacific SD9043MAC models purchased by NS in September 2014. The idea is to rebuild them with updated software & other improvements to be pretty much like the SD70ACe fleet. When they were built in 1996 the "Big MACs" were to recieve the new 2 stroke H series prime mover but too many issues kept the 6000HP conversion from happening. Instead they kept their 16 cylinder 710G3BES power plants & 4300HP rating. Some also developed frame cracks but none of those were included in the NS sale:  After our walk we drove into Reading & found 2 "real" SD70ACe models but not of the same type. The standard black #1173 (blt. 11/2014) is rated at 4500HP & has special piping for possible conversion to liquified natural gas fuel. The last 10 of the 50 on order 20136988 have the LNG option:  The Jersey Central Heritage SD is rated at 4300HP but both share the same 16-710G3C-ES prime mover. The 1071 has a build date of 5/2012 & was sideswiped at the ex-CNJ Allentown Yard in January 2013. Repairs & a partial repainting took about 6 months:  Two Reading & Northern engines were coupled nose to nose at the Spring St. yard office in Reading. SD50 #426 was built for Missouri Pacific as #5033 in 1984 & is one of six aquired by RBMN. The 16-645F3B prime mover has been derated to 3000HP so the locomotive is classed as an SD50M. The Lehigh Gorge Scenic paint was applied in 2009:  GP39RN #2531 was shipped to RBMN in January 2014 & by July was repainted in a wonderful rendition of the last RDG scheme. The 1963 EMD was bought from Larry's Truck Electric along with three others. It is one of 78 rebuilt between 1978 & 1984 by the Santa Fe at Cleburn Texas. Here is a rundown of the rebuild program from the Eric Goodman Santa Fe site: The units were stripped completely to the frame and renewing virtually every mechanical and electrical component. The 567 series prime mover was replaced with 645 power assemblies boosting the horsepower to 2500. The FT journals were replaced with new Hyatt roller bearings. The Blomberg trucks were modified by removing the clasp type brakes and converting to a single shoe. This was accomplished by removing the outer brake shoe. The traction motors were upgraded, using D77 motors. The pilots saw the removal of the footboards per FRA policy a new steel plate was bolted and welded to the bottom of the pilot. Units remanufactured after January 1, 1982, lost the stylish 'vee' windshield in an effort to reduce the number of different sizes of glass the company had to inventory. The units received the plain split windshield and had a pipe just in front of the windshield for the condensation from the rooftop AC unit. Units also received rooftop mounted cab air-conditioners and three chime horns (although some units retained the split horns on either side of the cab). Other additions included a rotary beacon, retention tank, and cab sunshades. Some locomotives received the experimental exhaust lifters and show shields. These were evident by the vertical 'fins' on the cab roof and hoods over the inertial filters. These were later deemed a maintenance headache and were removed. All units received the now standard blue and yellow warbonnet paint and new 2700 series numbers and re-designated as GP30u's for 'upgraded'. This series is sometimes confused with the Burlington Northern GP30/35 rebuilds which were all lumped together with the ATSF engines in the BNSF merger. The BN engines were variously classed as GP39E (EMD rebuild), GP39M (Morrison/Knudsen) & GP39V (VMV Enterprises). BNSF listed them all as GP39R. The script lettering on the battery box honors Jeff Seidel, former R&N engineer & long time friend that passed away last year after a long fight with ALS. A fitting tribute to a good man: 
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