Eastern Railroad Discussion > CSX CW44AH 506

I presume the designation ....AH refers to an anatomical feature.
Second engine on CSX Q417 arriving in South Jersey Tuesday morning

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The "H" refers to "Heavy." These units are ballasted above the CW44AC weight. About a year ago TRAINS had an article on CSXT coal train operations that differentiated between the CW44ACs and the CW44AHs. After that the "H" started to be patched on the units, #495--#599 + #5101--#5122, according to The Bull Sheet.

I have read that the new CSXT ES44ACs, that's how they come stenciled from GE, are actually ES44AHs. Maybe they'll get patched, too.

Gerry

Actually, the "H" in the CW44AH model designation is used to denote that the unit has been outfitted with high tractive effort adhesion management software and is not an indication that the unit is one the "heavy" units that received additional ballasting.

Chris Toth
NSDash9.com

Thanks, guys. I thought it was a joke.

Of course I cant find that article of Trains at the moment, but did it say that all the AC44's over #400 had concrete loaded in them to makes them "heavies"? I cant remember, but I thought it was ones over #400.

taskforce3guy Wrote:
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> Of course I cant find that article of Trains at
> the moment, but did it say that all the AC44's
> over #400 had concrete loaded in them to makes
> them "heavies"? I cant remember, but I thought it
> was ones over #400.

Concrete ... nope. The CSXT "heavy" C44ACs at 435,000 pounds (and similar SD70MACs) were ballasted with extra steel slabs welded inside or on top of the underframes. The TRAINS article you're looking for was in the November 2006 issue.

The "heavies" are roughly 12,000 pounds heavier than the regular C44ACs (... just about everyone's C44ACs weigh 420,000-425,000 pounds fully serviced with fuel).

Concrete weighs about 150 pounds per cubic foot. To get 12,000 extra pounds of weight using concrete, you'd have to install about 80 cubic feet of concrete. That's the equivalent of roughly a cube measuring about 4'4" on each side (or whatever equivalent shape you need). Steel has a density of about 490 pounds per cubic foot, so the additional 12,000 pounds of weight would require only about 24.5 cubic feet, the equivalent of a cube measuring 2'10" on each side. I'm guessing that GE used 4-to-6 inch thick slabs, probably "cut outs" and other odd shapes.

While concrete may be cheaper than steel, the real issue in ballasting a locomotive today is usually finding the right volume of space and the location of such space in a locomotive. You can't just plop 12,000 pounds of extra concrete or steel in the short nose or back around the air compressor. The weight has to be equally distributed so that both trucks get an equal share (locomotives are typically designed and built for truck-to-truck weight distribution being no more than 1,000 or 2,000 pounds difference). And, it's a lot easier and manageable to cut a piece of steel to the desired size (and weight) than it is to make forms and pour concrete into them.

The CSXT "heavy" SD70MACs were similarly ballasted by installing extra steel slabs on the walkways alongside the engine. You can readily see the "heavy" SD70MACs because of a ramp which leads from the walkway at the rear truck "up" to the "new" walkway surface, on both sides of the locomotive (plus the handrail stanchions on both sides are extended to account for the highwr walkways).

The last locomotives I know of which were ballasted during manufacture with concrete were Fairbanks-Morse Trainmasters in the 1950s. F-M poured concrete into the walkway areas above the fuel tanks (remember, the Trainmasters had those extra "thick" walkways along the sides of the carbody). Many scrap yards had a huge surprise when they bought F-Ms for scrapping, starting cutting 'em apart and discovered unsalvageable concrete instead of the expected steel.

Prior to the CSXT "heavy" C44ACs, the heaviest GEs built were the 2nd and 3rd orders of Dash-8s for the C&NW from 1990 and 1991, which were ballasted to between 420,000 and 428,000 pounds (again, using extra steel welded into the underframe).

greendot Wrote:
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>
> Prior to the CSXT "heavy" C44ACs, the heaviest GEs
> built were the 2nd and 3rd orders of Dash-8s for
> the C&NW from 1990 and 1991, which were ballasted
> to between 420,000 and 428,000 pounds (again,
> using extra steel welded into the underframe).

I thought the CSX AC6000CW's were 432'000 lbs.

The CSX heavy GE's (some CW44AC's, all ES44DC's, all ES44AC's) all weigh 432,000 lbs. I'm not sure how much CSXT 4500-4589 weigh, but the newer SD70MAC's (4701-4830) and the SD70ACe's (4831-4850) weigh between 428,000 lbs and 430,000 lbs. I've seen different figures on different engines.

NSDash9 Wrote:
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> Actually, the "H" in the CW44AH model designation
> is used to denote that the unit has been outfitted
> with high tractive effort adhesion management
> software and is not an indication that the unit is
> one the "heavy" units that received additional
> ballasting.
>
> Chris Toth
> NSDash9.com



What units have the software and aren't ballasted? Doesn't it defeat the purpose to have the software package yet no ballast for the software to be neccasary?

Robbman Wrote:
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> NSDash9 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Actually, the "H" in the CW44AH model
> designation
> > is used to denote that the unit has been
> outfitted
> > with high tractive effort adhesion management
> > software and is not an indication that the unit
> is
> > one the "heavy" units that received additional
> > ballasting.
> >
> > Chris Toth
> > NSDash9.com
>
>
>
> What units have the software and aren't ballasted?
> Doesn't it defeat the purpose to have the
> software package yet no ballast for the software
> to be neccasary?


CSX #1-173 and 201-494 are the standard AC4400CW's which weigh 412,000 lbs. These are CSX class CW44AC. These units are not equiped with the HTE software.

CSX #495-599 and 5101-5122 are the heavy AC4400CW's which are 432,000 lbs. and have been equiped with the HTE software and are being reclassed CW44AH by the railroad.

Bryan Jones
Brooks, KY
Bryan's Train Photos