Eastern Railroad Discussion > CSX 8888 "My Little Runaway" On The Move

CSX 8888 is on Q900-16 by Cynthiana, Kentucky at 1am today. Assigned to go east to Huntington upon arriving in Cincinnati, this may be her last mainline move prior to being dismantled at Huntington.

Thanks for the info. Just watched Unstoppable the other day and wondered what the latest was on this unit.

Would be sad to see it taken apart -- for preservation, the 8888 does have a certain lore to it!

Are the sd40-2s being rebuilt or just meeting the torch?
K8DTI Wrote:
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> CSX 8888 is on Q900-16 by Cynthiana, Kentucky at
> 1am today. Assigned to go east to Huntington upon
> arriving in Cincinnati, this may be her last
> mainline move prior to being dismantled at
> Huntington.

Posted from iPhone

I was lucky enough to get pictures of it in AZ back in 2005.

I ran this engine about two weeks after the incident on a train from Cincy to Toledo. I remember the railfan frenzy to get pics. Here's hoping someone picks it up for preservation.

Joe

the last time I saw that unit was in Willard Ohio about 4 years ago

Posted from Android

"My Little Runaway"--is there a 60s song fan in the house? One of my most used non-railroad reference books is "Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-1990", which lists every record that made the Billboard Top 100 during that time period. "Runaway" by Del Shannon made #1 on the charts in March 1961. The entry even mentions that the "Electric organ (musitron) solo by co-writer Max Crook" (and that organ "break" is playing on my mental jukebox right now.)

So its being dismantled for scrap?

Note i will reread article!!

Posted from Android



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/17/13 12:30 by Big_Blue_mac_attack.

TRAINS confirmed it is bound for scrapping:

Famed CSX No. 8888 to be dismantled
TRAINS.com
ny Erik Landrum
May 17, 2013

> CINCINNATI – CSX SD40-2 No. 8888, made famous by a runaway train
> incident is en route to Huntington, W. Va., to be dismantled. The
> locomotive is dead-in-tow on train Q900 between Corbin, Ky., and
> Cincinnati. There it will be routed one last time to Huntington.
>
> No. 8888 was made famous on May 15, 2001, when it powered a runaway
> train out of CSX's Stanley Yard near Toledo and down the former
> Conrail main line to Columbus. The incident spawned a Hollywood
> movie, "Unstoppable," released in 2010 and staring Denzel
> Washington.

Link (Subscription site):

Famed CSX No. 8888 to be dismantled

GenePoon Wrote:
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> TRAINS confirmed it is bound for scrapping:
>
> Famed CSX No. 8888 to be dismantled
> TRAINS.com
> ny Erik Landrum
> May 17, 2013
>
> > CINCINNATI – CSX SD40-2 No. 8888, made famous
> by a runaway train
> > incident is en route to Huntington, W. Va., to
> be dismantled. The
> > locomotive is dead-in-tow on train Q900 between
> Corbin, Ky., and
> > Cincinnati. There it will be routed one last
> time to Huntington.
> >
> > No. 8888 was made famous on May 15, 2001, when
> it powered a runaway
> > train out of CSX's Stanley Yard near Toledo and
> down the former
> > Conrail main line to Columbus. The incident
> spawned a Hollywood
> > movie, "Unstoppable," released in 2010 and
> staring Denzel
> > Washington.
>
> Link (Subscription site):
>
> Famed CSX No. 8888 to be dismantled

Bit of a circular reference... OP is Erik Landrum.

I don't doubt his word though.

Why would you scrap a perfectly good sd40-2?

DNRY122 Wrote:
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> "My Little Runaway"--is there a 60s song fan in
> the house? One of my most used non-railroad
> reference books is "Joel Whitburn's Top Pop
> Singles 1955-1990", which lists every record that
> made the Billboard Top 100 during that time
> period. "Runaway" by Del Shannon made #1 on the
> charts in March 1961. The entry even mentions
> that the "Electric organ (musitron) solo by
> co-writer Max Crook" (and that organ "break" is
> playing on my mental jukebox right now.)

I have that song on my MP3 player and on the thumb drive for my truck stereo even though it was hit six years before I was born.

Junctiontower

It's a long weekend up here in Canada and i will now have that organ solo following me around for all three days!!

What a way to ruin a holiday weekend!! :)

Craig

NS19K Wrote:
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> Why would you scrap a perfectly good sd40-2?


age, fuel efficiency, lease ran out years ago, as did depreciation on the equipment, lack of interest in upgrading for modern EPA rules, etc

Did a quick look for Del Shannon and found this headline:

Del Shannon’s “Runaway” gave the singer a haunting, unstoppable hit

It sounds fitting.

He grew up in Grand Rapids and around Battle Creek. There is a memorial to him in downtown Battle Creek, Michigan, in the shape of a record album. I guess I'll have to go get a few photographs of it to save the memories.

Ron

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> NS19K Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Why would you scrap a perfectly good sd40-2?
>
>
> age, fuel efficiency, lease ran out years ago, as
> did depreciation on the equipment, lack of
> interest in upgrading for modern EPA rules, etc


Yes, all of that. UP and NS still seem to find the model useful. CSX SD40-2's are like BN F units 35 years ago in that you're as likely to see one in new paint as you are headed to the scrapper. Sort of weird.
The CR units seem to be falling faster than the Family Lines (and MK/Huntington rebuilt SD40's) motors for whatever reason. The Flexicoil trucks seemed to keep them out of the aborted SD40-3 program, and there seems to be no interest at CSX in any of EMD's ECO offerings. Darn shame.