Western Railroad Discussion > Ex-SD9043MAC Visit to Cajon Pass

NS 7242, a re-built UP SD9043MAC, was the leader of a westbound BNSF stack train today down Cajon Pass.  This is one of about a hundred SD9043MACs that NS acquired from UP and rebuilt into SD70ACUs.  I believe about half of these units are now stored, which adds to the rarity of catching one of these units leading so far from home rails.  (Thanks also for the heads up today!)

Thanks for looking,
GK

1.  NS 7242 passes beneath the WBCS at Lugo while an eastbound stack train flies by on the adjacent track.

2.  Making good time crossing over from Main 3 to Main 2 at Summit.  Unfortunately, the weather was mostly cloudy from Summit all the way down the hill.

[Edit.]3.  Closer view at Lugo.

 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/23/20 17:58 by TheNavigator.

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Nice series, Nice catch!

Larry

Nice looking leader!

The light was perfect at Summit.

Adam

Pulled into Hobart Yard around 4:30 PM. Nice to know someone was able to catch it over the hill.

~ Mr. MRL

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Nice shots!

Randy Lundgren
Elgin, TX

Great shot at Summit Gary!

Wait, I guess I'm out of the loop and I don't pay much attention to eastern RRs.  So when NS rebuilt these, they decided to get rid of the "bowtie" windscreen glass?    I ran a LOT of the UP SD9043s at the coal mines in the 2000s.  (I checked my records, I ran the UP 8012 twice... in 2003 and 2005)  Now, I never liked them very much, I don't think anyone liked them, but one thing that I did like was the larger front windows.  

Lots of edits here, most of them grammar related... but one more regarding the content.   So, uh, looks like they got rid of the original electric-worm-drive parking brake that locked the conductor side 2nd brake cylinder and put a manual brake wheel on the rear truck instead? 

 



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 02/24/20 12:22 by Android.

Android Wrote:
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> Wait, I guess I'm out of the loop and I don't pay
> much attention to eastern RRs.  So when NS
> rebuilt these, they decided to get rid of the
> "bowtie" windscreen glass?

List of modifications done near the bottom of this page.

http://www.altoonaworks.info/rebuilds/ns_sd70acu.html

MP555 Wrote:
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> Android Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Wait, I guess I'm out of the loop and I don't
> pay
> > much attention to eastern RRs.  So when NS
> > rebuilt these, they decided to get rid of the
> > "bowtie" windscreen glass?
>
> List of modifications done near the bottom of this
> page.
>
> http://www.altoonaworks.info/rebuilds/ns_sd70acu.h
> tml

Very informative, thank you!
GK

Thanks for the reply.  Now, in the "Work Done" notes, I don't see anything that included my comment above about the parking brake.  Since the pushbutton was in the previous isolated cab on the back wall, and since the notes say the cabs were replaced, I guess they had to find either some place else to mount that button and indicator, or eliminate it... looks like they just got rid of it.   Good thing too.  Ever have to manually  crank one of those bad boys when the motor goes tits-up?   Well I did, and it sucked!