Nostalgia & History > EMD SD50 and Chessie SD50 question

A friend and I were talking about the EMD Demonstrator SD50's and Chessie SD50's. I remember seeing Chessie SD50's in 1985 running on the North Mountain sub in Va. and also seeing the demonstrator units. When did Chessie begin getting these units and how many demonstrator units were there?

Thanks
Gary

Don't think EMD had demo's on the sd50 but EMD 1-4 were SD60's around that time frame which ended up on CR sans EMD3 which was retained and used as a test bed for the HTCR trucks which I believe is now on NS. I remember Chessie SD50's showing up 82-83 time frame. I am sure there are more details but that is what I recall from memory.

SBD 8525 and 8526 were 'microprocessor' demos. They were initially delivered in solid SBD gray w/o lettering and sent to the field for testing. After complation of the testing they were returned to LaGrange were they were converted into plain SD50s and given full SBD paint.

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pal77 Wrote:
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> Don't think EMD had demo's on the sd50 but EMD 1-4
> were SD60's around that time frame which ended up
> on CR sans EMD3 which was retained and used as a
> test bed for the HTCR trucks which I believe is
> now on NS. I remember Chessie SD50's showing up
> 82-83 time frame. I am sure there are more
> details but that is what I recall from memory.

I don't think there were any SD50 demos either. BUT, EMD 1,2, and 4 (SD60 demos) eventually became CSX units. Also, the first 25 SD50's were SBD units (blt in Jan & Feb '83) and the first C&O units were 8553 thru 8575, built in Jan and Feb of '84.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/23/11 13:28 by GP30Frank.

I believe this is a SBD SD-50 in the company of the EMD Test Car, a former Amtrak SDP-40F, and F-9 #462. I scanned these from slides I shot in Trinidad, CO at the ATSF depot on the Raton Sub. I believe it was in the early 1980s. Sorry I don't have a date for you... As I recall, the crew told me the three units on the east end of the consist provided a load (by being dragged up hill in dynamic braking) for the SD-50.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/23/11 16:32 by mojaveflyer.

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EMD 1-4 originally had builders plates with the model designation SD50A, these were later removed and new plates were applied with the designation SD60.

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