Nostalgia & History > UP AC6000 in the Blues

1.  UP eastbound PDCSZ with 7505/9804/9339 (AC6000/C44-9W/C40-8) at Meacham, OR 6-17-00. As for horsepower the lead unit has 6000, second unit 4400 and trailing 4000. Why that almost seems like variety!

2.  UP GE AC6000 7505 at Meacham.  Just 600 HP less than an EMD DDA40X but in a much smaller package.  If I recall that 6000HP did not last very long. Guessing so much horsepower in one engine was a bit excessive.

3.  A bit more generic was GE C44-9W 9804, built as CNW 8700.

Brian Ambrose
Renton, WA

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Spectacular! Thank you!!!

Very cool. These certainly didn't spend a long time as top line power. 2000 and 2001 were really the years they were most common on the intermodal trains, though they would continue to show up occasionally on them for a few years after that.

wasn't their computers one issue

both emd and ge had engine block failures, emd was a cast iron block, ge was fabricated steel, webbing around main bearing saddles would fracture and let the crankshaft pound, firing pressure and stress over a period of time turned into metal fatigue. most railroads repowered with 4300 or 4400 hp proven reliable prime movers, only got to run a few csx 6000 horse ge's, they had a set of nuts!!, fun while they lasted.

dan Wrote:

> wasn't their computers one issue

The EMD SD90MAC's were more known for computer glitches, both the 4300hp "convertible" as well as the full 6000hp version.  The AC6000CW's weren't perfect, but their service record was neither as checkered nor as short as the SD90MAC-H's.  UP didn't even bother converting the 6000 hp EMD's to 4300 hp.  After the trouble experienced with the first order, UP only took the second order on a short term lease from EMD, and when they continued to be problematic, were turned back as soon as the lease was over. 

UP did convert all the AC6000CW's into essentially AC6044CW's about 10 years after they were built.  The railfan press at the time (caveat emptor) reported that part of the reason the AC6000's were converted was that after UP gave up on having a large fleet of 6000 hp locomotives and standardized on the 4400 hp "package" for road power, and the AC6000's were square pegs in the power planning scheme: 2 x 6000 hp is less than 3 x 4400 hp, and if one AC6000 of the pair gave up, the train was less likely to limp in with just the one remaining unit.  Parts commonality was also an issue - zillions of FDL's around, but only 80 HDL's.