Eastern Railroad Discussion > Any SD80Mac news or sightings recently?

Has anyone seen an SD80MAC in service lately? If so, where are they working?

One of the NS units made it into Harrisonburg Va on a grain train a couple of weeks ago. Very rare to see one there

Gary

All of the CSXT SD80MAC's are in storage either in Waycross and Cumberland..

CR

Some of CSX's are also stored in Florida.

Troy

CSXMAC Wrote:
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> Some of CSX's are also stored in Florida.
>
> Troy


Nothing is stored in Florida... (I checked everywhere as I am a FL resident) Its all in Waycross, GA and half in Cumberland.. The 4595(I believe) was recently scrapped in Cumberland due to an rollover incident at Pope's Creek.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/11/12 10:26 by CR6444.

If all the CSX SD80Mac's are in storage, then what was the 4591 doing as the second unit on the UP's ZAILC intermodal train at Fort Worth, TX on Saturday?

Ken Fitzgerald

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4590 and 4591 are still active. 4592-4593 and 4595-4602 are all stored. 4594 has been stored and slowly picked apart at the Huntington, WV shops. Not 4595, and its not "scrapped" (yet).

Davis



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/11/12 12:55 by strench707.

So what exactly is it with the 80MACs? NS still runs their units, while CSX seemns to be preparing to get rid off theirs.

Are they in poor condition?

They are odd ducks on CSX, they really don't see the benefit in maintaining a fleet of (now) only 12 units of of a particular locomotive-type. They are also pretty ragged out and a vast majority of crews will tell you they're junk. They have a lot of little small defects and quirks, that can be dealt with some finessing, but most of the time they'll just get shopped. The more those things get shopped, the less time they're out on the road. CSX's MAC fleet eventually got to the point where they were spending more time getting work than making revenue ("shop queens") and so they pulled all but 2 from active duty. I remember chasing a train with 4591 leading through Baltimore earlier this summer and the thing smoked itself to pieces and 3 hours later ended up limping into the yard with the leading 4591 acting as a cab car, with the other two good units pushing. Similar random and unexplained MAC shutdowns have plagued their reputations...

NS contrarily has a slightly larger fleet of 17 and they are all based out of ONE facility, except now for the 4 in trash service but even they are all kept together. With regular weekly maintenance at Cresson, PA and more exstensive maintenance exclusively at Altoona, PA, there are consistent and experienced hands on the units wherever they go.

On CSX they were thrown everywhere throughout the system, without consistent maintenance at any one shop. They could show up down in FL or over in TN at a shop where the personnel have never seen nor cared for what an SD80MAC is and won't be able to give it any degree of quality maintenance. Compare THAT to having the same weekly set of hands on the same 17 units that the shop personnel has been working on for years (Cresson).

For a while all of CSX's MAC's were based out of Benning, DC in Popes Creek service. While similar to the NS setup, the problem was that transit time from Benning to the nearest shop, Cumberland, MD, was lengthy and kept the units out of service for unnecessarily long amounts of time. On top of that Cumberland did next to no maintenance on them and let aging and ignored problems grow worse. The Cumberland policy seemed to be "sand it up and send it out," with units returning with the same defects they were shopped for in the first place. Then soon enough shopped ALL the way back to Cumberland, not fixed, returned, etc etc (cycle repeats)

CSX has been investing in a lot of new AC traction (ES44AH's) and they have built up a sizable of roster of those, as well as similar ES40DC's. Not only are the GEVOs more reliable than MAC's but they are much more comfortable operating environment for crews too.

So that begs the question, why keep around 12 aging and uniquely-designed units, when you have a young, consistent, and sizable fleet of GEVO's that will do the same job with less pain? (also with better fuel consumption performance too)

I am one of the biggest SD80MAC fans you will ever meet, and unfortunately that has given me an appreciation for the honest truth about them, as sad as it may be....

Davis



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/11/12 14:33 by strench707.

One would think that someone at either NS or CSX would be talking about the possibility of NS buying the rest of the 80MACs to complete the set. Especially if CSX is power-short.

we'll take 'em back on the B&A

Apparently the 4591 made it all the way to Long Beach , California not on a Z train but an IMNLB from Marion

CR6444 Wrote:
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> CSXMAC Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Some of CSX's are also stored in Florida.
> >
> > Troy
>
>
> Nothing is stored in Florida... (I checked
> everywhere as I am a FL resident) Its all in
> Waycross, GA and half in Cumberland.. The 4595(I
> believe) was recently scrapped in Cumberland due
> to an rollover incident at Pope's Creek.

You're not looking hard enough then, because I just saw 4597 at Winston.

Troy

Posted from Android

On the move at Winston?

Davis

Take it as you will but the SD80MAC was ahead of its time really. The things EMD tried to do it didnt really have the knowledge, know how or technology to do at the time. I think today EMD could develop a way better 5000HP AC unit. Take the SD80ACe platform, and put the better software and electronics in it and combine that with EMD's new individual axle control and you would have a far more reliable unit than the 80MAC. I was around them a lot when Benning was home and they were always broke down and being shuttled to Cumberland.

Conrail seemed to get many good year's and got hundred's of thousand's of miles out of these unit's working tough territory. As most New technology there were teething pains and bug's to be worked out. I personally think that these rare unit's are my Favorite non Spartan cab EMD's built.Bill

hiline Wrote:
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> Conrail seemed to get many good year's and got
> hundred's of thousand's of miles out of these
> unit's working tough territory. As most New
> technology there were teething pains and bug's to
> be worked out. I personally think that these rare
> unit's are my Favorite non Spartan cab EMD's
> built.Bill

But another thing to consider is that the units were new then....Conrail took delivery of them in 1996...only a few years before the NS/CSX takeover.....NS definitely is maintaining their 80MACS more comprehensively than CSX is theirs......Dave W.

Posted from Android



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/12/12 10:13 by dwi189.

strench707 Wrote:
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> On the move at Winston?
>
> Davis


No, stored. Has been there for a while.

Troy

Any newish EMD is considered a dog on CSX and treated as such. 70MACs, 80MACs, SD70ACEs are all pariahs to them. NS seems to have a handle on EMDs much better than CSX does for some reason.

null Wrote:
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> One would think that someone at either NS or CSX
> would be talking about the possibility of NS
> buying the rest of the 80MACs to complete the set.
> Especially if CSX is power-short.

They are going on 16 years old, and many of them are tired and in need of a rebuild. Considering the EPA emissions regulations for rebuilt high-horsepower locomotives, how few SD80MAC's there are, the higher fuel consumption of a 20 cylinder power plant, and the cost associated with a full-blown rebuild project, is there a real justification for keeping these oddballs running?

Honestly, if they aren't stored, I suspect they are on borrowed time in their current state. Maybe an updated, EPA-compliant 16 cylinder block could be dropped in to gain some additional life from the rest of the locomotive, but otherwise I believe the clock is ticking.