Eastern Railroad Discussion > Farewell to a friend...

Just read Chris Toth's site and saw that NS C40-9 #8824, the last of them still in the older ===NS paint, has been marked for retirement for its AC44C6M rebuild... I've had the pleasure to run into this unit a few times, all on big summertime vacation trips I've taken recently...

My first encounter with this unit was June 25, 2016, on a trip down into the Altoona, PA area to railfan the NS Pittsburgh Line... She's seen here (Pic 1) as the second unit on train 21E at Carney's Crossing between Cresson and Lilly, PA; this was one of the first trains we saw on that five-day trip... This set of power would return two days later on a 26T with #8824 in the middle again, but I didn't get a photo, only video...

Flash forward to June 5, 2017... It's my last day of five on a vacation to Northwest Ohio, and we're in Fostoria, watching intermodal train 218 come east, and what should be trailing but NS 8824? This ended up being the last train we saw in Fostoria before we had to make the 360-mile road trip back to our home near Rochester, NY... I had no clue she had only two weeks to go before retirement...

I'm glad I was able to catch this unit a few times, even if it was trailing both times; ended up being one of the more amusing diesels seen on both trips... Hope she gets many more miles put on her as an AC44C6M...

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Sad to see the "Top Hat" Dash 9's going away. I understand they were the only "spartan cab" Dash 9's ever built and will return as wide-cab units.
Thanks for the post.

Yes, sad to see them go myself! :-(
How many are left on the roster still in service?? I'm guessing it can't be more then 40. How much longer before they are all rebuilt?

There are 55 still in use on the road. They will all be rebuilt over the next year.


Chris Toth
NSDash9.com