NS unveils Southern heritage SD40

[buzz456]

I turn over my king. I will forgo the obvious comment.

[Ericmopar]

The Santa Fe purchase was only made a merger if SF management took over. So the trash SF brought was their crappy management practices.

That's interesting but really... 20 years later...

Also Santa Fe had some of the best managed track and equipment back when, so bringing "trash" to the table makes no sense to me.
Back when W.P. S.P. and AT&SF were the trifecta of California railroading, Santa Fe always had the best maintained track and equipment.
That last statement is coming from a very loyal S.P. fan.

I'm not saying B.N was carp they also seemed to run a great line.
I guess the feuding is kinda like, when U.P. took over two of our favorite roads in California. The railfans I knew always liked U.P. but the disappearance of our two favorite roads in the area kinda rubbed a person the wrong way, even though U.P. didn't really do anything wrong.

[GSkid]

I thought to the victor goes the spoils? I used to work part time for CSK auto. When O'Reilly auto parts bought them in 2008, they laid off 740 people at CSK's corporate HQ effectively closing it. Then they dropped my pay shortly after by 50 cents an hour. They said we made too much money (compared to their employees....we made a lot more). Needless to say... we were in no position to dictate anything to them.

So how Santa Fe management were able to dictate themselves into taking over when they were the ones being purchased, just boggles the mind. As the saying goes... they took over "like a boss". BNSF has done pretty darn well financially, so they must not be that bad of management. I guess to make everybody happy, they decided to make nobody happy by refusing to make neither BN or Santa Fe locos.

Based on where you live Anthony, you are in former BN territory. And as such, I can't expect you to be completely unbiased in your assessment of the situation. I'd have to hear from a former ATSF employee....and then a neutral party who is very knowledgeable of the situation, to come to a fair conclusion myself. But as an outsider... it just makes me want to tell all parties involved to grow up and move on.

[NSrailfan6130]

"Having been out of service for 8 years, Southern Railway SD40 #3170 moves its first tonnage since being rebuilt and restored into its Southern "Tuxedo" scheme. As viewed from Inman Yard's North Tower in Atlanta, Ga., it is seen here moving a cut of cars from the class yard to the forwarding yard to become train 219.' ~Norfolk Southern Corp.

[XDriver]

I love that engine, but I wonder at times if the engineer likes not being able to see where he's going. Know what I mean?

[BNSFdude]

We run our yard with the SD40-2s LHF out of the yard because you can see your switchman giving hand signals down the lead, but it sucks when you are backing out because you're looking down the hood. The BN ran SW1500s the same way, but those had the long nose forward, and the cab-end was easy to see out of when backing up.

[GSkid]

There is a little piece of me that is saddened seeing SD40 series locomotives relegated to yard switching when they used to rule the mainlines. But on the plus side... it does keep them on the rosters longer and safe from the scrap yards... for now.

[Rich_S]

Any one notice that there is no NS reporting marks?


So technically this isn't a heritage unit but a full blood Southern unit.


Thats pretty Cool!

This Gp59 is Norfolk Southern but is marked Southern.

Just as a FYI, the 4610 has been repainted into a OLS scheme.

NS 4610 OLS Paint Scheme.jpg

[CSX5202]

This unit had a very interesting twist if you know the full story. It was destined to go to the scrap heap (and for a while, it looked like the scrappers torch was to be her fate). But, somewhere up above, she was saved. Refurbished, but not for a museum. Nope, NS decided to give it the sexy tuxedo paint scheme. And place it back in to full revenue service. Working...while doing it will class and style!

[OpenRailer90]

I would love to see this lashed up with all the other Southern heritage units.