What if Conrail hadn't been broken up (SD80MAC speculation)

Apparently Conrail had plans to buy 126 SD80MACs, of which firm orders were placed for 58 (of these, 28 were converted to SD70/SD70MACs on request from NS/CSXT).

So, let us imagine that the split-up and merger of Conrail never happened - how likely do you think it is that Conrail would've followed its original intention and ended up purchasing all 126 SD80MACs? Or would they have changed their mind after the initial 58 and switched to SD80MACs and/or AC4400CWs?

Everything was dictated by capital budgeting. If there were significant savings in terms of a favorable unit replacement ratio, and revenues continued to be stable, the units would have been ordered, I believe. CR management was very pleased with the performance of these units. They were also pleased with the process of assembling the units using Conrail people in Altoona.

They were also pleased with the process of assembling the units using Conrail people in Altoona.

Were they, LCJ? I was on a couple of those SD70s that were final-assembled in the Juanita shops...it was just a couple of months before breakup, they were still running under Conrail numbers system-wide.

They were not the crews' favorites. We liked the DC power...remember, the EMD ACs were slow to load, irritatingly so...but the conventional cabs were horrifically noisy (we were getting used to the WhisperCabs) and the units were rough-riding, due to the articulating trucks.

The workmanship wasn't a problem; I didn't even know they were completed by Conrail shops until I read it in a press release at breakup; but would they have been shipped to Juanita in kits with widebodies?

As to the EMD order...who knows? Maybe it would even have improved EMD's bottom line and visibility; kept it from being sold off and preserved their market share.

I don't think the current round of merger-mania has been kind to the industry, to the shippers, the suppliers or to America.

conrail_engineer wrote:

They were not the crews' favorites. We liked the DC power...remember, the EMD ACs were slow to load, irritatingly so...but the conventional cabs were horrifically noisy (we were getting used to the WhisperCabs) and the units were rough-riding, due to the articulating trucks.

Those SD70's that conrail purchased on behalf of NS were DC, not AC powered...

so if they load slow you can blame it on the microprocessor controls, not the ac technology that was not present on them

conrail_engineer wrote:...but would they have been shipped to Juanita in kits with widebodies?

You say Juanita, I say Juniata -- as in the river in Western PA.

A number of CR SD80MACs and SD60Ms were assembled in Altoona, I believe.

I'm thinking NS specified conventional cabs and DC traction motors for their "Conrail" SD70s, while CSX wanted some SD70MACs.

crazy_nip wrote:

conrail_engineer wrote:

They were not the crews' favorites. We liked the DC power...remember, the EMD ACs were slow to load, irritatingly so...but the conventional cabs were horrifically noisy (we were getting used to the WhisperCabs) and the units were rough-riding, due to the articulating trucks.

Those SD70's that conrail purchased on behalf of NS were DC, not AC powered...

so if they load slow you can blame it on the microprocessor controls, not the ac technology that was not present on them

Oh, yeah. The slow-load was on those first, supposedly experimental EMD ACs that Conrail had...the ones with the GE-style "wings" over the radiator and the flat rear panel, insted of the vee-end. THOSE would take FOREVER to load...no one talked of making mods to the controls so they'd load quicker...it was one of the little irritations we had to live with.

The SD70s I referred to were the DC units assembled in Conrail shops...what were they numbered, 5000's? NS got half of them immediately and the other half with Conrail's breakup. Those had conventional control stands, although with EPIC electronic brake controls with handles that had a habit of catching on the engineer's trousers when he got out from behind the control stand (big safety issue; NS later put keeper pins in the housings). Those ran as we had come to expect as "normal."

I didn't know until now there were other orders before them shipped in kit form. I was a new guy with a year on the railroad...

conrail_engineer wrote: The SD70s I referred to were the DC units assembled in Conrail shops...what were they numbered, 5000's?...

Those were numbered in the 2500's to conform to the Nazi, er, Norfolk Southern.

Not to change the subject, but Conrail was also suppost to get a couple of GP60M's. This was around the same time that they were going to get AC4400's, had it not been for the SD80's. I remember reading this a long while ago, so I'm not 100% sure.

Just a guess, but the big railroads have all ordered from both builders in recent years, and Conrail itself went back and forth between GE and EMD. It's not a stretch to imagine that CR would have ordered C44-9's and/or AC4400's at some point had it survived as an independent road.

JD

No doubt CR would have at least sampled the new SD70ACes and EC4400Ws by now...