Railroad Trains for the Soul - CSX Coal Trains
This loaded coal train in West Virginia is led by one of the largest and most powerful diesel locomotives on the CSX roster. It's a General Electric AC6000CW No. 640 followed by a 4,000-horsepower Electro-Motive SD70MAC No. 732. Pushing at the rear of the train are two of the versatile GE AC4400CW’s wearing numbers 299 and 34. The leading units can produce up to 10,000 horsepower while the rear units provide 8,800 horsepower. Altogether, that gives a massive total of 18,800 horses from four AC-motored diesels!
According to the Locomotive 2013 magazine, CSX had the biggest quantity of 6,000-hp diesels in the form of the same type. It purchased 117 new AC6000’s from GE and numbered them from 600 to 699 and 5000-5016. On the other hand, Union Pacific bought 81 AC60’s as well as 62 of the EMD SD90MAC’s, totaling up to 143 locomotives in the same horsepower rating. These do not include the EMD and GE “convertible” units, which were sold in substantially greater numbers but are rated between 4,300 and 4,400 hp. Canadian Pacific had a very small fleet of only four SD90’s (rather than 20 in its initial order), excluding their convertible counterparts. Although UP did have the largest fleet of 6,000-hp diesels from any builder, neither the EMD nor GE models reached the same number of locomotives or more for one railroad than what CSX owned. Because the convertibles of both types were never upgraded to 6,000 hp, that didn’t help increase the quantity of these giants.
While most of the CW60AC’s were already phased out of CSX, you can cherish their memories with this video dating back to the 1990’s, a time when the railroad gained interest in not only AC traction but even higher horsepower from a single engine. It also took place before the debut of CSX’s dark blue paint scheme and the domination of the GE Evolution Series ES44AC within the same railroad. This is an amazing sight!
Click on the following sources for more details about the 6,000-hp diesels.
Here's another view of the same CSX coal train as you can tell by the same locomotives, including our old friend the AC6000CW as the leader. Although CSX assigned these 6,000-hp GE units primarily to intermodal and mixed freight trains (usually in pairs), it's fascinating to see a larger-than-average diesel pulling a heavy coal train. With the help from its six AC traction motors, the AC6000 can produce up to 180,000 pounds (90 tons) of starting tractive effort and 166,000 lbs (83 tons) of continuous tractive effort. You can even notice that its fuel tank is undoubtedly bigger than the one on the EMD SD70MAC trailing behind. Treat yourself for a much closer look at the coal train as the locomotives are pulling and pushing up the steep grades of West Virginia, plus a couple other trains.