New NS Paint Scheme

Hytec Dec 18, 2015

  1. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Same here. I often must download my photos after returning home, then look at them carefully. It's similar to cars today, where so many look similar. But that is due to limitations of aerodynamics in designing for fuel economy.
     
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  2. YoHo

    YoHo TrainBoard Supporter

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    I saw this on my phone and had to fire up the computer so I could type easier... I was twitching at some of the misinformation here. Not surprising since NS has so many rebuild programs in flight right now.

    1: This is not a demonstrator scheme as far as anyone knows. This is, as far as anyone knows, the paint scheme being used or all of these rebuilds and there will be a lot of them.
    2: The base unit is a Dash 9-44CW. IT has had it's DC traction motors removed, Inverters and AC traction motors added to make it functionally equivalent to an AC4400CW
    3: I believe the original cab on these is retained no new cab
    4: It is not a PR43C, it doesn't remotely look like one. It is called an AC44C6M AC traction, 4400 HP, C-C bogies, Modified. BNSF is having similar work done to the original 600 class Dash 9s except they're only having 4 traction motors put in so that's an AC44C4M.
    5: NS had their Dash 9's delivered with the fuel rails set for 4000HP instead of 4400HP. THis is a computer setting. The prime mover is 100% the same. They did this to save fuel. A few years ago, they had GE set the rails back to 4400HP. NS called them C40-9W, because they, like UP, had no particular use for GE's naming convention change

    NS has a number of rebuild programs in flight for SD40s, SD60s, GP38s, GP50s. Most involve engine swap outs. ECO engines, adding new cabs. They have the dash 8.5 program where they are upgrading the older GE dash 8s to more modern systems and replacing the cabs with custom ones. One unit was completed on this program and I believe it was put on hold.

    I always find it interesting when people say they can't tell the difference in modern locomotives. To me, there are more obvious spotting differences between a modern GE and a modern EMD then there are between an F unit and an FA unit.

    The hood lines are completely different, the cabs are completely different. the bogies are completely different, Even the location of the Radiator fan is different. THe similarity is that in both companies, the huge radiators required to cool the units have forced them to angle the cores making wings on the back. but even those wings are different.
     
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  3. YoHo

    YoHo TrainBoard Supporter

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    Oh, and this unit was rebuilt by GE I believe, not NS internal....though many of their rebuilds are internal product. Juniata does EMD and Roanoke does GE.
     
  4. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    I would suspect this is simply due to your being much younger than some of us. What we were used to commonly seeing, and where our interests are, versus today's world.....
     
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  5. wpsnts

    wpsnts TrainBoard Supporter

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    Rick,
    There should be an edit button at the bottom of your original post.
     
  6. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Yup. Bottom left, under the area used for signatures. Small blue letters "Edit".
     
  7. YoHo

    YoHo TrainBoard Supporter

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    Probably, But the first mention of not being able to tell the difference mentioned that it was easier 20 years ago.

    Hate to say it, but that Locomotive in the original post is potentially 20 years old or older. Dash 9s are that old. SD90s, SD70s.

    If they had said 30 years ago or better yet 40+ years ago when EMD didn't have v-core radiators and Spartan cabs...

    Often I also find that this comment is really a lament of the consolidation era. It's not that a GE looks like an EMD, it's that there are many fewer paint schemes out there. Many don't care to observe the differences because of that.
     
  8. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    As I said: "What we were used to commonly seeing, and where our interests are, versus today's world....." Youth are more in tune to to these things, as they are of greater interest. It's what they are used to seeing. Whereas, to many, many of my generation, today's unimaginative style of self-immolation railroading just doesn't interest us enough to care about paying attention to the micro-differences between an ES44ABCDE, versus an ES44ABCDEF.
     
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  9. BnOEngrRick

    BnOEngrRick TrainBoard Member

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    Not to derail this thread, but all I see is "Report".
     
  10. jpwisc

    jpwisc TrainBoard Member

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    I'm right there with you. I was railfanning SoCal last week and there were C44-9Ws, ES44DCs, ES44C4s, SD70ACes and so on. They are pretty easy to tell apart when you know what you are looking at. For example, an AC4400 has radiators similar to a C44-9W, but the electrical cabinet is twice as big. An SD70ACe has that awesome bulldog nose. Once you start to know a railroads roster, you can tell by the engine #.

    But you can probably rattle off the differences between a Prairie, a Mikado and a Northern...

    There are so many paint schemes out there now. BNSF has more than half a dozen by themselves. UP has a couple main ones and then the Heritage units. NS has a ton between heritage and special schemes, not to mention multiple variations on their main scheme (there are differences). CSX has multiple schemes, CP has DME, ICE, Little Pac Man, Big Pack man, CN WOW: DMIR, IC, EJE, and on and on.

    There is variety today if you are interested enough to look. It all falls on what interests you. I admit, I'm looking forward to photographing my first BNSF AC44C4M. I hope to have the model finished soon.
     
    Last edited: Dec 24, 2015
  11. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Well, I did see them in actual revenue service as a youth. And the differences are really glaringly obvious. Kind of like seeing two diesels side by side, and one is on fire.
     
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  12. YoHo

    YoHo TrainBoard Supporter

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    Well, I think that example is probably a bad one. I know the difference between a prairie, a Mikado and a Northern too and I've never seen one turn a revenue mile. That's like knowing the difference between a cc bogie and a bb bogie. Now, if you can pick out different classes of Northern, or tell a Baldwin from an Alco given two similar models. That's more the equivalent. Like. I know if it's got a belpaire firebox, it's likely Pennsy, maybe NP, but beyond that, I really only know the famous ones. And hell steamers are even harder, because they truly were custom. With the exception of USRA models, no 2 railroads were likely to have the same power.
     
  13. jpwisc

    jpwisc TrainBoard Member

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    It was partially meant as humor, I can tell the difference too (my dad is a transition era modeler. To me, it as obvious as the difference between an SD70ACe and an AC4400.
    The point is we will all know more about the areas we are interested in. That's a good thing. As our interests grow, so does our knowledge of the subject. That's why TB is good, it helps those who want info to get it.

    We can see how this thread started with speculation and then the definitive answer arrived and now we have time to see how far off track we can make it wander.
     
  14. wpsnts

    wpsnts TrainBoard Supporter

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    Rick,
    Make sure that you are looking at your "original" post.
     
  15. Hardcoaler

    Hardcoaler TrainBoard Member

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    I should have mentioned too that my interests have changed in those decades, moving away from locomotive differences and toward line construction and engineering, signaling, interlocking towers, structures, shortlines and abandoned lines. Too, BoxcabE50's posts have very well captured the generational aspects of our hobby where our age often has a bearing on our focus. Ours is a wide and diverse hobby and I'm thankful for it.
     
  16. Burlington Northern Fan

    Burlington Northern Fan TrainBoard Supporter

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    3 axle truck with only two powered hence the C4M Center axle is a dummy wheel
     

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