Here's a shot of the 1st one I saw plus a so so shot of the class unit. Anybody else have any shots? Both shots taken at the NS yard in Columbia SC.
I think # 7514 was the "end class" unit or the last ES40DC unit ordered by NS in their initial order. Harold
I have -01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 08, 09, 10, 12, 13, 14.... but I am waiting to see who else can provide! Harold
Nice shot Harold. I'll be back in Columbia next week and hopefully I'll get lucky and see some more GEVO's. They look really cool.
I am not sure if they are serviced out of Roanoke or not, but they have been very frequent visitors around here. Hopefully, they will make it down your way..... Harold
They live in South Yard (former VGN yard in Roanoke) and are mostly used on the Winston-Salem line... I went there a week or so age, and 9 of the 15 GEVOs were there (three on a W-S pusher set, four on the pusher tail track (the same four on the train above), two pulling a W-S grain train out off the yard (they will be the pushers, the connection of the VGN line and the N&W W-S line is backwards) ... plus another two used on locals out of Roanoke that day. 11 of the 15 in one day...
It stands for General Electric's Evolution Series (Tier 2 emmisions complaint) locomotives. Whereas the previous series was the Dash 9 series, this is the Evolution Series. NS locos are ES40DC (4000 hp, DC traction motors). Harold
Prime mover is the exact same... Fuel consumption is the reason... Since tractive effort is the same, both units (i.e, a C40-9W and C44-9W, a ES40DC and a ES44DC) can move the exact same amount of tonnage... a C44-9W/ES44DC can move it slightly faster, due to the extra 400hp. This slight increase in speed is not worth the extra expense in fuel to NS, so they have their units rated to 4000hp. With over 1000 units, you get a substantial fuel savings...
I don't have any pictures of them yet, however I can tell you they are nice riders. Quiet, comfortable smooth riding hardly even rocks my soda.