Wheeling and Lake Erie is leasing for 30 days each a set of 6 EMLX former UP SD90MAC-HII They have the option to buy the units after the 30 day lease is up. This past weekened the first 4 of the 6 arrived and I had the option to shot the units in Brewster. http://chesapeakefurball.rrpicturearchives.net/archivethumbs.aspx?id=22065 Enjoy
This is gonna be interesting. Big power for a not-so-big road. And if they do buy them, we'll get a chance to see (more or less) what SD90s would've looked like if the Rio Grande bought them.
They looked like the SD90s that were being leased by KCS. From what I've been told, I hope WLE has better luck than KCS had.......
WLE has a great paint scheme--would be neat to see it on the flanks of an H-MAC! Would this be considered De-borging?
The Wheeling isn't going to buy them..but I've heard rumors that they are interested in about a half-dozen SD70's. Just rumors I heard from other local guys.
Is their business enough to merit big power such as these? I do hope that if they look over SD70 units, they aren't ex-A&O.... Pat- What's happening with you these days? Boxcab E50
Boxie, those A&O units were SD50s. Unsure of their disposition after the previous operator lost the contract
Looks like we now know whether the 6,000hp units are the next big thing, or just an interesting dead-end footnote to railroading. Trains magazine asked that question when they first came out...
From what I've read, while 6000 HP locomotives are OK in some places, the standard now is 4400 HP (or on NS, 4000 HP). China may be the next to get 6000 HP diesels.
As a former employee of the Wheeling, who still has ties in the company, I can tell you that the WLE is not looking at SD70's at this time. As for the SD90 purchese, time will tell.