CSX Releases Another Tribute Locomotive

CSX last week showed off its latest tribute locomotive, the Spirit of our Law Enforcement commemorative locomotive.

ES44AC No. 3194 received a special livery to honor the nation’s police officers. The livery was applied by a locomotive shop in Huntington, West Virginia.

In a statement, CSX Executive Vice President Ed Harris said the locomotive is a “moving tribute to the men and women who serve us every day and aligns with CSX’s goal to connect military service members, first responders and their families to the resources and support they need.”

CSX earlier this year released two other pride series locomotives, including the Spirit of Our Armed Forces and the Spirit of our First Responders.

GE to Begin Delivering New FEC Locomotives

There is no official word on how they will get there, but railfans in Northeast Ohio will want to be on the lookout for new locomotives being delivered to the Florida East Coast Railway from the General Electric Transportation plant in Erie, Pa.

FEC will shortly take delivery of the first of 24 Tier 3-compliant ES44C4 locomotives that will wear a striking “Champion” paint scheme.

All 24 locomotives are expected to be delivered and placed into service by the end of 2014.

“It’s fitting that these new GE locomotives are outfitted in the ‘Champion’ paint scheme introduced by FEC many years ago,” said FEC President and CEO James R. Hertwig in a news release. “Similar to the early times of rapid expansion and growth along Florida’s east coast, these locomotives will be utilized to champion FEC, providing the efficient horsepower needed to support the transportation of intermodal, carload, auto, and port business for the growing Florida economy.”

The first of the 24 locomotives recently was spotted on the test track in Erie.

The locomotives will be used on the railroad’s 351-mile mainline between Jacksonville, Fla., and Miami.

GE to Ramp up Tier 4 Production in 2015

GE Transportation expects to deliver its first production locomotives built to the new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Tier 4 environmental standards in early 2015 while Progress Rail/Electro-Motive Diesel will try to beat its 2017 target date to have its own Tier 4-compliant locomotive in production,

BNSF will receive the first GE Tier 4 locomotive, an ES44C4. The company announced at the InnoTrans international railroad fair that it will update its production line during the first half 2015 to be ready to produce more than 1,000 Tier 4 units booked through 2017.

Twenty GE preproduction Tier 4 locomotives will be tested this fall. GE introduced its new Tier 4 engine at the Railway Interchange show in Indianapolis in 2013 and has been testing on Union Pacific and BNSF since then.

GE Transportation CEO and President Russell Stokes said BNSF has placed a large order for Tier 4 GE ES44C4 units. Stokes says GE has 1,000 Tier 4 units on order compared to just 39 four months ago.

GE’s Evolution series was introduced in 2005. The company has built more than 5,000 units since then.

EMD President and CEO Billy Ainsworth said that his company won’t offer a Tier 4 locomotive in 2015 because of a lack of investment by EMD’s former parent company, General Motors, and its subsequent ownership under a private equity group.

“EMD has been really the technology leader for over 90 years and suffered from under-investment in the last 10 years when General Motors and then [the] investment firm” owned the company, Ainsworth said. EMD’s 710 prime mover, which powers its SD70 series, cannot be modified to efficiently meet Tier 4 standards. Thus EMD has had to develop a new engine.

“We weren’t asleep at the switch,” Ainsworth said. “We’re working hard to pull that date up.”

EMD is also working on a Tier 4 compliant engine that burns natural gas.