Norfolk Southern DC to AC conversion locomotive No. 4001 led westbound stack train 21Q through Northeast Ohio on Wednesday afternoon.
The blue-nose unit has passed through the area a few times in recent weeks, but was trailing rather than leading.
It is shown at Hudson at 1:55 p.m. en route to 47th Street Yard in Chicago.
Seeing your blog post on Trail-Fail reminded me I’ve had a few over the last week or two.
The first is from Berea involving Norfolk Southern No. 4001 one of the “blues brothers,” a GE Dash 9 rebuilt with AC traction motors.
This was not only a trail=fail but it was almost blocked by another train. An empty flatcar saved the day.
Second is the same engine a week later at Rootstown. It had been leading but PTC issues forced the crew to wye the power at Rockport Yard, making this a trail=fail as well.
Third is also at Rootstown about an hour later with DC to AC unit not trailing but in low light as the sun was rapidly going down.
Finally, there was the instance of the Reading heritage unit trailing at Hudson.
Last Saturday I saw that Norfolk Southern No. 4001, a GE DC to AC conversion, was leading a grain train north from Columbus.
As I made my way west, I saw that the southbound morning scenic train of the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad was in Peninsula. I made a quick diversion to catch it on Riverview Road with the snow-covered trees making for a postcard view.
Going west there was snow but the roads were clear and the sun was shining. This would not last, however.
Upon reaching Bellevue, there were snow squalls and drifting snow. A quick stop on Ohio Route 4 by the engine house shows what I mean.
By this time my target engine was stopped at Harvey just north of Marion where the double track changes to single.
Also I saw a report of the Savannah & Atlanta heritage unit having gone south about 40 minutes earlier. The chase was on and perhaps I could catch a meet between the two trains.
We caught up to the Savannah & Atlanta near Chatfield. It was trailing and, frankly, looking a little worse for wear.
Our next stop was Bucyrus. There the 12V, which had the S&A unit, turned east toward Conway. So much for getting the meet.
We then waited for the 4001, which showed up about 15 minutes later. At Bucyrus there was little snow and even some sun. Chasing back north ended that.
We got the 4001 rounding the curve at Chatfield where there was more snow but it was still not too bad. By Attica it was near white out conditions and it was here we ended the chase.
Heading home we found an ex-Union Pacific MP15 and slug headed for LTEX near Youngstown.
It was still snowing quite a bit and we continued east. I forget exactly where but within a mile we went from a snowstorm to clear skies and roads, certainly a strange day weather wise.
If you see an approaching Norfolk Southern train and the lead unit appears to have a blue nose, there is nothing wrong with your eyes.
NS recently released two DC to AC conversion locomotives and both are painted in a blue and gray livery.
Nos. 4000 and 4001 wear a special paint scheme that is designed to designate the units as prototypes for the DC to AC conversion program.
Both units were built by GE in 1995 as standard-cab D9-40Cs, NS Nos. 8799 and 8879, respectively.
While being rebuilt this year, the locomotives were converted to AC traction, received wide cabs, and were re-designated as AC44C6Ms.
Both are slated to enter revenue service soon and will be available for duty anywhere in the NS system.
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