PAR SD40-2s (MEC 600 series and 3400 series)

newpylong wrote:Ohhh those are sweet. A little too expensive for them though lol. I think the SD40's are leased or $75/day for 5 years.

That seems like a high rate if you can purchase one in good condition for $175k. That means in 6.4 years of a lease, you'd have paid the value for it. And at that point, it's your asset.

NewBlue paint schemes, new service, and new construction to the contrary, PAR is probably still a fairly cash-constricted operation. Tying up whatever cash it may have in either outright purchase of power or taking the equipment-trust approach encumbers liquidity. Like poor families going the appliance-leasing route -- even though it's much more expensive mid- and long-term -- PAR can lease non-Tier-2-compliant power at good rates for short-term maintenance of liquidity. It may not be ideal, but it's an approach that buys or rather leases time.
(Yes: This is me, jaymac, actually agreeing with a PAR business decision.)

obienick wrote:

newpylong wrote:Ohhh those are sweet. A little too expensive for them though lol. I think the SD40's are leased or $75/day for 5 years.

That seems like a high rate if you can purchase one in good condition for $175k. That means in 6.4 years of a lease, you'd have paid the value for it. And at that point, it's your asset.

All depends on what they want to do. Maybe they don't want to own, in which case this makes sense and would be cheaper than outright purchase. No one knows.

If I'm not mistaken, and someone please correct me if I'm wrong, Mr. Fink was quoted somewhere (ANR&P perhaps?) as saying that the first batch of SD40-2s (600-609 I guess?) was purchased for $100K each. I can't seem to find the original quote, but my vague recollection was that it was when he spoke at a meeting in Rockland, Maine a couple of years ago.

Considering that demand for SD40-2s has slightly increased since that time, with many of the Class I railroads now choosing to keep them and rebuild them, I think it's not unreasonable that good-quality ready-to-roll SD40-2s with safety cabs would go for $175K each. One would also expect that the price is probably negotiable, especially if the buyer wanted to acquire more than just one or two of them.

Last but not least, consider that they paid about $230K each for the GP40-2Ws when they bought them in 2000 (source: page three of this document found on STB.gov)... and keep in mind that GPs of all kinds have become significantly more expensive since then. In that context, $175K for an SD40-2W seems like a great value.

newpylong wrote:Ohhh those are sweet. A little too expensive for them though lol. I think the SD40's are leased or $75/day for 5 years.

You mean the current batch of 20 they have is leased? or on a payment plan of $75/day?
Thats not a bad price, if thats the case, last I knew leases were running $125/day and up regardless if its running notch 8 or shut down for the weekend...

Word on the street is that we've got another five or six (or possibly 10) Helm SD40-2s coming our way. Anyone know anything about this?

HLCX SD40-2 #8070 "BN Green"
HLCX SD40-2 #7014 "BN Green"
HLCX SD40-2 #8072 "BN Green"
HLCX SD40-2 #7180 "HLCX Blue"
HLCX SD40-2 #7192 "HLCX Blue"
HLCX SD40-2 #7843 "BNSF Heritage 1"
The numbers were posted on the GRS Yahoo group. 6 listed, we'll have to wait and see...Patched BNSF H1 will fit in well here these days but it would be sweet to see some cascade green on the point.

KSmitty wrote:HLCX SD40-2 #8070 "BN Green"
HLCX SD40-2 #7014 "BN Green"
HLCX SD40-2 #8072 "BN Green"
HLCX SD40-2 #7180 "HLCX Blue"
HLCX SD40-2 #7192 "HLCX Blue"
HLCX SD40-2 #7843 "BNSF Heritage 1"
The numbers were posted on the GRS Yahoo group. 6 listed, we'll have to wait and see...Patched BNSF H1 will fit in well here these days but it would be sweet to see some cascade green on the point.

HLCX #6304 was also helping out on one of the oil trains in ME.

Will they be repainted in PAR Colors and numbered 620-625? I agree, with the combination of BNSF Heritage, the occasional warbonnet, and some BN Green, it will pretty much be BNSF around here!

Unless these are being leased, I would imagine that PAR will initially patch them with MEC numbers (probably the numbers you suggested), and then rotate them into the paint shop as time/resources permit. It's fair to assume that they'll have plenty of time to run around in their existing colors, thus creating plenty of good photo ops.

mbta1051dan wrote: HLCX #6304 was also helping out on one of the oil trains in ME.

As much as I'd like to see the 6304 come to PAR (I got rather well acquainted with Six Three Naught Four last fall, I only missed it a handful of weeks during the fall semester...), its been leased to NBSR for a year or more and should be staying put on the Irving system. I read reports it came to Waterville for some sort of shop work. Back on NBSR/EMR now as far as I know.

According to the Yahoo group GRS, there's 10 coming now.

That's good, they definitely need them.

The first six arrived in Selkirk this morning. Photo not mine.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ironhorse6616/8394147491/

Cool news! Too bad the BN units have their headlamps carved into the low noses... they offset the PAR nose emblem!

I wonder if this new power is for the Intermodal service out of Waterville?