EMD SD80MAC and SD90MAC series official thread

Hello everyone. It is with great sadness to announce that Progress Rail has scrapped all 23 of their ex-NS SD80MACs as their engines have been used for boats, despite vigorous efforts from the Conrail Preservation Society. There are currently six remaining SD80MACs under CP Rail ownership as they are currently parts units for the CP SD70ACUs. Preservation efforts for relatively recent engines, such as the SD70MAC or AC4400CW, should not be neglected as one should not forget the bits and pieces which make up American railroading and American history.

https://railfan.com/rare-sd80macs-scrap ... serve-one/

RACELAND, Ky. — Despite the efforts of a historical society to save one, nearly two dozen former Conrail SD80MACs have been scrapped in recent months and now only six of the rare AC traction diesel locomotives remain.

This week, officials with the Conrail Historical Society announced that they had been talking to officials with Progress Rail, which acquired 23 of the SD80MACs from Norfolk Southern back in 2020, for weeks in hopes of saving one of the units. CRHS officials said since the founding of their organization, saving an SD80MAC was a top priority since Conrail was the only railroad buy the EMDs. Unfortunately, for the preservationists the locomotive’s engines were being removed and reused for boats, leaving only the frame and the shells.

“We pivoted our conversations with Progress Rail towards trying to save an empty shell. Despite having daily conversations for the last few weeks, an agreement could not be reached, and all 23 SD80MACs owned by Progress Rail have now been scrapped,” the CRHS posted on Facebook this week. “We completely understand Progress Rail is a business and respect and appreciate their considerable time spent conversing with us trying to make preservation a reality. We were talking until the very last moments of the final SD80MAC. While we are heartbroken by the result, we made every effort possible to make preservation a reality.”

Preserving an empty shell really isn't preservation...

Aside from being an orphan fleet of V-20 powered locomotives, I have to question what made them worthy of preserving? I get that Conrail being the only customer, but there's only so much space at museums.

The SD80MAC is to Conrail what the DDA40X is to Union Pacific.

It's true that we can't save everything. That doesn't mean we shouldn't try.

Yes, museums only have so much space... but apparently that wasn't an issue here. And museums always seem to find or make space for whatever random E-Unit or F-Unit comes along. Funny how that works.

If the Conrail HS wants to save an SD80MAC from CP, they should act sooner rather than later.. There's pix on RR archives of the 6 that CP acquired in various forms of being harvested for parts, one of them.. was stripped pretty good, and that was from last summer. One or Two of these Big Mac 80's have to be worthy of survival in some form.. Unique beasties indeed..

It sounds like they're now trying to get one from CP. Per the Railfan & Railroad story:

Railfan & Railroad wrote:Six of the SD80MACs survive on Canadian Pacific, where they are being used as a parts source for that road’s SD70ACU rebuild program. CRHS officials said they have not given up on their goal of saving one.

MEC407 wrote:Yes, museums only have so much space... but apparently that wasn't an issue here. And museums always seem to find or make space for whatever random E-Unit or F-Unit comes along. Funny how that works.

The difference is you can operate an E or F unit on the lighter-weight rail found at most museums. Good luck doing that with a modern freight locomotive.

Granted, a shell isn't going to have the same loading.

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