Conrail GP40-2 and SD60 disposition

[Leo_Ames]

Curious about the fate of two of Conrail's GP40-2's, numbers unknown. Conrail of course owned 129 GP40-2's and 126 of these were slated to be split up between Norfolk Southern and CSX at the end. 3 presumably were wrecked and retired earlier on and were no longer rostered.

According to the December 1998 issue of Trains, the split would've been 53 units to CSX and 73 to NS. CSX got all 53 units slated for them according to various online sources, but NS ultimately only received 71 former Conrail GP40-2's, per the roster at NSDash9. Was there perhaps a late wreck in Conrail's last days that destroyed two of those that were planned to go to Norfolk Southern, or was Conrail actually starting Dash 2 retirements much like how 4 axle Dash 7's were already starting to go during Conrail's late days?

And how'd the first SD60 ever built, which went to Norfolk Southern at the split of Conrail, escape and end up at CSX in 2000 while the remaining CR fleet remains intact to this day at NS? Was this ex-demo unit on a 15 year lease that NS didn't buy out or renew, perhaps?

[Engineer Spike]

I don't know how to account for the missing GP40-2s. As far as splitting up most classes, I don't think that the class unit would automatically go to NS, then the second to CSX, third to NS.......and remainders to NS. Someone somewhere said that since NS had bought the Majority of Conrail, they got to hand pick the units which they wanted. If 68xx had a worse repair record than 68xy, then NS got to pick the units in better condition, or the ones which had most recently been through overhaul. I don't know if that was really true, but I heard it somewhere.

[Leo_Ames]

No, the locomotives were split across the same 58/42 percentage that they divided the railroad by. Minus the SD70's and SD70MAC's, this was roughly the process.

1. Locomotives were arranged alphabetically by model type. Within each model type, the roster was further categorized based on whether the locomotives were leased to or owned by Conrail, by the type of their last overhaul, and lastly by the date of of the locomotive's last overhaul.

2. In each category, the railroads took turns selecting a locomotive by road number. For the first two rounds, each railroad got to pick one locomotive, with I believe CSX going first. In the 3rd round, Norfolk Southern got to pick two locomotives while CSX selected one. This ensured the 58/42 split. And since CSX picked first, that's how, for example, that CSX got two of Conrail's three E8's despite only getting 42% of the fleet.

3. Lastly, they compared the appraised value of units to ensure they got not only their proper assigned numerical value of the fleet, but a 58-42 percent split of its value, as well.

The mystery with that SD60 isn't why it went to Norfolk Southern at the split, but how it ended up at CSX back in 2000 while the production examples of the same model type that Conrail ordered remains intact on NS to this day after inheriting them at the split. All I can think of is that this former demonstrator was leased and had a different ownership arrangement than Conrail's production SD60's, with NS letting it go at the end of a 15 year lease rather than buy it out.

And by coincidence, CSX saw a deal and picked it up. This was the same time period after all that they traded over 150 surplus GP38's/GP40's, SW1001's/SW1500's, and several GP15-1's to EMD's lease fleet in exchange for 31 late model 710 engined road units in the EMD lease fleet, including three demonstrator SD60's.

[lvrr325]

Going to have to do the detective work on a CR to CSX/NS renumbering list to see which ones have no new number.

[Alcochaser]

And how'd the first SD60 ever built, which went to Norfolk Southern at the split of Conrail, escape and end up at CSX in 2000 while the remaining CR fleet remains intact to this day at NS? Was this ex-demo unit on a 15 year lease that NS didn't buy out or renew, perhaps?

The CR owned Demo units were on their own lease. NS didn't want to pick up the lease and CSX was offered the unit for purchase with the others on the lease.

CSX ended up with three other SD60 demos in the horsetrade. For a total of six. The seventh (EMDX 3) was used a relief unit for the Oakway BNSF lease.

[KevinD]

Wrecked and retired by CR pre-split:

3316 - Burned and charred roundhouse or paint shop fire? Date unk

3330 - Rear end collision in Selkirk receiving yard 1-31-94, bent frame

3394 - The 1-14-88 Thompsontown PA head-on


After split announcement, but before fleet division, CR 3291 and 3292 (and SD60 6843) were wrecked at Salem OH (Ft Wayne Line) on 7-31-97 in a collision with a derailing train on adjacent track. The SD60 was rebuilt, but the 2 GP40-2s with fire and collision damages retired and sold to MPI. Parts from 3291 were used by MPI to build CMC MP2000D 104 and parts from 3292 were used by MPI to build NOPB MP2000D 2002. Since the Ft Wayne Line location was to be an NS-conveyed property, NS took the motive power deduction.

Juniata had already cut the nose off one of the burned GP40-2s from Salem and used it to repair CSX 6232 which was wrecked 6-4-98 at Horton OH when a train was diverted at speed from the main and into an industrial spur on the dark Scottslawn Sec (a ballast express C32 was also a casualty there)

[Leo_Ames]

Thanks Kevin

The Juniata fire that led to the building of a new paint ship was on April 9th 1981, if that happens to be the one that took one of these GP40-2's (Seven units were lost, but I don't have any further data than that).

[lvrr325]

Just looking at 6232 on RRpicturearchive and it has the same dings in the nose in 1997 as it does today, although it clearly has Juniata number boards. It would appear the nose wasn't changed out when it was repaired.

[Engineer Spike]

If the two roads took turns picking units of each class, then how did NS get the entire production SD60 class?

[Leo_Ames]

Of 28 SD60's, 12 went to CSX and 16 went to Norfolk Southern at the split. With the original prototype later joining the CSX roster in 2000, that gave them 13 out of 28 (10 production examples and all three demos).

http://conrailphotos.thecrhs.org/?q=Con ... s/EMD/SD60" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

9 of the 10 production versions that Conrail bought new and which were allotted to CSX appear to still be rostered by CSX according to BullSheet.com (As are all three ex demonstrators). But there have been significant retirements of the SD60 family at CSX and further mass retirements are anticipated, so this could change at any time over the coming months.

[Engineer Spike]

I just thought of something about the GP40-2 fleet. Some were ex Reading, while others were new to Conrail. I believe the Reading had small fuel tanks. Maybe they were financed differently than the bought new. Was this a factor?