Pan Am GE DASH 8 Locomotives

Well, they aren't for Maine and there is no point in making the purchase if you're going to take a HP cut over existing engines. They're buying them because they can run 2 in the place of 3 and have more HP using less fuel than the 3.

Moderator Note:

Thread title has been edited to reflect that we're no longer talking about just the six-axle Dash 8s.

newpylong wrote:Well, they aren't for Maine

Not what I've heard.

and there is no point in making the purchase if you're going to take a HP cut over existing engines. They're buying them because they can run 2 in the place of 3 and have more HP using less fuel than the 3.

Sure there is... for the most part they don't fully utilize the 3000 HP in the GP40s either, and you're still getting quite a bit more tractive effort than you would with a GP40. 2000 HP is mostly sufficient for what the B40s will be used for, and you get more fuel savings from that as well.

Why ask questions then? You seem to have it better figured out than the President of the railroad.

I wonder if anyone has taken the wheel loading weight of the B40-8s into account. Those units have the highest wheel loading of any unit out there, because they are quite heavy (even heavier than some older 6-axles) and spread the weight to the rail through 8 wheels instead of 12. I have come across plenty of folks at the shortlines who have no idea that a 4-axle can be worse on track than a 6-axle locomotive. All 4-axles are not the same, to say the least. If you're dealing with tight gauge, the 4-axle is the answer, but if you're dealing with light rail or less than ideal track conditions, a heavy loading like the B40-8s introduce is bad news.

It makes me wonder if the CWR being brought in is in part an answer to these concerns.

gokeefe wrote:It makes me wonder if the CWR being brought in is in part an answer to these concerns.

That rail is for areas that they've done some massive tie/surfacing work too. But the rail is so shot they can't get anyone to sign off on upping to 25mph. I don't think you'll find its got anything to do with new GE's, since these lines routinely see CSX GEVO's, and rail purchases are made months in advance, which means the purchase was likely made before any deal for the GE's had been made.

Anyone know if these will be dipped or just run until dead?

Based on the notes with this photo it appears that at least one of the B40-8s has made its way east from East Deerfield.

Photo Credit to Hayden Logan:
http://photos.nerail.org/showpic/?photo ... 125757.jpg

- Stephen

By all accounts I've seen, the GE-PAR lease deal seems to be a big win for Billerica (esp with GE doing maintenance). But given the prolific discussion on this forum of how little capital $ PAR management spends or has available to spend, why did GE strike this deal? Does GE regard it as low risk in that if PAR fails to live up to terms, GE will just reclaim the units? Or is there some other Pan Am asset securing the deal?

No one is going to be able to answer those questions here...

johnpbarlow wrote:By all accounts I've seen, the GE-PAR lease deal seems to be a big win for Billerica (esp with GE doing maintenance). But given the prolific discussion on this forum of how little capital $ PAR management spends or has available to spend, why did GE strike this deal? Does GE regard it as low risk in that if PAR fails to live up to terms, GE will just reclaim the units? Or is there some other Pan Am asset securing the deal?

Not a lease. PAR/Maine Central Railroad Company "owns" the units. They did, however, finance the purchase of all 36 of them through GE Industrial Financing Solutions, LLC. The locomotives are their own collateral. Similar to a car loan, only on a larger scale.

The rumor I heard was these locomotives were going to be scrapped if a buyer was no found. So Pan Am got a great price on them.

That is one of the most believable explanations yet.

To follow up to my earlier post, here are images of 5948 first basing through Haverhill on EDPO and then arriving into Waterville on POWA.

In Haverhill on EDPO - Photo Credit to Austin Logan:
http://photos.nerail.org/showpic/?photo ... 240349.jpg

Into Waterville on POWA - Photo Credit to Julian Berard:
http://photos.nerail.org/showpic/?photo ... 229085.jpg

- Stephen