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

no, just regular usage. they need it.

Don;t hold your breath over IM to Waterville, it's been talked about but nothing concrete happening yet.

Any idea where the units are? Did the six in Selkirk make it to Waterville?

they were heading east through charlemont around 10am

This ( http://photos.nerail.org/s/?p=206255 ) plus others from Dave Eade.

so are these units being bought or leased?

Leased

Photo by John Bazan of the first three units at East Deerfield: http://photos.nerail.org/s/?p=206261


7843 was built in 1978 as Colorado & Southern 7843. 8070 and 8072 were both built for Burlington Northern in 1979.

Food for thought: these will be some of the newest locomotives on the PAR roster, but at 34 and 35 years old they're actually older than the SD26s were when those were acquired in the '80s. In some respects, PAR is actually sliding backwards in terms of fleet age. Fortunately SD40-2s are just about bulletproof, and infinitely rebuildable.

MEC407 wrote:Photo by John Bazan of the first three units at East Deerfield: http://photos.nerail.org/s/?p=206261


7843 was built in 1978 as Colorado & Southern 7843. 8070 and 8072 were both built for Burlington Northern in 1979.

Food for thought: these will be some of the newest locomotives on the PAR roster, but at 34 and 35 years old they're actually older than the SD26s were when those were acquired in the '80s. In some respects, PAR is actually sliding backwards in terms of fleet age. Fortunately SD40-2s are just about bulletproof, and infinitely rebuildable.

I think in today's world having access to these used diesels is as you imply very useful indeed. PAR appears to be employing the same strategy as the other Class II and Class III railroads chiefly that of avoiding newer engines with lots of expensive electronic components and efficiency reducing pollution controls (?) that they may not feel that they can afford (or would simply prefer to avoid for the sake of profits).

As with other questions about capacity I think we find ourselves returning to the same point, "Will they need more?"

PAR's business development plan appears to imply that they will and potentially quite a bit more. At some point the economies of scale come in to play and there could be serious potential for a motive power purchase that goes beyond the scope of what they're doing right now. For the moment they don't appear to have reached that point but I have to wonder if it might be coming.

If in fact Pam Am needed to look at more power, do you think it would be more SD40-2s? Or do you think they would be willing to purchase new locomotives? If this was to be true anyone willing to speculate what they would purchase for locomotive power?

tappermonk wrote:If in fact Pam Am needed to look at more power, do you think it would be more SD40-2s?

Personally, and this is speaking without regular access to the company's strategic thinking, it seems very likely indeed that they will continue to lease more SD40-2s. Company policy has almost always been to achieve fleet uniformity to whatever extent possible. This goes back even to the MEC/B&M days (but especially MEC) both of which liked to limit the number of main line locomotive types in service on their system at any given time.

tappermonk wrote:Or do you think they would be willing to purchase new locomotives? If this was to be true anyone willing to speculate what they would purchase for locomotive power?

Previous discussion seems to have all but ruled out new acquisitions and I happen to think this is reasonable.

On the other hand if profits continue to climb I have to believe that we could see a shift in fleet strategy as the company finds themselves with more capital on hand. Leasing motive power points to two particular concerns, a) that the traffic could disappear and b) that PAR needs to invest their capital in their physical plant and not their motive power fleet. This shift could take a very long time to develop since concern b) in particular is highly unlikely to change for about the next 10 years. That's how long, at the current pace, I think it's going to take PAR to modernize their system to the satisfaction of current and future demand. There's is going to be a lot of trackwork over the next decade and it will cover most if not all of PARs main line system and some of the branches as well.

Motive power needs can be easily fulfilled by leasing units. What can't be so easily fulfilled is the addition of necessary crews to run the trains. Other support staff and support facilities may also be needed. We could very well see some significant renovations in Waterville to ensure the that backshop forces are able to maintain the motive power fleet. Or at a minimum Waterville could end up having some very robust staffing, e.g. multiple shifts and potentially even 7 days operations (if that isn't the case already). For the moment I'm certainly not under the impression that mechanical shop forces in Waterville are all that plentiful at all. I know next to nothing about maintenance facilities in District 3 and their attendant capabilities. I'm sure they have them at either Ayer or East Deefield (or perhaps even Billerica?) but I have no idea how much capacity they have to service all of the new power.

They will keep leasing and buying older generation power. I wouldn't spend much thought on any new purchases.

The units came in are already in service as I talked to an engineer who had a couple last night and he said they were actually good engines. Fancy that...

Was the "new" power used west of Deerfield?

SD40's are simple machines by todays locomotive standards. They can be stripped to the frame and rebuilt and run for another 40 years. Their older build dates exempt them from emissions and other costly expenses, and make rebuilds much cheaper. Their massive numbers make parts cheap and easy to find. They have high parts commonality with GP40''s that newer power wouldn't creating a lower parts stores requirement. Most importantly, they have been, are and will continue to be nearly bulletproof machines. What more reason does anyone need to make a power purchase?

And if they need bigger power, its pretty obvious they can get it for a few dollars of the top of any move...SD40's will pull paper and slurry just fine. Autos, Intermodal, Coal, Grain and Oil-moot point...foreign power is cheap enough and so far proving to be a sustainable business model.

KSmitty wrote:And if they need bigger power, its pretty obvious they can get it for a few dollars of the top of any move...SD40's will pull paper and slurry just fine. Autos, Intermodal, Coal, Grain and Oil-moot point...foreign power is cheap enough and so far proving to be a sustainable business model.

I keep forgetting that in essence PAR is already operating some of the most modern equipment there is anyways, just without all the direct burdens of ownership!

Also keep in mind, SD40-2s will pull pretty much *anything you put behind them, they were used for everything from coal drags to fast intermodals/auto trains.