why NS scrapped Most of Conrails Gp38's and Gp40's

[southern sec. kid]

Im sure theres a good reason why Norfolk Southern got rid of all the gp38's and 40's but not the gp38-2's and gp40-2's. Just wondering and what is the difference between them

[Kaback9]

Most were not scrapped but sent for rebuild into Road Slugs or GP38-2's.

[southern sec. kid]

I understand that but what was the point forthat

[Kaback9]

Upgrading the fleet.

[bluedash2]

Southernseckid, NS never got rid of ex-CR GP40's - CR did that by the mid 90's. I'm mainly sure '95 was the last year the few GP40's left were retired and sold. I know CR sold a bunch to CNW and they rebuilt a bunch for NJ Transit to be used for passenger service requiring them to be lengthened and upgraded to dash 2's. All CR had left by the break-up date was GP40-2's. Except for a few, NS still has all of the regular GP38's from CR. About 40 were rebuilt into the 5600 series mainly 5627-5667, and 2 or 3 were done in the late 5500 series. The rest are being or have been rebuilt into the 700 series slugs, the remaining awaiting rebuild. Don't forget dash2's are easier to troubleshoot - which means everything on a railroad. CSX sold all of their regular 38's off, including all the ex-CR's in 2001. Where did you hear they were scapped?

[Kaback9]

NS is also in the process of converting some ex-CR GP40-2's for use with said road slugs.

[scottychaos]

NS rebuilt quite a few Conrail GP38's (not dash-2's) between 2003 and 2007..
new cabs, updated internals..they are now classed as GP38-2's!
which makes things a bit confusing..(they could have chosen GP38M or something..but they went with GP38-2)
So quite a few current NS GP38-2's weren't necessarily "born" as GP38-2's..

the new units are in the 5600 series..
73 rebuilds are listed here:
http://www.altoonaworks.info/rebuilds/d ... 2_5600.pdf

(All four of the Lehigh Valley GP38AC units underwent this rebuild..)

Scot

[scottychaos]

A second set of NS GP38 rebuilds is listed here:

http://www.altoonaworks.info/rebuilds/

the 5500 series and the 5600 series are rebuilt GP38's and GP38AC's..
for a total of 153 units..

Scot

[southern sec. kid]

By scrapped I meant as in rebuilt sorry

[train2]

I am taking a slightly uneducated guess:

I think Dash 2s have modular electronics, similar to sliding a computer module in and out of the electrical cabinet. So the quick answer is standardizing the fleet on the Dash 2 or newer. It is possible the power assemblies are different but I am less knowledgeable in that area.

As for the RR calling them -2, that seems appropriate as that is what is now inside. The mechanical guys only need to know what parts to order for a replacement or to ship to a distant repair shop when one has something that goes wrong.

Standardizing the fleet means they no longer need to stock parts for non-Dash 2s which were becoming a minority on the roster anyway.

T2

[bluedash2]

By scrapped I meant as in rebuilt sorry

No problem but there's a big difference in what the words mean. Anyway, railroads always update the roster. That's the only way to keep a reliable fleet. CR did plenty of that in my time (I'm in my late 30's). Growing up I saw plenty of older and newer SW's, some GP10's, and the GP15's when they were relatively new along the GP38/38-2's. The GP30/35's were still around. Most of that is long gone and now it's all GP38/40-2's. Not as much variety but those units are reliable for NS and CSX.