A CN Ex-IC SD70.
The Electro Motive Division (EMD) SD70 is a type of 4,000 hp six-axle diesel locomotive that has a few variants.
History of SD70[]
After the initial success of the SD70s introduction, EMD planned on developing a revolutionary type of "safety cab" for the Federal Railroad Association (FRA)'s "North American Safety Cab" program which would provide safer durability during head-on collisions. The EMD SD70M was first introduced as the DC-traction model using this cab, interestingly though, NS order their SD70s with standard cabs, after the introduction of the Wide Cab. Conrail (under NS direction) ordered 24 units just prior to the split. IC also ordered 40 SD70s in two orders in 1995 and 1999.
Although the SD70M was successful at first, it began to experience several technical issues with its microprocessor control system during early demonstration test runs. But after several successful demonstrations with the NYS&W, SP and Union Pacific railroads NYS&W ordered three SD70Ms, and SP ordered 25 SD70Ms built in 1994. The SD70M was somewhat of a sleeper in EMD's catalog until, in 1999, Union Pacific ordered 1,000 SD70Ms from EMD. This was the largest domestic locomotive order in history.
2017: NS has begun a rebuilding program in conjunction with EMD to turn SD70s into wide-cab, AC-traction road units. These new rebuilds will be called SD70ACCs and feature an SD70ACe style cab. Two units were shipped to Muncie and have yet to emerge. These two will test the viability of the program before NS proceeds to rebuild the other 77 SD70s.
2018: The first two SD70ACCs from Muncie have been released, repainted in special DC to AC paint, and sent to Roanoke, Virginia, for testing. NS will have 25 additional units rebuilt by EMD in 2018.
SD70I[]
The SD70I was Canadian National's WhisperCab version of the SD70M. Only 26 of these units were built.
Who ordered What?[]
CN has 26 SD70Is (the only ones built) and holds ownership of the 40 Ex-IC standard cab SD70s.
UP has over 1,500 SD70Ms on its roster. Two have been retired, those being Nos. 4687 and 4855.
NYS&W had 3 SD70Ms on its roster, in July 2014 NS picked up the trio.
NS has 71 SD70Ms, in two phases 13 (original 10 plus 3 Ex-NYSW units bought 2014) were built in Phase 1 and 58 were Phase 2. As well as 79 standard cab SD70's 55 of which were ordered by NS while the other 24 are Ex-Conrail.
CSX has 25 SD70Ms on its roster due to a large motive power swap in the 1990s, where CSX gave GMTX about 50 Geeps and switchers, for high horsepower units, the EMDX demonstrator were sold to CSX along with the Three GP60 demos.
A diagram showing the features and revealing the differences between the later "Phase 2" SD70M versus the original SD70M.
Trivia[]
An EMD GP70 was offered, but, generated no orders. Union Pacific, CSX, Southern Pacific, and Canadian National were the original customers to purchase the SD70M (aside from its counter-parts), while Ontario Northland Railway (ONR), Norfolk Southern, NYSW, and several Latin American railways and railroads were the later customers.
The UP also ordered the largest amount of SD70M units, with having a total of 1,000 in the first order and another 500 (including flared-radiator units) in another, making the order the largest in EMD history.
UP SD70M Nos. 2001 and 2002 were painted in special schemes to commemorate the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics from 2001 to 2002. These units still retain their schemes, but are slated to be repainted soon.
As of early 2013, BNSF has been in the process of retiring their fleets of former AT&SF (Santa Fe) SD75Ms, many of these are at NRE Silvis, IL in storage awaiting their fates. However, due to an extreme power shortage in late 2013/early 2014, some of these ex. AT&SF units have returned to service on BNSF.
Between April 28 and May 8, 2014, UP SD70M Nos. 4014 and 4884 towed UP 4-8-8-4 No. 4014, also known as the Big Boy, from UP's West Colton Yards in Barstow, CA to their steam shops and roundhouse in Cheyenne, WY where the Big Boy's restoration to operating condition took place. As of today, they are still in service with UP, but 4014 has since been renumbered to 4479 to allow the Big Boy to retain its original number upon the completion of its restoration in May 2019 by Ed Dickens and the UP's steam program for excursion service.
Gallery[]
