Help Identifying a CSX Locomotive


beiland

Well-Known Member
Back during this past summer I bought a couple of HO, CSX locomotives from an estate sale in Jacksonville. I got 2 locomotives, and a steel coil car. I was informed by a relative that the gentleman who owned these was a retired executive of CSX (headquartered in Jacksonville).

One of the locos was an Overland brass model,...
Overland Models OMI 6553.1 CSXT AC6000CW
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Pretty obvious that this one was well identified.


The second loco is the problem. I can not read the bottom of this loco as it is mounted on a displace case, and there is a sticker covering the mounting screws.
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I've written to that 'Mainline Models', but no reply yet.

I had one gentleman offer this......??
"The second engine is supposed to be an EMD SD70MAC according to the road number but looks like it was custom built using an SD45 shell. Trucks are correct but the shell and frame are lacking. Like trying to pass a Challenger for a Big Boy in steam terms."
 
Brian, I had a Genesis model of 700, and the one you have now is a very rough representation of that engine. Mainline Models has a reputation of doing very good paint work, but not doing so well where the accuracy of the model is concerned. I haven't seen anything "new" they've done in over 15 years.
 
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It does appear to have those 4 holes in the bottom of the fuel tank that were characteristic of Athearn locos?
 
Reply from the builder Mainline Models


I received this reply from the builder this afternoon,...

We remember this project we did for CSX. It was a custom built, painted & decaled locomotive that began as a RailPower SD70MAC shell before they were massed produced. The sideframes were a Smokey Valley product that we also built from a kit.
It's in remarkable shape, even the display case, for being as old as it is.
 
I have no idea about the model, but the real CSX 700 seems to have lead a troubled life. It was wrecked in 2001, and rebuilt with different trucks and other modifications. The model looks like the pre-rebuild version.

Before: http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=3665815

After: http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=990278

Wreck: http://www.trainweb.org/csxphotos/photos/wrecks/0700wrk.jpg (link from second to last post on this page http://cs.trains.com/trn/f/111/t/82499.aspx)
 
That is a massive rebuild?!?. If it is a rebuild at all. Different cab, different rear radiators, different... well everything. I think the Spirit of the Cumberland and the model is an SD70MAC. I think the "rebuild" is an ES44AC-H. I'm guessing there is really not a rebuild but a renumbering happening here.

edit.
Here it is - "CSX began receiving an order of 200 ES44ACs (referred to by CSX as the ES44AH) in December 2007. Blah blah blah blah ... CSXT units 700-839 blah blah." I'm looking to verify this reference but preliminarily it would seem the Spirit of the Cumberland was scrapped after the wreck and the number reused on the EVOs.
 
I found this.....
https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/topic/csx-ac6000-awesome-looking

CSX ordered a multi year quantity of AC4400's and AC6000's at the same time. And GE actually built and painted the first AC4400 with the road number #9102. (The first engine was the 9101-but it had not been painted yet.) During our meeting with CSX in Erie, they decided to begin an entirely new numbering system with AC locomotives, their first AC's, and they changed the road numbers to begin with road number 1 for the AC4400's. (CSX begins each class series with a road number ending in a "one" vs a "Zero" so qty in that class is easily determined.) Further, they wanted a single "lightning bolt" under the road number on the cab sides. And we changed our Engineering Instructions to comply.
For the AC6000's, they wanted something different, including the 600 number series, two lightning bolts on each side of the number, and a change in their herald color to yellow outlined in blue for AC6000's only. This was their request and we complied. This yellow "CSX" was very useful to me in chasing #601 across the Alleghenies on a stack train from Chicago with a hired helicopter and pilot....I chose to NOT ride the helicopter after an "unpleasant experience" the previous day, so had to tell the pilot by primitive cell phone (with spotty reception in the mountains out of Cumberland) how to identify that unit and train for a movie, which I still have. the yellow color was the only identifying mark.....
I have a real soft spot for the CSX blue-yellow-grey color scheme, and for AC4400's and AC6000's. I was under, around, over, and in every single one of both classes as a result of my joint inspection with various CSX inspection personnel. They were, and they ARE, great engines, although the AC4400's were more successful.
Looks like the model I have??

Anyway, I got my first digital camera back in 1999, and here is the engine that you
likely took pictures of, the competition's 70Ace.
The 700 on display at the 2000 open house shops.
Plus a more familiar locomotive behind a fence near the 700.
The 700 was nearly wrecked off the roster less than a year after this photo, but
rebuilt and put back in service, still as the Spirit of Cumberland. Since then 70 Ace's have been renumbered, and she continues in service as the 4500, still the Spirit of
Cumberland.
If you have info about the 4400AH locomotives, even though this thread is about the
6000's I and I'll bet a few of the readers will like to hear!

Ed


 



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