Have been following on Altoona Works the conversion programs at the NS shops in Altoona. they are as bad as model railroaders. They just put a pair of -9 trucks with AC motors on an DC to AC conversion instead of using new trucks. They just sold back to Progress Rail 12 EMDs that had CAT engines installed. Evidently a good truck engine but not a railroad one. Sounds like fun. They should get Mitch as a consultant with his team.
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What new trucks are you talking about? The Dash 9 (aka Roller Blade) design is still used on the latest ET44AC series units.
Stuart
According to the posts on "Altoona Works" they adapted a set of trucks used on a DC engine to use AC motors for an AC conversion unit. I don't have the model numbers in front of me and GEs never make sense.
The DC to AC models are GE AC44C6Ms with new made trucks for the AC motors. Engine #4073 has an older modified trucks from a DC model -, weld modified, stress relieved and fitted with AC motors. Will be interesting to see how it works out. Evidently NS has quite a few of these older dash 9 trucks laying around from the conversions.
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