I was setting in a friends car waiting on a train to pass.... As it drawed near the thing thumped an banged like mad. unlike no other diesel I ever seen or heard.... And as I seen the nose of the loco on the point, I thought it was a SD-70MAC, to see this thing was a sight, and when it got near I had mistaken it for that SD-70MAC only to find the MASIVE SD-80MAC #801!!!!!! Sadly as it rumbled past, their was a C-60AC right behind it and on the rear of the train was 2 SD-60I's and a C40-8. All in CSX Bright future! Sadly... I didn't have a damned camera or anything! I'll never get that chance again!!!!! And well it rolled right past the Meyersdale Main Street Crossing! Just below my house! Warren, JT, Brian. You all crossed that crossing! What a happening to happen!!!!! I'm like dumbfounded! And WHAT a locomotive!HUGE!
Brian, No, not the first actually about the 3rd or 4th time! Just.. I never got to see the #801! Up close an personal... The other ones I was at a distance from so, I was "right their" on top of them. I never got to see an 80MAC from the nose within 25 to 30 feet away... But I did see #801, from the distance from it to the dirrect spot on the opposite sides of the gates on Main Street. in the afternoon.. Its more of a "rare" sight to see anything like that in Meyersdale for one. And 2 the 801 is a "one and only" being its the only one painted in CSX bright future.... And I can't say forsure but I think it was stationed down on the "West End" and stumbled onto Sand Patch some how... Just something different then the normal C60AC's or the AC4400's and the Sand Patch SD-50/60's.. plus the &0MAC's... So. And something that big that close.. and on the fly and I know that train is was on the point of.. had to be, 200 cars if not more! The train was moving by at a good rate and still it took i know 20 minutes to a half hour to clear the crossing! So, yes, it was a trill to see something of that size in CSX paint roll on by.... Specially in Meyersdale... Railfanning doesn't get that type of hype in Meyersdale!
When I was out there last month I saw four different '80MACs... I believe the Big Macs are all based out of D.C., BTW.
Ahhh, I see you guys got to experience, what we Conrail fans experienced for 3 years up on the old Conrail Boston Line, to Boston Massachusetts. Two of these brutes would pull 100 plus car trains of the grades of the Berkshire Mountains in Western Massachusetts, without any problems. The 4106 (I which rr owns it now) was the first one I ever laid eyes on. Talk about huge. My best memory of an 80mac happened one time at a spot about 3 miles west of a Conrail yard in Framingham, Mass. The train was pulled by two 80macs. Right after the train cleared the yard and the two grade crossings in the next town, the engineer began to notch out those beasts. I felt the air vibrate more than I heard the engines. What a sensation! I have been a fan of these babies ever since. Well after the merger, CSX sent all their 80macs south. We ended up getting stuck with various GE power, namely C40-8w's and AC6000s. But there is good news for us 80mac fans up here. The AC6000's have turned out to be troublemakers/problem childs. They are getting their prime movers swapped out (I believe at GE's expense) and replaced with the 4400hp prime movers. I don't know if this is a coincidence or not, but ever since CSX/GE announced this solution for the AC6000's (which bumped the 80macs), we have been seeing our 80mac friends show up more and more here on the Boston line. In the last week 810 and 809 have shown up indepently on a couple of trains. Earlier this summer 804 and 805 were up here paying a visit and I was lucky enough to see them(there is a picture of them on my website, along with the cab of the 810). There has also been unconfirmed reports that the 801 was spotted in Selkirk, NY. Raifanning my favorite loco again is going to be fun My gain is your loss Just teasing. Get your pictures while you can. Another comment is why didn't NS and CSX by more of these instead? After the AC6000 fiasco I bet CSX wishes they had. Lastly, if any of you bought the Kato 80mac in HO scale, look how big that brute is. I sat mine down next to an Atlas SD35. Where the rear trucks end on the back of a SD35 is where the forward part of the rear trucks begin on the 80mac. I am glad to see there are more fans of this excellent example of EMD's work.
I got both the Atlas SD-35 in Western Maryland Circus and the SD80MAC and it IS BIG!! The last time I saw the 801 was down in Cumberland at the Locomotive Shop just done up in Bright Future last Winter(?) And I was in one during Railfest at Altoona in '99 and It is BIG!!
Mike, We even matched up the size of the 80MAC an my DD-40, and the 80MAC isn't much smaller then the DD-40's by Atheran! when you said they are big.. THEY ARE HUGE not only in scale, but also the real thing. its dwarfed the C60AC that was coupled dirrectly behind it in the #801 that went through Meyersdale the other day when I got a "closer" look... All I can say is... WOW!
Yep, they are big, but theCW60AC still edges it by 1,000 more horses. Here's a web site that compares these 2
Yep, they are big, but theCW60AC still edges it by 1,000 more horses. Here's a web site that compares these 2 and other diesels; http://www.railfanusa.com/info/stats.html
John, Too bad you didn't have a camera to capture the event! In N scale modeling, my Kato SD80MAC will outpull everything else I have,,,, Harold
Harold, I hear that! I never imagined that to happen! But then.... BIG surprises like that always seem to happen enexspectedly. So. and sure caught me off guard that evening so.. It agrivates me that I didn't have the digital! That would have been some shot with the 80MAC and the 60AC right behind it.... all in one shot! HA! I'm still kickin myself from being empty handed. I'll probably never catch that again! That was one in a life time in Meyersdale on the CSX tracks. I'da loved to seen it come up the eatern slope of Sand Patch. You might want to call that a "Vulgar Display" of power!
JOHN REPEAT AFTER ME: I WILL CARRY MY CAMERA ALWAYS I WILL CARRY MY CAMERA ALWAYS I WILL CARRY MY CAMERA ALWAYS I WILL CARRY MY CAMERA ALWAYS I WILL CARRY MY CAMERA ALWAYS I WILL CARRY MY CAMERA ALWAYS I WILL CARRY MY CAMERA ALWAYS I WILL CARRY MY CAMERA ALWAYS
Barb, Sounds like a plan! Sadly I was with a friend. So.. But I know to be prepared the next time! I'm getting a strap on neck band for around my Camera! Then I'll have it with me! HA HA HA
Good comparison chart on those locomotives, 6206. But I admit seeing an 80mac at work gives tingly sensation, that the AC6000 bricks don't. As for the AC6000's having more power, that may not be much longer. CSX is getting fed up with 'em and downgrading them. Are you sure that was an AC6000 you saw behind the 80mac. They both look to be about the same size? Of course the AC6000 has that funky looking rear overhang. I will admit I haven't had the chance to study em' side by side or that much time to look at them coupled together. I do have distant curve shot of an AC6000 leading an 80mac on my website. Check it out. [ 22. August 2002, 16:28: Message edited by: ajy6b ]
While driving down to Atlanta on vacation a couple of weeks ago, I saw a 80MAC lashed up to a -9, -7 and two Geeps off of Hwy 95 in Baltimore. Didn't get the look I would want since I was driving, but it looks so big, especially next to the other locos in that lashup.
How I knew the second loco behind the 80MAC was a C60, is because of ALL the CSX loco's the C60's were the only ones to get the yellow "CSX" lettering on the long hood outlined in dark blue... Thats the "big" spotting feature on the C60 on CSX... And well I did not catch the road number of the C60, (being I was too focused on the 80MAC), so... But those HUGE bright yellow "CSX" letters on the long hood sticks out like a sore thumb! So... But ask any of the CSX guys, the C60's were the only ever CSX diesel to get the bright future 2 (I think) paint sceme. They had the HUGE yellow "CSX" lettering on their long hoods... Out lined in either a dark blue or black... This is a dead givaway that its a C60... [ 23. August 2002, 04:32: Message edited by: 7600EM_1 ]
That is a good point on the spotting feature of the C60 or what is also referred to as the "brick" or AC6000. But an interesting or coincidental point is the 666 has blue lettering only on the side of the long hood. I don't know if any other AC6000's have this spotting feature. The best spotting feature of an AC6000 is on the very end of the unit. There is an overhang on both the back and sides. The other GE units don't have this overhang on the end, just on the sides. It reminds me of a porch roof, more or less. CSX isn't the only one fed up with the AC6000, UP is not pleased as well. From what I have been told, there is a mechanical problem with the prime mover. I have heard different complaints. One had to do with the crankshaft bearings wearing out prematurely. This may also tie in with the fact that the maintenance procedure to perform to prevent the wear is quite cumbersome and dangerous. Certain parts have to be torqued so tight that sometimes the part will break. The position required of the employee to do this puts the employee in the line of fire if this part breaks. There have been a couple incidents were employees were almost injured while performing this function. This is just what I have heard. I have noticed in the past couple of years that sometimes its feast or famine time with the AC6000's. For a while you will see them all over the Boston Line, then the next thing you know, you won't see them at all. In their place will be C44-8w's and various lease units and power from other railroads on trains where the AC6000's held assignments. Then the AC6000's show up again. My understanding is that there are not going to be anymore AC6000's. CSX is now ordering AC4400's instead. The AC6000's that are having prime movers replaced are sublettered with the new prime mover designation and a - 6. I have not seen this personally but a couple of my railfan buddies have. Now back to the 80macs. I saw the 801 yesterday (8/26) on the former Conrail Boston line. It was on its second trip over the line in the last 5 days. It was paired up with brand new AC4400 586, in the "Dark Future" paint scheme. Your right the 80macs do dwarf the other locos. My only regret was that the 801 was not on the point. [ 27. August 2002, 16:57: Message edited by: ajy6b ]
