Old V. New

About the Author

— Austen Rhoads

I am a 15 year old who has had a passion for trains my whole life. I used to live in Doylestown, PA as of June 2022. I moved to Carlisle, PA, right next to the Norfolk Southern Lurgan Branch.

About the Locomotive Class

GE AC44C6M

The GE AC44C6M is a refurbished Dash 9 locomotive from GE Transportation Systems that has 4,400 horsepower (3,300 kW) of AC-traction. Since September 2015, GE (now Wabtec), American Motive Power, Inc., and Norfolk Southern Railway's Juniata and Roanoke Shops have been doing AC44C6M rebuilds. The AC44C6M replaces the Dash 9's DC traction motors with alternating current GE 5GEB13B7 traction motors while keeping the 16-cylinder 7FDL-16 prime mover that was previously used in the core locomotive. The rebuilds still contain the original Dash 9 units' underframe, engine, and radiator compartments, but they have new wide-nosed cabins, a new front hood section, and a new inverter cabinet. The cost of converting a vintage Dash 9 locomotive into an AC44C6M is only 50–60% of purchasing a brand new Tier-4 Compliant locomotive. In comparison to an un-rebuilt Dash 9, the AC44C6M is found to have an improvement of 17% in fuel efficiency, 30% improvement in reliability, and a 55% improvement in haulage capability according to Wabtec.

Photo Blurb

4538 is a class GE AC44C6M and is pictured in Altoona , Pennsylvania, USA. This was taken along the Pittsburgh Line on the Norfolk Southern. Photo Copyright: Austen Rhoads uploaded to Railroad Gallery on 11/15/2022. This photograph of 4538 was taken on Monday, June 13, 2022. All Rights Reserved.