Kentucky’s Color Season

About the Author

— Chris Hall

I am 17 years old and from Kentucky, I like to take trips to other railroads in surrounding states like Tennessee, West Virginia, or even Ohio. I volunteer at my local railroad museum, currently restoring an ALCO MRS-1 to operating condition, formerly owned by the United States Army.

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

NS 4581 is a class GE AC44C6M and is pictured in Wilmore, Kentucky, United States. This was taken along the CNO&TP on the Norfolk Southern. Photo Copyright: Chris Hall uploaded to Railroad Gallery on 10/15/2023. This photograph of NS 4581 was taken on Sunday, October 15, 2023. All Rights Reserved.