5

they wanted, they then had to go select which specific locomotives they wanted. Representatives of the railroad, after inspecting and evaluating several units settled on the following, which, following NYSW tradition would be numbered in a series to match their HP (in this case the 3800 series) and as they were all multiple unit equipped, would be given even numbers, 3800 through 3810. The old and new numbers were as 9061.…………………………..NYSW 9067.…………………………..NYSW The standard move was to move the locomotives to Cinfollows: GMTX 9016 …………………………. NYSW 3800 GMTX 9044.…………………………..NYSW3802 GMTX GMTX GMTX GMTX 3804 3806 9082.………………………… NYSW 3808 9094.………………………… NYSW 3810 Once the specific units were decided upon, and terms and arrangements of the lease were negotiated, the locomotives were then moved into the VMV locomotive shops for a complete tear down and rebuild, one by one, with NYSW reps in attendance. Just by luck of the draw, the units were not released in any specific order. The first unit released as the 3810. As the units were released, after paining and lettering (rumor has it some of the stencils for the lettering were supplied by the NYSW T&HS), they were then released for testing and break in service in the area around the VMV shops, usually on CSX trains. Once sufficient testing was completed, and the railroad as well as the forces at VMV were satisfied, the locomotives were then released and shipped to home rails via CSX to Syracuse, NY. cinatti, OH, where CSX placed them on Q366, a manifest train that operates from Cincinnati, OH to Selkirk, NY. Upon arrival at Selkirk the plan was to then move the locomotives west for delivery to interchange at Syracuse. One of the locomotives took a somewhat different route to Selkirk via Birmingham, AL to Waycross GA and movement to Selkirk occurred via train Q410, which runs Waycross to Selkirk. It took a couple of extra days, but delivery was without incident. Eventually all six units made it to Selkirk NY and then to Syracuse where they were accepted and moved dead in tow to Binghamton for preparation into service, which included a complete fueling, filling of sand, oil and other fluids to capacity, installation of radios and head end telemetry, and the initial on property inspections. Contrary to rumors, the locomotives were delivered dead in tow, not under power, and despite rumors to the contrary, they were delivered with seats in the cabs. Aside from the 3810 striking a tree on the Hudson secondary and putting a small dent in the nose on the engineers side, the units have all been placed into service with minimal teething pains. There has been the occasional electrical glitch, but overall, the units have performed without incident, and can now be seen in multiple on the SU-100/SU-99 turns, as well as working north between Binghamton and Syracuse. Coupled with the 4 SD40T-2 tunnel motors and the two SD40-2s, the railroad once again has a sizable fleet (Continued on page 6) NYSW 3806 on SU-00 at Bergen Turnpike, Ridgefield Park, NJ July 23, 2012 5

6 Publizr Home


You need flash player to view this online publication