NYSW 3800 on SU-99 at Oak Ridge, NJ July 2, 2012. All photography by Ralph Bonanno unless otherwise noted. The spring and summer of 2012 will be known for the arrival of new (to the NYSW) power for use on the road trains, work trains, and occasional local service. The railroad had been relying on, for several months, several leased CEFX SD40-3s (in SD45 carbodies) to handle the road and local work, and while these proved adequate, they also were an expense the railroad could have done without, as they were on a lease arrangement. After scouting the used locomotive market for some time, the railroad finally settled on a fleet of six EMD SD60 locomotives, coming off lease to another railroad. These were originally built by EMD and were originally part of a fleet of locomotives built for Oakway, with a long term leasing plan to the Burlington Northern. But first a little background…… In the mid 1980’s, with traffic in its Powder River Basin increasing, the BN was looking to supplement its fleet of six axle locomotives. EMD built three SD60 demonstrators for the BN, and with a two year lease, they were immediately placed in service hauling coal. They quickly proved their worth, and with the most important factor, fuel economy being a deciding factor, BN began talking with EMD about acquiring a fleet of the 3800 HP units. But the BN was hurting a bit financially with higher than wanted operating costs, and lower than wanted earnings, the railroad explored leasing options, and the most cost effective leasing arrangement. 3 The arrangement that came about involved a “power by the hour” arrangement, a novel and innovative concept at the time. This meant the BN paid for the locomotives for only the time the locomotives are in service and operating, even though more power and kilowatts per hour are consumed when the locomotive is operating at notch 8 for extended periods. Part of this novel arrangement was that BN didn’t provide repairs/ maintenance on the units. This was handled off property by a third party, and not by BN. Eventually, the work was moved on property to one of the BN’s shop facilities. After months of speculation, a fleet of 100 SD60’s began arriving on BN property, in a somewhat modified EMD demonstrator paint scheme. In an industry first, BN began the concept of purchasing “power by the hour” from these locomotives, owned by EMD, and leased to Oakway, Inc, a subsidiary of New Jersey based Connell Rice & Sugar. Instead of leasing the locomotives as a whole unit from a leasing company, which was the traditional way of doing business, the BN was purchasing only the electrical energy exerted by the locomotives. Initially, the SD60’s were assigned to a variety of services to test and evaluate their abilities. An increase in coal ship(Continued on page 4)
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