8-40B Series

From RailroadfanWiki

Contents 1 8-32B 2 Roster of 8-32B's 3 8-39B (8-39BE) 4 Roster of 8-39B's 5 8-40B/8-40BW 6 Roster of 8-40B(W)'s

8-32B

The General Electric 8-32B (or B32-8) is a 4 axle, 3,150 horsepower diesel electric locomotive built by GE from 1984 to 1989. It uses a 12 cylinder FDL engine rated at 3,150 HP. The 8-32B was the first in the 4 axle series of Dash 8 locomotives, and was also the least popular with only 49 units being built. Aside from one demonstrator and 3 demo units leased by Burlington Northern, the only customer was Norfolk Southern, who purchased 45 of them. NS's are unique in that they are set up with the long hood designated as the front. They continue to work today in local freight service.

Roster of 8-32B's

	Railroad Quantity Road Numbers Notes Burlington Northern 3 5497-5499 Returned to GE GECX (General Electric) 1 832 Later rebuilt with a widecab Norfolk Southern 45 3522-3566

8-39B (8-39BE)

The General Electric 8-39B (or B39-8) is a 4 axle, 3,900 horsepower diesel electric locomotive built by GE from 1984 to 1987. It uses the standard 16 cylinder GE FDL prime mover, in this case rated at 3,900 HP. The locomotive was offered as a more powerful alternative to the 8-32B, and was eventually supplanted by the 4,000 horsepower 8-40B. At the time of it's introduction, the 8-39B was the most powerful 4 axle locomotive ever built. It's high horsepower and small 4 axle design made it ideal for pulling fast piggy back (TOFC) and intermodal trains, as it could accelerate faster than it's 6 axle cousins. 43 "true" 8-39B's were built, 3 for Santa Fe, and 40 for Southern Pacific, where they were put to work pulling hot container trains. 103 8-39BE's (B39-8E's) were built as well, 100 of which for GE Leasing Firm LMX, which in turn leased them to Burlington Northern. 1 was built at GECX 808 as a demonstrator, and the other 2 were replacements for a pair of LMX units that had been wrecked. In all, 146 were built. After 1987, the 8-40B went into production, and the 8-39B was no longer built. Today, most of Southern Pacific's original 40 still work for Union Pacific, while a good portion of the LMX fleet has been sold off to various shortlines and other leasing companies.

Roster of 8-39B's

	Railroad Quantity Road Numbers Notes Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe 3 7400-7402 General Electric (GECX) 1 808 Demonstrator LMX 100 8500-8599 Most now sold Southern Pacific 40 8000-8039 To UP

8-40B/8-40BW

The General Electric 8-40B (or B40-8) is a 4 axle, 4,000 horsepower diesel electric locomotive built by GE from 1989 to 1994. It uses the standard 16 cylinder GE FDL prime mover, in this case rated at 4,000 HP. The 8-40B replaced the 8-39B in 1989, and at the time was the most powerful 4 axle diesel electric locomotive in production. The 8-40B's high horsepower was best suited to fast intermodal and trailer trains, and that's what the railroads that ordered them initially used them for. Train QLANY, a hot high value intermodal train that ran from Los Angeles, CA to New York, NY via the Santa Fe and Conrail, was often pulled by sets of 8-40B's on both railroads. Eventually, high horsepower 6 axle units began to overtake the 4 axles in premium service, and the high horsepower 4 axle 8-40B fell out of favor. They eventually settled into the general freight pool, and now in modern times work in local service since they're smaller than most engines. These engines are not ideal for the constant switching and sometimes questionable track of local service, since they load very slowly and are very heavy. That being said, the vast majority of the 8-40B fleet, now with BNSF, CSX and UP, work today in local freight service.

The 8-40BW (or B40-8W) was an 8-40B equipped with GE's version of the North American safety cab. The locomotive (83 were built) was built exclusively for Santa Fe around the same time EMD built that railroad it's GP60M's. These engines were delivered in red and silver warbonnet paint and were part of Santa Fe's "Superfleet". Initially used in high speed intermodal service, the ride offered by a wide cab 4 axle unit soon proved to be terrible. The cab put too much weight on the front of the engine, causing the front truck to ride extremely rough. Though still in use on BNSF today (mostly in local service) some have recently been sold to shortlines.

Roster of 8-40B(W)'s

Railroad Quantity Road Numbers Notes Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe 40 7410-7449 To BNSF Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe 83 500-582 8-40BW's, to BNSF, some now sold Conrail 30 5060-5089 To CSX and NS, NS's later sold to CSX Dept. of Energy 1 107 Savannah River Site General Electric (GECX) 1 8002 Demonstrator General Electric (GECX) 1 809 8-40BW Demonstrator New York, Susquehanna & Western 24 4000-4048 Even numbers only, to CSX St. Lous Southwestern (Cotton Belt) 45 8040-8094 To UP

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