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EMD SD80MAC Demonstrator

(Requires Halton's EMD SD80MAC).

In 1995 - before ConRail took on the SD80MAC locomotives - two demonstrator SD80s were built by General Motors’ Electro-Motive Division. ConRail was so impressed with demonstrators 8000 and 8001 that they purchased them outright, along with 28 production SD80s.

The production engines were started by EMD and finished at the famous Juniata Shops, with all 30 engines entering service in early 1997. Originally ConRail planned to order 108 SD80MACs, but the class never advanced beyond 30 engines due to CSX and Norfolk Southern’s takeover. The last SD80MAC to be built was ConRail 4127, which later became NS 7215.

As for Demonstrator 8000, she became ConRail 4128 upon entering service. When ConRail was split-up, the engine was taken in by CSX and renumbered to 812 (and later 4602). There were 13 SD80MACs inherited by CSX, eventually numbered from 4590 to 4602.

Unfortunately CSX 4594 was written off and scrapped in 2014, having never been repaired following a derailment in 2009. This left only 12 SD80MACs on CSX’s roster by 2014, during which year Norfolk Southern acquired them in exchange for 12 SD40-2s. The ex-CSX SD80s arrived on NS territory in April 2015, leaving NS as the sole operator of the SD80MAC design.

By February 2020, the 29 remaining SD80MACs had been deemed surplus to requirements by Norfolk Southern, who sold them to either Canadian Pacific or Progress Rail. Six of the CP engines were used as sources of spare parts for the SD70ACU locomotives, which are rebuilt SD9043MACs.

As for the former EMDX 8000 (then CSX 4602 and now NS 7228), she was one of the engines sold to Progress Rail. According to an SD80MAC website (https://sd80mac.com/), the engine left Altoona, Pennsylvania for Progress Rail on June 28th, 2020.