The AC6000CW is a diesel electric locomotive built between 1995 and 2001 by

GE Transportation GE Transportation is a division of Wabtec. It was known as GE Rail and owned by General Electric until sold to Wabtec on February 25, 2019. The organization manufactures equipment for the railroad, marine, mining, drilling and energy generatio ...

. It is among the world's most powerful single-engined diesel locomotives. The locomotive was designed for extremely high horsepower needs, such as pulling heavy coal and ore trains. Most examples were purchased by two railroads:

Union Pacific The Union Pacific Railroad is a Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United States after BNSF, ...

and

CSX CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Railroad classes, Class I freight railroad company operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Operating about 21,000 route miles () of trac ...

Design and production

The AC6000CW was designed at the height of a horsepower race between the two major locomotive manufacturers,

Electro-Motive Division Electro-Motive Diesel (abbreviated EMD) is a brand of diesel-electric locomotives, locomotive products and diesel engines for the rail industry. Formerly a division of General Motors, EMD has been owned by Progress Rail since 2010. Electro-Motiv ...

La Grange, Illinois La Grange ( ; often spelled LaGrange) is a village (United States)#Illinois, village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. It is a suburb of Chicago. The population was 16,321 at the 2020 census. History The area around La Grange was first s ...

with the SD90MAC, and

Erie, Pennsylvania Erie is a city on the south shore of Lake Erie and the county seat of Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, fifth-most populous city in Pennsylvania and the most populous in Northwestern Pen ...

with the AC6000CW, in the early to mid 1990s. The goal was . GE worked with Deutz-MWM of Germany in 1994 to design and construct the 7HDL engine for the locomotives. The first locomotive with a 7HDL was the "Green Machine" GE 6000, nicknamed for its green paint scheme. The first production models were also built in 1995:

CSX Transportation CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad company operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Operating about 21,000 route miles () of track, it is the lead ...

600-602, and

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad is a Railroad classes, Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United Stat ...

7000-7009. All these locomotives were released to their respective owners in late 1996, once GE's testing was complete. GE built 106 AC6000CWs for Union Pacific, but with the older, proven 7FDL engine installed, rated for . These units were originally intended to be converted to the 7HDL engine after some problems with the 7HDL were solved, but the conversion never occurred. GE calls these units AC6000CW "Convertibles", while UP classifies them as C6044ACs or AC4460CWs. The AC6000CW ended production in 2001. Union Pacific designates their units as C60AC, CSX as CW60AC and CW60AH.

Service history

The initial locomotives suffered from various mechanical problems with the most severe being the engine itself. There were major vibration problems which were addressed by increasing the engine mass to lower the resonant frequency. This in turn caused problems with the twin

turbocharger In an internal combustion engine, a turbocharger (also known as a turbo or a turbosupercharger) is a forced induction device that is powered by the flow of exhaust gases. It uses this energy to compress the intake air, forcing more air into th ...

s. These problems caused GE to push back full production of the new model until 1998. Changes such as stiffer materials and increased engine wall thickness (to increase mass) were in place at full production. CSX Transportation had re-powered many of their AC6000CW units from 16-7HDL engines to GEVO-16 to make them more reliable and environmentally friendly. These units were capable of but had been rated at and classified as CW46AHs. Union Pacific also had their 16-7HDL AC6000's repowered with FDL-16's, creating an entire fleet of 4,400-hp AC6000CWs. Beginning in 2018, Union Pacific had begun sending its AC6000CWs to GE for rebuilding. The rebuilt units are classified as C44ACMs. By 2023, all of the units have been rebuilt. By 2024, CSX had scrapped or sold off all of their AC6000 except for three of their pre-production AC6000CWs that were repowered with FDL16 engines. The rest were either sold off to leasing company Progress Rail Services (PRLX), the Western New York and Pennsylvania Railroad (WNYP), Wabtec, or scrapped.

World record

On June 21, 2001, all eight of the

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

n mining company BHP Billiton's Mount Newman railway AC6000s worked together to set the world record for the heaviest and longest train. They hauled and 682 wagons for between Yandi mine and

Port Hedland A port is a maritime law, maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge Affreightment, cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inla ...

. The train was long and carried of iron ore. The record still stands . These are the only AC6000CWs that were exported outside of the United States. They are the most powerful locomotives to have operated in Australia.

Operators

Preservation

GECX #6002 (ex-

#7511) was donated by GE to the Lake Shore Railway Museum in North East, Pennsylvania in 2022. It is the first modern AC traction locomotive to enter preservation. The Aberdeen Carolina and Western Railway has created their "Engine Room 87" out of the scrapped husk of former PRLX 656/CSX 666 for the US Open special train.

Notes

References

{{UP Giants BHP Billiton diesel locomotives C-C locomotives Diesel–electric locomotives of the United States Diesel locomotives of Western Australia AC6000CW Freight locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1995 Standard-gauge locomotives of the United States Standard-gauge locomotives of Australia Diesel–electric locomotives of Australia Union Pacific Railroad locomotives