The EMD SD60 is a , six-axle

diesel-electric locomotive A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is conveyed to the driving whee ...

built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division, intended for heavy-duty drag freight or medium-speed freight service. It was introduced in 1984, and production ran until 1995.

History and development

The SD60 is essentially identical to the SD50 externally, but has a different prime mover, the new 16-cylinder EMD 710G3A, and a computer-controlled electrical system. Chicago & North Western's railroad manual estimated that the SD60 is 3% more fuel efficient than SD50, while a pair of SD60s was up to 16% more efficient than three SD40s pulling a standard coal train.

Norfolk Southern The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad in the United States formed in 1982 with the merger of Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. With headquarters in Atlanta, the company operates 19,420 route miles (31, ...

has been modernizing their old SD60s since 2010 into SD60Es, a model specific to NS.

Models

Several variants of the SD60 were built, including:

SD60

This was the original model, and had a conventional

hood unit A hood unit, in North American railroad terminology, is a body style for diesel and electric locomotives where the body is less than full-width for most of its length and walkways are on the outside. In contrast, a cab unit has a full-width ...

configuration with the ''40 Series'' (spartan) cab first employed on the SD40-2.

SD60F

The SD60F was ordered and was operated by

Canadian National The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN ...

and has a full-width cowl body and crashworthy "safety cab" with a four-piece windshield. CN retired the SD60F in 2017, however a handful were sold off and are still working on a shortline in North Dakota . 14 units are currently on the

Aberdeen, Carolina & Western Railway The Aberdeen, Carolina and Western Railway is a short-line railroad running from Aberdeen to Star, North Carolina. It was incorporated in 1987 and operates on a former Norfolk Southern Railway branch line. It also leases track from Norfolk South ...

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia a ...

SD60I

The SD60I model has a full-width short hood and features the so-called "WhisperCab" that was insulated from sound and vibration using a system of rubber gaskets. The same cab was later used on EMD's SD70I, SD75I, SD80MAC and SD90MAC locomotives. Only Conrail ordered this model, and after 1999 all were split between the

and CSX. All SD60i locomotives have either have been scrapped, sold to new owners or retired.

SD60M

The SD60M features a "North American safety cab" design and has a full-width

short hood Short may refer to: Places * Short (crater), a lunar impact crater on the near side of the Moon * Short, Mississippi, an unincorporated community * Short, Oklahoma, a census-designated place People * Short (surname) * List of people known as t ...

. Early models until 1990 featured a three-piece windshield with vertical windows (nicknamed "triclops"), identical to the windshields found on EMD's SD40-2F and

F59PH The EMD F59PH is a four-axle B-B diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division from 1988 to 1994. A variant, the F59PHI, was produced from 1994 to 2001. The F59PH was originally built for GO Transit commuter opera ...

models. Later production from 1991 used two windshield panes that were sloped back, and had a somewhat shorter nose tapered on the sides. Purchasers of this model included Conrail,

Union Pacific The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pac ...

, Burlington Northern and the

Soo Line Railroad The Soo Line Railroad is the primary United States railroad subsidiary of the Canadian Pacific Railway , one of seven U.S. Class I railroads, controlled through the Soo Line Corporation. Although it is named for the Minneapolis, St. Paul and S ...

. Conrail orders were split between the Norfolk Southern and CSX back in 1999. All Norfolk Southern and CSX SD60M locomotives have either been scrapped, sold to new owners, or retired.

SD60MAC

The SD60MAC is similar to the SD60M but is equipped with

alternating current Alternating current (AC) is an electric current which periodically reverses direction and changes its magnitude continuously with time in contrast to direct current (DC) which flows only in one direction. Alternating current is the form in which ...

traction motors. Although four demonstrator SD60MAC units tested on the Burlington Northern proved the viability of EMD's AC traction system, all subsequent orders were for the SD70MAC locomotive. Sooline2-1

GMD SD60F, CN 5536

SD60E

The SD60E is a custom rebuild of standard cab SD60 for Norfolk Southern created at the Juniata Shops with the prototype being delivered in 2010 and the majority of the production taking place between 2013 and 2017. The SD60E utilizes a new NS-designed wide nose cab with increased crash protection, new electronics and up-rating the engine to the 4000 hp 710G3B standard. Norfolk Southern bought additional SD60s from Helm Leasing specifically for the SD60E program with the aim to eventually rebuild 240 SD60s, however the project was terminated after 135 had been completed and Norfolk Southern's remaining inventory of unrebuilt SD60, SD60M and SD60I locomotives were subsequently sold or scrapped in 2019. In May 2021, Norfolk Southern regeared SD60E numbers 7034 and 7035 to go 79mph and assigned the locomotives to the railroad's Office Car Special train.

Current and original owners

References

* *
The Diesel Shop Locomotive Rosters
* Memória do Trem

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External links

{{CN Cowls, state=collapsed SD60 SD60 C-C locomotives Diesel-electric locomotives of the United States Freight locomotives Standard gauge locomotives of the United States Standard gauge locomotives of Canada Diesel-electric locomotives of Canada