CSX 8888 appears to be headed for the scrapper. Seems awfully young. A pity it can't be saved, but I'm sure some of Amtrak's logic toward GG1 4876.

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/r ... ?2,3076295

Just like CSX to not offer it up for preservation groups and museums before sending it off.

No, not the "Crazy Eights"!

Yes, how dare that investor-owned private corporation not give away an asset! How dare they, especially when to our collective knowledge, no qualified preservation organization presented a plan to acquire, preserve and display the locomotive. CSX should have just dropped it off at an interchange track at some railroad museum it connects with! This is an outrage!

I never had a chance to have "crazy 8's" in an engine consist, but I did manage to get in the cab at South Philly one morning when I arrived on a train and had to hold outside of the yard beside it for half and hour or so. Someone had written "'Lil Runaway" in some kind of white substance like typewriter eraser fluid inside the cab. I had heard that it had been one of the first SD40-2's to go through the rebuild program to make them 4000 series "dash 3's", with remanufactured and air conditioned cabs. Guess not.

It was easy to see how a veteran engineer could have set up the situation in Toledo with that unit. It has it's original EMD-style control stand with the selector lever for throttle/dynamic (which requires snapping the lever two or three times to change the controls from power to dynamic), instead of the standard AAR style stand, with separate handles turned in different directions for throttle and dynamic. Older throttles often lose the distinct detents between throttle notches, and since a dynamic brake controller is a notch-less rheostat, an engineer in a panic to avoid a run-through switch could easily miscount how many times he pulled on the selector lever to change the controls from power to dynamic, and not have distinct notches inhibiting the lever to let him know he was still in power. An EMD of that generation going into dynamic revs up the cooling fan for the dynamic grid, and sounds like the prime mover revving up in power, the engineer could easily be fooled into thinking he had successfully made the transition to dynamic and the consist was going to start stopping, having applied the independent fully (which annuls the alerter/penalty brake, thus the unmanned unit had no check on it, and often also annuls the dynamic brake, but if you're in a panic probably not remembering that), so he would then run to get off the front to run ahead and throw the misaligned trailing switch. And it heads off into infamy.

There is a lot of superstition among some railroaders. I have no doubt that the presence of that unit has probably resulted in a certain amount of vandalism and protest among crews, making it a nuisance for management. AC6000 #666 had some of the same problems when I was there. Probably just easier for them to retire and dispose of an older unit that is a reminder of an incident just about everyone directly involved would rather forget, although the dash 3 rebuild option and renumbering would seem to have some attraction, unless there are underlying mechanical issues that make a rebuild uneconomic. Or, they are in-fact going to use components of it in a rebuild and just want to keep it quiet.

Firstly, your sarcasm is not wanted or appreciated. Secondly, why would there already be a group in place looking to acquire an SD40-2? They've been in use since the 70s, and none of the railroads seem ready to stop using them. There's only one in preservation at the moment, and it was given to the IRM by UP. There are conversations on here all the time about what to do about preserving more modern equipment, and yet you ridicule a person because he voiced displeasure at the fact that the one well-known SD40-2 in this country is being scrapped without giving preservation groups and museums the opportunity to try and acquire it. And lastly, I never said "give it away." I said "offer it up." There are many ways a group could acquire this engine besides donation. Don't jump down someone's throat without fully reading and understanding what they said first.

Mark,

I fully understood what you said. Let me reiterate. CSX's job is to make money for its shareholders, not engage in railway preservation. Thus, if any group wants an SD40 or any locomotive, it's that group's job to cultivate relationships, raise money, and possibly educate the unit's owner of its historic value. To CSX, 8888 is just another asset that's no longer of use to them. If you want an SD-40 start approaching potential donors or owners of said unit. Cultivate relationships with those in a decision-making capacity. Put together a plan.

Much like CSX doesn't expect the ELDCPS to haul unit trains of revenue freight and make money, you shouldn't expect CSX or any railroad to engage in preservation. When it happens, it's nice, but shouldn't be expected. Don't expect others to do your work for you.

UP 9950 (ex MoPac SD40-2 with no dynamics) is on display at the railroad museum in Barstow, Sacramento has SP SD45T-2 6819. I think Ogden has a Rio Grande SD40T-2 ...

Regards,
Burlington John

Thank you for your reiteration. I appreciate it

The notion that SD40-2 8888 is being scrapped is presumptuous, at best. Just because someone posted it on the internet or the print media does not mean that it is true.

CSX and other Class 1s have procedures in place for the disposition and disposal of physical property. The fact that this unit has not showed up on such an asset disposal list forwarded by the corporation tends to make me think the original report is foamer fodder. I'm not saying it isn't destined for disposal, only that there has been no official announcement of disposal. If there were, every person registered at CSX to be notified of such an event would have been notified. I have received no such notice, therefore my skepticism.

Additionally, CSX does not scrap locomotives. Assets earmarked for disposal are published first, auctioned off second, and then are either scrapped on-site by the winning bidder, removed by same to another location to be dismantled, returned to service, or restored, which is the case for CSX SD40 4618, purchased by my short line at auction in July 2012, and soon to be transported to MEI for restoration and return to service.

There is also the possibility that 8888 has been chosen for the SD40-3 rebuild program, in which case it would emerge from CSX-Huntington in "How Tomorrow Moves" paint sporting a 4000 series road number.

I sincerely hope this remark was made tongue in cheek.

First, CSX has no obligation to preservationists, not even the B&O Museum. Its obligations are profits to its shareholders, effective service to its customers, and safety and "good neighbor" status to the public.

Second, I have heard of no one who has made a valid, concerted effort to preserve this loco. And why would there be? The best that can be said for 8888's runaway incident is that it spawned a rather dreadful, easily satirized movie that set back railroading's PR efforts perhaps a decade. If anyone would want to preserve that loco, it should be the producers of that movie--and we certainly aren't talking "Titanic" moolah here.

Third, I want to see some rail preservationist or museum that has the nerve, the cojones, the utter audacity or stupidity, to approach CSX to preserve this loco, and to tell them, to their faces, just why. Having been through this, repeatedly over years, with folks that have the notion that PRR GG1 4876 must be stuffed and mounted at the end of Track 16 at Washington Union Terminal, I do believe we could nominate such a mental deficiency for its own category or listing in the new DSM-V.

Frankly, I'm amazed CSX didn't find a way to "dispose" of this loco a decade ago via renumbering, etc., especially after Brother Woodring's excellent accounting of how ancient the control stand is. I fear this loco will replace poor ol' PRR 4876 amongst the pantheon of railfans who insist that a loco involved in bad railroad PR must be saved and perpetuate the memory of a bad day for the railroad......

Since this has sort of drifted into CSX and preservation, it should be noted (or re-noted) that there are several units currently in service on CSX that have been designated for the B&O Museum upon retirement. The ones that I know of are: GM50, the gold-painted GP40-2, so painted to commemorate EMD's 50th anniversary in 1972, current road number (I believe) is 6093; 4777, the last GP40-2 acquired by Chessie for the B&O (probably the most common type of unit on Chessie/B&O, with over 400 GP40/GP40-2's owned by them at their peak, and the most units of that type owned by any railroad [?]) current road number 6341 (and often assigned to local service on the RF&P sub); and SD50 8595, the last locomotive assigned on paper to the B&O (still with the same road number?).

Former GM50, 6093, got the YN3 repaint a year or so ago, and from photos I saw of it since then it had not been re-stenciled to be held for the museum (at one time they all had white rectangular boxes painted under the cab on both sides stenciled Do Not Dismantle, Hold for B&O Museum, and contact information). I emailed the museum about the stencil on GM50, and got a reply back from the director that he would look into it. Given that most GP40's of that era on CSX have either been retired or made into the powered-half of a slug-mate, it's kind of remarkable that it is still in daily service as a solo unit over 40 years after delivery from EMD.

The knee jerk thought of "gotta save it" regarding 8888 is akin to those who just had to keep the last WM-painted unit in WM paint. As a noted railroad historian said about it when I was in earshot, "It's just paint, it doesn't have any other historical significance" (which could also be said of GM50, but that unit does have the EMD corporate anniversary connection).

Because of those preservation efforts, I would tend to cut CSX a little slack when it comes to a nightmare like "Crazy 8's". As was said by someone in management at the time, it was unfortunate that the engine involved in the incident was just out of the paint shop, and had a number that was so easy to remember. As for the movie version of the incident, I'm sure just about every professional railroader on this forum could come up with a full page of errata from the film, starting with: Desktop controllers do not go from dynamic setup to notch 8 by themselves.

The ruckus over the last WM unit, CSX 6573/WM 3798, as I am to understand it, was that the loco had been promised to the B&O Museum intact as a "last WM loco" and an example of a four-axle higher-horsepower EMD. That promise had only been handshake and verbal, however, and the unit, as the story goes, went dead in Queensgate, Cincinnati, where no one had any knowledge of the promise. By the time someone had caught on to the withdrawal and called to "save it," the shop guys already had the prime mover out, half the hood gone, and trucks torn apart for rebuild. No longer an intact loco, they decided it wasn't worth rescuing at that point. However, that was supposedly the very incident that made CSX and the B&O Railroad Museum formalize the previously-informal "shopping/preservation wish list" and identify, with the stencils and whatever else necessary, rolling stock and other assets to be earmarked for at least the consideration of preservation. The stencils and list, as I understood it, was no guarantee of preservation, but at least it stopped overzealous shop guys from plundering for parts or scrapping willy-nilly in the interests of "cleaning up the place" before the bosses showed up from J-Ville. But it also resulted in a glut of freight cars showing up on the storage tracks at Mt. Clare outside the B&O Museum...... some of which have since been scrapped.

There may be some problem with the story, however, because as of a month or so ago, that rebuilt "WM 3798" is still in service--on the Indiana Southern as their 4041........

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=3384046

It was reported by TRAINS Magazine.

I didn't link it directly because I recently took a stance against people linking to paysites.

The B&O museum supposedly has 5 locomotives that are to head there upon retirement. The aforementioned GP40-2s and SD50, plus another GP40-2, B&O 1977, also known as the 150th anniversary locomotive for the B&O. the final one is B&O 7600,(CSXT 8242) the first SD40-2 for the B&O.

The CSXT 8242 has no photos online of it since 2011(!). It is still on roster however, but I can confirm it does not have the "Do Not Dismantle" sticker on it. I assume when all the units were put into YN3 the shops painted over the stickers, or removed them.

Crazy Eights has no reason to be preserved when you already have 5 units CSX is to donate upon retirement. It was, like others have said, a major blemish on CSX, and unfortunately remembered for this incident. Crazy Eights will be scrapped, but there still hundreds of pure SD40-2s on all 7 class one railroads in the USA. Could 8888 be saved? yes, but it is just like the GG1 at the B&O museum, an unfortunate reminder of a major incident that was very bad PR-wise for the railroad.