Hopefully someone has the NS 1628 and 1630 on their radars for future preservation?

Said to be the last of the High Nose SD40-2's on NS property,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mR7Er8nvpqs

I always liked the high nose units best. They are certainly a rare breed nowadays.

Robert

You can also add NS 1629 & NS 1631. They are still alive and kicking in NS's Moorman Bellevue,Ohio yard. I ran both just last week.

There's 10 of them left and even with the onset of PSR and a traffic downturn, they've avoided the storage lines and sale lists so far while numerous standard cab SD40-2's, including some recent cab rebuilds, have been let go. So I don't believe they're particularly endangered.

Since the recab program ended for Norfolk Southern's high hood SD40-2's just short of the finish line some years ago, the only loss from the 1625-1635 group of remaining high hoods was the 1633 back in 2017, which was rebuilt into a RPU6D slug.

I inquired back then with either AltoonaWorks or NSDash9 on why the 1633 was retired and while it's now a few years ago and my memory may be a bit cloudy, I believe the explanation was that it essentially was in the wrong place at the wrong time (i.e., something like it needed expensive mechanical work at the same time NS needed a SD40 frame/running gear donor for the slug program). It didn't sound like the high hood worked against it.

A unit I'm more concerned about is N&W's first SD40. It was earmarked for preservation and Altoona even got it running again, but a lot has changed since then. Hopefully she'll still be heading to a good home one of these days.

Leo,

Thanks for the information.

Good to know a couple are still ticking away.

Robert