Norfolk Southern Retires Its Last SD70ACus

Kato released N scale SD70ACus earlier this year, just in time for Norfolk Southern to retire the last of its prototypes. These seem to have sold out almost immediately, and I didn't get one, but now it doesn't really matter. I discovered this from this Facebook post.

Which brings me to the next issue: there's no longer a reliable way to get this kind of locomotive news. In the 1970s and 1980s, there was Extra 2200 South, but according to AI,

Extra 2200 South, the renowned locomotive news magazine, remains technically in business but has faced significant publication delays as it transitions from a print-focused model to a digital one.

Owner Doug Cummings reported in August 2025 that the magazine is "alive and well" but has been delayed due to the complex process of switching to a digital edition. This involved a lengthy legal battle to separate the publication from its former web host, which was only resolved in mid-2025.

. . . Founded in 1961 by Jerry Pinkepank, the magazine became a vital resource for railfans, specializing in detailed locomotive rosters and news. Much of its original news function has since been superseded by real-time internet forums and sites like Trainorders.com.

The problem with online forums is that they aren't edited, and they're often dominated by young kids or emotionally immature adults, and that includes Trainorders.com. Meanwhile, remaining print venues have the problem that they aren't well indexed and aren't included in online searches. The cost of converting decades of print information to digitally indexed formats is prohibitive, as appears to be the case with Extra 2200 South.

On the other hand, if I'm forced to use AI, I might as well make lemonade out of lemons. I asked Chrome AI mode, "Can you give the history of the SD70ACu locomotive?" It answered,

The SD70ACu is a remanufactured diesel-electric locomotive created by rebuilding older EMD SD90MAC units. The program was designed to modernize the aging SD90MAC fleet by replacing unreliable Siemens electrical components with updated Mitsubishi technology and installing a more crash-resistant cab.

The SD70ACu was born out of a need to extend the life of "SD9043MAC" cores—locomotives originally built in the mid-1990s as a lower-horsepower version of the SD90MAC.

NS launched the first major rebuilding effort in September 2015 at its Juniata Shops in Altoona, Pennsylvania. They acquired 100 second-hand SD90MACs from Union Pacific via Progress Rail and another 10 through a trade with CIT Group.

In 2018, CP followed suit, contracting Progress Rail to rebuild 30 of its own long-dormant SD90MACs. This order was later expanded to 60 units, utilizing CP's remaining stored fleet and additional cores purchased from Union Pacific.

However, this answer didn't mention the SD70ACus NS sold to Progress Rail, which sold them on to Ferromex. I asked about this, and it replied,

Yes, Norfolk Southern (NS) reportedly sold approximately 30 retired SD70ACu locomotives to Ferromex (FXE) in 2024.

The units were not sold directly to Ferromex; instead, they were sold to Progress Rail, which then facilitated the acquisition by Ferromex. These locomotives are undergoing rebuilding at Progress Rail and Ferromex's Guadalajara shops in Mexico for future deployment on the FXE network.

Current Status: Being rebuilt and repainted into Ferromex colors (some units, like FXE-4155, have already been spotted in service).

Here's a photo of FXE 4155 that was recently posted on Facebook by a photographer who goes by Car Knocker Joe. It looks like Kato missed a good prototype.

If we dom't have X2200S, at least we have AI -- but you have to ask AI the right questions. X2200S, especially when the Dover family ran it, had editors who could anticipate the questions people had.

1980s Brass N Scale Diesels

Forty years ago, I was concentrating on N scale. I had a small N layout in an apartment walk-in closet. Eventually I wound up getting a number of painted brass N scale models from Hallmark, W&R and Sunset, and a number of others that I painted myself. Here's a Hallmark (I think) U36C that I painted myself:

As for looks, these locos have aged quite well. One thing I liked about them was that Hallmark in particular was bringing them out in up-to-the-minute paint and detail versions, so that these locos are now something of a memento of what I was railfanning in the mid-1980s. But the photo below shows their current Achilles heel for 21st century modeling:

These locos had open-frame motors, electrical pickup from only one side of each truck, neither incandescent light bulbs nor LEDs, and DCC wasn't even a glimmer in anyone's eye, much less sound.

Here's a factory-painted Hallmark SD45u. The "shouldn't have painted so fast" paint scheme dates it perfectly:

Another SD45u, factory painted in the traditional yellow bonnet:

A UP "fast forty" that I painted myself:

An SP SD45E, factory paint:

A check of Chrome AI mode tells me that these locos are selling for about half of their mid-1980s retail price, and that would be 2026 retail. I'd be lucky to get $100 for any of them if I were selling to a dealer. They'd be too much trouble to try to convert to DCC, although one possibility might be simply to swap out the chassis for a Kato -- but even rhen, the brass body might cause shorts against the Kato split frames.

But they do look great in their display case.

Intermountain N Norfolk Southern SD40-2

I found an Intermountain N Norfolk Southern SD40-2 at a good price:

The paint scheme puts it in the general time frame I'm interested in, since the full white stripe on the frame would have been added to the loco in the late 2000s prior to the 2010 FRA mandate. This would also have been during the time NS ran short hood front. However, the NSDash9 site doesn't list it as a loco that ever received the solid white stripe. NS 3201-3328 were former Southern Railway units that retained their numbers in the 1982 NS merger. However, all of these have since been retired or rebuilt into SD40-3s with low short hoods.

Nor, apparently, did 3224 ever get the "horsehead" scheme. Locos in the 3200 series have since been replaced by AC44C6M rebuilds from 9-44CWs.

The model has truck siderrames with two brake cylinders, which is correct for former Southern Railway units on NS. Original Norfolk and Western SD40-2s had a third brake cylinder above the center journal. However, only 11 N&W SD40-2s had high short hoods, so this Intermountain model is much more typical of NS SD40-2s, at least prior to Conrail.

The model has ESU LokSound 5 DCC and sound. Following my preference, I set acceleration-deceleration CVs 3 and 4 to 0. I also found that I needed to set CV 2, starting voltage, to 20 to get the loco to start rolling on speed step 1. Once I did this, its performance matches other DCC equipped locos from other manufacturers.

Iconic Replicas LA Metro Bus

I recently discovered a new N scale product, an Iconic Replicas Los Angeles Metro NFI Xcelsior XN 40 Bus. As an LA resident, I can testify that these are ubiquitous. In addition, it's one of very few contemporary US N scale vehicle models:

For comparison, here's a Kevin Wong photo of the prototype:

The model lacks typical ad panels that appear on the prototype. Also, there's no route designation. In addition, the prototype wheel centers are dark gray, not silver.

According to Chrome AI Mode, Iconic Replicas also offers the N scale Xcelsior XN 40 in New York MTA livery, as well as two basic generic schemes. It also offers an N scale MCI D4505 Intercity Coach in Greyhound (Newclassic scheme two-tone blue, white, and silver); Greyhound Canada (Shadow trim); FlixBus, and GO Transit.

Two Locos Back From Warranty Repair

Last fall, I had two new locos that had to go back for warranty repair. Over the post month, I got both of them back without problems. The first was a Broadway Limited N CSX AC6000. This showed some signs of life, but it didn't move on either DCC or DC. I contacted BLI support, which told me it needed a hardware reset and then gave me elaborate instructions on how to do this. I replied that for that kind of money, I want to get this done under warranty service, and they gave me an RA, I sent it in, I waited maybe 12 weeks, and it came back and ran fine.

Then I got a Kato CSX AC4400CW with factory installed DCC. The decoder ran OK for maybe 30 seconds out of the box, but then would either switch to creeping or switch to maximum speed without control input, and to stop it, I needed to disconnect track power. I checked the Kato web site, and it said no need to get an RA, if it's within the warranty period, just send it in with a note sayng what's wrong, the receipt, and return address. The web site also notes that new or not, Kato will not honor the warranty on anything purchased from eBay. I sent this in and got it back with a new decoder within maybe 10 weeks.

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Fleshing Out The Rockwork On The Small N Layout

I finished building out the rockwork inside the curve at one end of the small 27" by 48" N layout, building up a scenery base behind it with more Woodland Scenics white foam.

I like the way it provides a scenic divide while putting the relative size of the track and trains in perspective. The scenic base of the hill will taper farther in toward the center of the layout.

Broadway Limited Class D Shay

Two weeks ago, I posted on research I did on Class D Shays. The upcoming Broadway Limited Class D was a model I always wanted to get, and I did the research to help me decide which road name I most wanted. I wound up focusng on El Paso Rock Island Route 105:

Here's a picture of the prototype:

As I noted in my previous post, this loco was built to operate on the Alsmogordo & Sacramento Valley branch of the El Paso & Northeastern, where it carried ties for construction of the El Paso-Tucumcari main line. It lasted in this service about three years before it was sold to a Mexican operator.

Broadway Limited appears to have followed Pacific Fast Mail's 1960s philosophy, which was to issue a "generic" model of any particular prototype with features that don't match any one individual locomotive. Thus every BLI model has acetylene style headlights, but also an electric generator. The prototypes were built over a relatively short time period before electric headlights were in general use, and photos suggest that at least some never had electric headlights. Nevertheless, the sound features include an electric generator whine to power the acetylene headlight.

However, in many cases, there are so few prototype photos of these locomotives that it's very difficult to determine exactly what features individual locos had at particular times, and for several prototypes, there's no information on exactly where and in what service they operated.

I chose the El Paso Rock Island Route prototype, even though the model features least resemble the actual loco in the prototype photo, because it matches the southwest area of some of my layout scenery, and because I have some ties to New Mexico. As a Boy Scout, I went to the Philmont Scout Ranch, and in later years I traveled through several times, as well as working for a client in Albuquerque, so the loco is a souvenir as much as anything.

I'm still figuring out the best way to tweak the sound to get the best results. I've ridden behind Shays on the Roaring Camp & Big Trees and the Georgetown Leep Railroad, and while the sound has the correct triplet cadence of a three-cylinder loco, I think the chuff rate is too slow, and the bark of the exhaust isn't as muffled as on the prototype. I'm going to turn the volume down.