Thank you to BurlingtonNorthern11, et al for the release of the SP AC4400 pack. I thought that I would share a little "back story" history about these locomotives. In 1989, the Southern Pacific was effectively acquired by billionaire oil man Philip Anschutz's Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad. The Southern Pacific name was adopted as the name of the "merged" railroads because it was the better known of the two railroads, but the "new" SP was essentially managed by a lot of the former Rio Grande's management. At the time, the Rio Grande was in better financial and physical shape than was the SP. For its part, though, the SP was rich in real estate holdings, as well as extensive right-of-way length--the latter of special interest to Anschutz because of its desirability for lease for fiber optic cable use.
The merged companies faced an immediate crisis. While the Rio Grande's locomotives were often filthy (the running joke--pretty true--was that the Rio Grande painted their locomotives black so they didn't have to wash them), they were generally in very good mechanical condition. The SP locomotives, by contrast, were often mechanical wrecks. They were in such bad condition at the time of the merger that the old head D&RGW power desks would often assign an additional locomotive to trains if the train had mostly SP power because it seemed that at least one SP locomotive would almost always fail out on the line. While the SP had a mix of EMD and GE power, the old D&RGW was all-EMD at the time of the merger. The merged railroads had a dire need for new power, especially to tackle the steep mountain grades on both railroads. The SP chose the GE AC4400. The old head D&RGW enginemen had a love affair with the SD-40T-2 Rio Grande tunnel motors, but the AC4400 quickly became their new favorite. The AC4400 was insanely good for "mountain service." As such, the AC4400's became the "workhorse" locomotive of the SP fleet on mountain grades, especially in Colorado and Utah.
Which brings us to these locomotives. I lived in "Rio Grande country" during that time, and the "bloody nose" SP4400's were ubiquitous on almost every heavy train. These newly released AC4400 models are excellent renderings of these locomotives as they were delivered to the SP. That said, because the prototypical locomotives had to carry the lion's share of heavy train duties on the SP up until the SP/UP merger, they didn't look like these "clean" models for very long or very often. Far more often, they were deeply covered in soot and grime from the many tunnels on both the SP and old D&RGW. Like many of the Rio Grande locomotives, the SP AC4400's were often so dirty and filthy that a train crew would often take rags or cotton waste to rub the grime off of the cab numbers so that they would be readable--often when the locomotives were still near new. What contributed to the grime was that, for at least a couple of years, GE did not have the calibration of the fuel injection quite right, so the AC4400's were highly prone to suffer turbo lag, spewing tons of black smoke and even flaming at the stack when throttled up even a bit too quickly. That is one reason that the GE's got the nickname of a "toaster"--if they flamed at the stack in a tunnel, it would often scorch the paint on the top and down the sides of the hood. I personally watched SP AC4400's throw a flame over four feet high out of the stack when throttling up during those years. My point is that is would be fun to see some of these fine new AC4400's get some good soot and "toaster" weathering. That is usually what they looked like during most of their lives in SP livery. At any rate, thanks to the creators for these fine models. Attached is a photo of some AC4400 "swing helpers" throttling up to pull the rear half of a loaded coal train to couple up to the front half of the train. Minturn, Colorado on the Tennessee Pass line, 1996. 96ae(7).jpg
The merged companies faced an immediate crisis. While the Rio Grande's locomotives were often filthy (the running joke--pretty true--was that the Rio Grande painted their locomotives black so they didn't have to wash them), they were generally in very good mechanical condition. The SP locomotives, by contrast, were often mechanical wrecks. They were in such bad condition at the time of the merger that the old head D&RGW power desks would often assign an additional locomotive to trains if the train had mostly SP power because it seemed that at least one SP locomotive would almost always fail out on the line. While the SP had a mix of EMD and GE power, the old D&RGW was all-EMD at the time of the merger. The merged railroads had a dire need for new power, especially to tackle the steep mountain grades on both railroads. The SP chose the GE AC4400. The old head D&RGW enginemen had a love affair with the SD-40T-2 Rio Grande tunnel motors, but the AC4400 quickly became their new favorite. The AC4400 was insanely good for "mountain service." As such, the AC4400's became the "workhorse" locomotive of the SP fleet on mountain grades, especially in Colorado and Utah.
Which brings us to these locomotives. I lived in "Rio Grande country" during that time, and the "bloody nose" SP4400's were ubiquitous on almost every heavy train. These newly released AC4400 models are excellent renderings of these locomotives as they were delivered to the SP. That said, because the prototypical locomotives had to carry the lion's share of heavy train duties on the SP up until the SP/UP merger, they didn't look like these "clean" models for very long or very often. Far more often, they were deeply covered in soot and grime from the many tunnels on both the SP and old D&RGW. Like many of the Rio Grande locomotives, the SP AC4400's were often so dirty and filthy that a train crew would often take rags or cotton waste to rub the grime off of the cab numbers so that they would be readable--often when the locomotives were still near new. What contributed to the grime was that, for at least a couple of years, GE did not have the calibration of the fuel injection quite right, so the AC4400's were highly prone to suffer turbo lag, spewing tons of black smoke and even flaming at the stack when throttled up even a bit too quickly. That is one reason that the GE's got the nickname of a "toaster"--if they flamed at the stack in a tunnel, it would often scorch the paint on the top and down the sides of the hood. I personally watched SP AC4400's throw a flame over four feet high out of the stack when throttling up during those years. My point is that is would be fun to see some of these fine new AC4400's get some good soot and "toaster" weathering. That is usually what they looked like during most of their lives in SP livery. At any rate, thanks to the creators for these fine models. Attached is a photo of some AC4400 "swing helpers" throttling up to pull the rear half of a loaded coal train to couple up to the front half of the train. Minturn, Colorado on the Tennessee Pass line, 1996. 96ae(7).jpg
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