It is Now scrapped. It was scrapped during the great Helm purge in the late 2000s during the recession. I photographed it in the deadline at Proviso in 1995 and at least twice as HLCX 6600. Helm repowered it with 16-645F3B 3500hp prime mover (same as EMD 50 series)
Great story and video! I know a retired CNW mechanic that worked at Oelwein during that time. I'll have to ask him about it. I'm a big CNW fan, my Dad and 2 uncles worked for them. I own property by the old CNW double main through Montour, Ia. I catch a fair amount of CNW rolling stock still!
The sd 45 on average weighed in at 400,900 lbs! These locomotives were some of the most heaviest diesels built. And this cat engine was a very troublesome engine ever put in a locomotive. They also had a reputation for being unreliable, and hard to start in cold weather.
The Pennsylvania Railroad locomotives were uniformly painted in a color commonly called Brunswick Green but known to the railroad as Dark Green Locomotive Enamel (DGLE, or DGLC for -Color.) This was an effectively black paint that contained a high proportion of copper oxides. These gave it a very slight greenish tinge that became more pronounced over time and with wear as the paint further oxidised. DGLE is often described as being indistinguishable from black when fresh unless next to a pure black paint (as used on the underframes of PRR locomotives beneath the running boards).
I remember like it was yesterday,When my old man got the issue in TRAINS Magazine and they had the article in there about this Cat-45!!I must have read it 100X over! 😆 We always wondered what they sounded like all those yrs ago.I joked to my Father,they probably SOUND like a giant tractor engine!And I finally,After all this time heard it on your vid 1st!I wish my Father was still alive,He'd have love to hear that locomotive AND He would definitely love and appreciate your creativity and passion you put into your video kind Sir!🙏🤜🤛He loved trains AND model trains with a passion X10,000!As do I.We still have tons of his model trains etc.I go out and make video's and take pics of trains here&there also,like me& him used to do together ❤🔥Nothing compares to the sheer utter,power of seeing and FEELING that "Thunder" rolling by!Stay creative young man and keep up the awesome work!We love your channel an just subbed to you as well!RIP Dad,we all miss you dearly!
Well done - great history on a unique unit. I captured it on film (in the lead) in Des Moines in April 1986 but did not know until later its claim to fame. Wish I had known at the time, would have made a point of paying more attention to the sound of it ...
Here in Brazil we had the same situation happen, by 1987 the EFVM was recieving it's first models of the GE BB40-8M (a metric gauge variant of the C40-8) with 4000HP so the railroad decided to try and get it's EMD DDM45 (think of a SD45 on top of the D-D trucks of the DDA40X but on metric gauge) to work 1 to 1 with them and like the CNW tried the CAT 3612 V12 engine on two units (815 and 851), unsatisfied they decided to go with GM-EMD themselves, so they disassembled 6 DDMs and sent their cabs, electrical cabinets and prime movers to La Grange, these 6 units had their prime movers rebuilt, still as 20-645E3, and were microprocessed being renumbered to 1827, 1828, 1830, 1843, 1847 and 1855 (the no.1 was added to the original number of the unit) an being redesignated DDM45-MP, although the DDM45-MPs could deliver up to 3800HP for tracktion with their new microprocessed controls the conversion was not seen as cost effective due to fact the price was almost the same as buying a brand new GE BB40-9WM. As for the CAT units they kept their CAT engines until 1995 when they recieved their 645E3s back but before that they were used in several experiments most notably using paraffin oil and bunker C heavy fuel oil (same stuff ships use as fuel).
@@trainandtruckmodeler786 Oh nice. I'm more of a RFFSA and FEPASA fan with a bit of CVRD sprinkled in the middle. Surprising to see someone from a foreign nation who had interest to model our railroads.
@@fernandomarques5166 my cousin was a driver for ALL....my grandma was from Curitiba. She moved to the USA when my grandpa was down there from the military back in the 1930s...I still have family but very few left in Brasil...my dad used to have friends at RFFSA ...when I was a kid I got to ride for a day on the GT22 .
I live a short distance from the Twin Cities and Western Railway in Minnesota and I remember their use of the Caterpillar Generation II locomotives, an experiment that was thankfully short-lived. Every railroad headed west out of Minneapolis must deal with the topographical reality that the city sits in a bowl and trains will have a short but nasty climb to get out of it. TC&W’s wicked hill climb is on the ex-Milwaukee Road CP track right at the western edge of Minneapolis. Listening to those lame Cats struggling uphill, I often remarked to my wife how the things don’t even sound like locomotives-just angry bulldozers. It was about a year later that EMD products began showing up and while the struggle on the hill continues, at least it’s conducted in a familiar chord and pitch. Every once in a while, an empty Union Pacific unit grain train will appear but for the GEVOs, the hill isn’t even a light workout.
Oelwein is pronounced Oh-Wine. Their former CGW shops played a vital role in rebuilding older units and damaged ones as well. Always cool to see pictures of when they had hundreds of locomotives stored there too
A very informative video. As it's said in the trucking industry "Yellow paint comes at a high price." But if they weren't so heavy, we'd have seen a lot more road switchers with 3512s and 3516s. Don't know how long they're going to keep the C175 gimmick going. As EMD 1201 vanished without a trace.
CAT makes a unbeatable motor for locomotives....well heck they own end now.....I don't remember this locomotive having as many problems as this video states. I do remember one of my dad's friends was using and the crank shaft failed but other than that it was spotted by me in 1994...I didn't see it after that. My dad had this engine on the point and I rode in it as well....I don't think it vibrated any more than a 6800 or 6900 SD40-2....
And then they didn’t really change. The new tier 4 CAT Progress Rail locomotives are some of the most problematic modern locomotives made. A lot of it is due to software parameters being too tight and setting a lot of faults in the computers.
@@ZombieSlayer-dj3wb It's not those engines being 4-stroke that's the problem. They were rushed (to say the least) because Tier 4 emissions requirements from the EPA couldn't be realistically met with the 710.
AT&SF HAD A SIMILAR ENGINE SWAP USING THE SD 45-2 RN# 5855! MY BROTHER AND MYSELF WORKING AT ARGENTINE SHOPS GOT TO PERFORM SOME EMERGENCY ENGINE WORK ON IT CAUSED BY A MECHANIC MISTAKE AT CORWITH SHOP IN CHICAGO! THE HIGH WEIGHT OF THE CNW UNIT WAS DUE TO BEING HEAVILY BALLASTED A THE TIME OF ORIGINAL CONSTRUCTION! THE 5855 CAT WAS DERATED FROM 5000 POSSIBLE HP TO 4300 HP TO ACCOMMODATE THE EMD TRACTION ALTERNATOR AND TRACTION MOTORS THIS WAS ALSO TOO MUCH AND THE ENGINE WAS AGAIN DERATED TO 3900 HP! AT THIS SETTING IT WAS AN AWESOME PERFORMER, MAKING A 645-20 LOOK LIKE A BOAT ANCHOR! AT THIS TIME A 645-20 MADE 3600 HP WHILE BURNING 180 GALLONS OF FUEL AN HOUR! WHILE I NEVER HEARD EXACT FIGURES THE CAT WAS QUITE GOOD ON FUEL MILEAGE! IF I HAD A SAY IN THE MATTER I WOULD HAVE INSTALLED THE GENERAL ELECTRIC TRACTION ALTERNATOR AND THE 752-AF TRACTION MOTORS AND RAN THE ENGINE AT 5000 HORSEPOWER. THE EXPERIMENT WENT WELL, BUT NOT REPEATED DUE TO THE PERFECTION OF THE DASH-8 GENERAL ELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVES! STARTING WITH THE 7400 , 500, 800 AND 900 CLASS UNITS SANTA FE BECAME A PRIME BUYER OF GE POWER! THESE ENGINES WERE ALSO LEASED ON THE HORSEPOWER BY THE HOUR ALONG WITH GENERAL ELECTRIC SUPERVISED MAINTENANCE! IN ALL OF THIS , I CONCEIVED A MINOR REDESIGN OF AN INTERNAL ENGINE PART WHICH CATTERPILLAR USED TO MAKE THE 3600 SERIES ENGINES EASIER TO MAINTAIN WHEN BEING USED AS LOCOMOTIVE POWER. KEEP THEM ROLLING BROTHERS!! 👍👍
Odd question I lived by railroad track while growing up, hence now why a collector. But anyways, there was a cnw coal train eastbound in Wisconsin in late 80’s early 90’s that hit a pulp truck and derailed. Didn’t know how much cnw history you knew. But looking for pictures etc
Hmm, never heard of such an incident and sadly not sure how much info I can give on it, I have no clue if there are any images of this incident but I will certainly take a look
Great video! Thank you for sharing your knowledge. Where is the locomotive now? I know you said the holding company has it, but where geographically is it?
Enjoyable video. But please use editing and a script going forward so you don’t sound like you’re stumbling over yourself at times. Makes you sound a bit better :)
It is Now scrapped. It was scrapped during the great Helm purge in the late 2000s during the recession. I photographed it in the deadline at Proviso in 1995 and at least twice as HLCX 6600. Helm repowered it with 16-645F3B 3500hp prime mover (same as EMD 50 series)
Thank you for update, sad to hear that she is gone.
Great story and video! I know a retired CNW mechanic that worked at Oelwein during that time. I'll have to ask him about it. I'm a big CNW fan, my Dad and 2 uncles worked for them. I own property by the old CNW double main through Montour, Ia. I catch a fair amount of CNW rolling stock still!
The picture of 6000 with another unit and 2 GP38-2's was taken by me in Marshalltown, IA. The curving track is the former CGW mainline.
The sd 45 on average weighed in at 400,900 lbs! These locomotives were some of the most heaviest diesels built. And this cat engine was a very troublesome engine ever put in a locomotive. They also had a reputation for being unreliable, and hard to start in cold weather.
The Pennsylvania Railroad locomotives were uniformly painted in a color commonly called Brunswick Green but known to the railroad as Dark Green Locomotive Enamel (DGLE, or DGLC for -Color.) This was an effectively black paint that contained a high proportion of copper oxides. These gave it a very slight greenish tinge that became more pronounced over time and with wear as the paint further oxidised. DGLE is often described as being indistinguishable from black when fresh unless next to a pure black paint (as used on the underframes of PRR locomotives beneath the running boards).
Thanks for the correction on the paint color, I must admit I didn't do that much research when it came to that part
That color has been described as a gallon of black with a drop of green in it.
I remember like it was yesterday,When my old man got the issue in TRAINS Magazine and they had the article in there about this Cat-45!!I must have read it 100X over! 😆 We always wondered what they sounded like all those yrs ago.I joked to my Father,they probably SOUND like a giant tractor engine!And I finally,After all this time heard it on your vid 1st!I wish my Father was still alive,He'd have love to hear that locomotive AND He would definitely love and appreciate your creativity and passion you put into your video kind Sir!🙏🤜🤛He loved trains AND model trains with a passion X10,000!As do I.We still have tons of his model trains etc.I go out and make video's and take pics of trains here&there also,like me& him used to do together ❤🔥Nothing compares to the sheer utter,power of seeing and FEELING that "Thunder" rolling by!Stay creative young man and keep up the awesome work!We love your channel an just subbed to you as well!RIP Dad,we all miss you dearly!
Well done - great history on a unique unit. I captured it on film (in the lead) in Des Moines in April 1986 but did not know until later its claim to fame. Wish I had known at the time, would have made a point of paying more attention to the sound of it ...
Here in Brazil we had the same situation happen, by 1987 the EFVM was recieving it's first models of the GE BB40-8M (a metric gauge variant of the C40-8) with 4000HP so the railroad decided to try and get it's EMD DDM45 (think of a SD45 on top of the D-D trucks of the DDA40X but on metric gauge) to work 1 to 1 with them and like the CNW tried the CAT 3612 V12 engine on two units (815 and 851), unsatisfied they decided to go with GM-EMD themselves, so they disassembled 6 DDMs and sent their cabs, electrical cabinets and prime movers to La Grange, these 6 units had their prime movers rebuilt, still as 20-645E3, and were microprocessed being renumbered to 1827, 1828, 1830, 1843, 1847 and 1855 (the no.1 was added to the original number of the unit) an being redesignated DDM45-MP, although the DDM45-MPs could deliver up to 3800HP for tracktion with their new microprocessed controls the conversion was not seen as cost effective due to fact the price was almost the same as buying a brand new GE BB40-9WM.
As for the CAT units they kept their CAT engines until 1995 when they recieved their 645E3s back but before that they were used in several experiments most notably using paraffin oil and bunker C heavy fuel oil (same stuff ships use as fuel).
Last one I saw was a VL!.....I miss those when I visit.
@@trainandtruckmodeler786 Yeah VL! has scrapped theirs and Vale's are in long term storage and tarped over in Nova Era
@@fernandomarques5166 I have all my decalques in storage....I was a fan of ALL and MRS. Paint only trains of Brasil and Bolivia.
@@trainandtruckmodeler786 Oh nice. I'm more of a RFFSA and FEPASA fan with a bit of CVRD sprinkled in the middle. Surprising to see someone from a foreign nation who had interest to model our railroads.
@@fernandomarques5166 my cousin was a driver for ALL....my grandma was from Curitiba. She moved to the USA when my grandpa was down there from the military back in the 1930s...I still have family but very few left in Brasil...my dad used to have friends at RFFSA ...when I was a kid I got to ride for a day on the GT22 .
My father loved that locomotive....he said it pulled great!
It honestly sucks how much issues they had with it because Caterpillars made some great engines for Semi Trucks.
Nevertheless, great video!
It sounded like a bulldozer. Not surprising since bulldozers are a key product of Caterpillar.
I live a short distance from the Twin Cities and Western Railway in Minnesota and I remember their use of the Caterpillar Generation II locomotives, an experiment that was thankfully short-lived. Every railroad headed west out of Minneapolis must deal with the topographical reality that the city sits in a bowl and trains will have a short but nasty climb to get out of it. TC&W’s wicked hill climb is on the ex-Milwaukee Road CP track right at the western edge of Minneapolis. Listening to those lame Cats struggling uphill, I often remarked to my wife how the things don’t even sound like locomotives-just angry bulldozers. It was about a year later that EMD products began showing up and while the struggle on the hill continues, at least it’s conducted in a familiar chord and pitch. Every once in a while, an empty Union Pacific unit grain train will appear but for the GEVOs, the hill isn’t even a light workout.
Oelwein is pronounced Oh-Wine. Their former CGW shops played a vital role in rebuilding older units and damaged ones as well. Always cool to see pictures of when they had hundreds of locomotives stored there too
I'm both an EMD and SD45 fan. I really enjoyed this video and learned a lot about the SD45, as well. Thanks for a great video!
A very informative video. As it's said in the trucking industry "Yellow paint comes at a high price." But if they weren't so heavy, we'd have seen a lot more road switchers with 3512s and 3516s. Don't know how long they're going to keep the C175 gimmick going. As EMD 1201 vanished without a trace.
out in Colorado on a test track....as a bumper.
Yes yes more vídeos and that cool music, sounds like van halan
It isn't, it's Jason Becker, with some of it is from Eric Johnson, it's not Van Halen, even though they are probably my favorite band of alltime
If you want to look at CATs in EMDs... Look into the SOO and BN (later TCWR and RRVW) using CAT 3516's in a "GP20c"
CAT makes a unbeatable motor for locomotives....well heck they own end now.....I don't remember this locomotive having as many problems as this video states. I do remember one of my dad's friends was using and the crank shaft failed but other than that it was spotted by me in 1994...I didn't see it after that. My dad had this engine on the point and I rode in it as well....I don't think it vibrated any more than a 6800 or 6900 SD40-2....
BN had a SD40-2cat....when my dad left CNW in 1991 it was in Cicero for months ...
cool vid - and now Caterpillar completely owns EMD, funny how things change
Thanks, funny how the world works like that lol
And then they didn’t really change. The new tier 4 CAT Progress Rail locomotives are some of the most problematic modern locomotives made. A lot of it is due to software parameters being too tight and setting a lot of faults in the computers.
@@ralfie8801 and making them 4 stroke was a stupid thing tom
@@ZombieSlayer-dj3wb It's not those engines being 4-stroke that's the problem. They were rushed (to say the least) because Tier 4 emissions requirements from the EPA couldn't be realistically met with the 710.
@@bakerboat4572 what i mean was 4 strokes only last 30 yrs
Hello CNW i am new to the channel and now a subscriber, and thanks to you for this piece.
I enjoy your videos a lot man. More of this please!
Nice video!
Thank you!
@@cnwproductions my boy has made it when big RUclipsrs are commenting on his videos! You deserve this dude!
@@dylanruppert4547 Thanks bro
The 645-20 does not weigh 4100 pounds. It's around 43.000 pounds.
SD45 are my favorite engines
"Ain't nothing like a Caterpillar Engine." Jack Cruze.
AT&SF HAD A SIMILAR ENGINE SWAP USING THE SD 45-2 RN# 5855!
MY BROTHER AND MYSELF WORKING AT ARGENTINE SHOPS
GOT TO PERFORM SOME EMERGENCY ENGINE WORK ON IT CAUSED BY A MECHANIC MISTAKE AT CORWITH SHOP IN CHICAGO!
THE HIGH WEIGHT OF THE CNW UNIT WAS DUE TO BEING HEAVILY BALLASTED A THE TIME OF ORIGINAL CONSTRUCTION!
THE 5855 CAT WAS DERATED FROM 5000 POSSIBLE HP TO 4300 HP TO ACCOMMODATE THE EMD TRACTION ALTERNATOR AND TRACTION MOTORS
THIS WAS ALSO TOO MUCH AND THE ENGINE WAS AGAIN DERATED
TO 3900 HP!
AT THIS SETTING IT WAS AN AWESOME PERFORMER, MAKING A
645-20 LOOK LIKE A BOAT ANCHOR!
AT THIS TIME A 645-20
MADE 3600 HP WHILE BURNING 180 GALLONS OF FUEL AN HOUR!
WHILE I NEVER HEARD EXACT FIGURES THE CAT WAS QUITE GOOD ON FUEL MILEAGE!
IF I HAD A SAY IN THE MATTER I WOULD HAVE INSTALLED THE GENERAL ELECTRIC TRACTION ALTERNATOR AND THE 752-AF TRACTION MOTORS AND RAN THE ENGINE AT 5000 HORSEPOWER.
THE EXPERIMENT WENT WELL, BUT NOT REPEATED DUE TO THE PERFECTION OF THE DASH-8 GENERAL ELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVES!
STARTING WITH THE 7400 , 500, 800 AND 900
CLASS UNITS SANTA FE
BECAME A PRIME BUYER OF GE POWER!
THESE ENGINES WERE ALSO LEASED ON THE HORSEPOWER BY THE HOUR ALONG WITH GENERAL ELECTRIC
SUPERVISED MAINTENANCE!
IN ALL OF THIS , I CONCEIVED A MINOR
REDESIGN OF AN INTERNAL ENGINE PART WHICH CATTERPILLAR USED TO MAKE THE 3600 SERIES ENGINES EASIER TO MAINTAIN WHEN BEING USED AS LOCOMOTIVE POWER.
KEEP THEM ROLLING BROTHERS!!
👍👍
EMD was going downhill then, but when the dash 9 came out, EMD went into the canyon.and CAT is still performing CPR to them since they bought it.
3:29 what song is that?
Cliffs of Dover by Eric Johnson
great vid!! love eric johnson
im waiting for the CNW Crandall Cab locomotives.
EDIT: fix mispelling.
I could.....
@@cnwproductions :O my bad on the misspelling, i always thought it was Randall lol.
Crandall Cabs
@@0fficialdregs I knew what ya meant lol
@@cnwproductions just wanted to make sure if anyone ask the same thing, they would see it been asked with the proper spelling lol. :D
@@0fficialdregs oh yeah lol
You ever look into the units now operated by the TC&W that are cat repower units? GP20s i think from the BN
No I haven't, I was thinking of looking into the 6330, the CAT Repowered SD40-2 from the BN
My S3L in the video lol.
Odd question
I lived by railroad track while growing up, hence now why a collector. But anyways, there was a cnw coal train eastbound in Wisconsin in late 80’s early 90’s that hit a pulp truck and derailed. Didn’t know how much cnw history you knew. But looking for pictures etc
Hmm, never heard of such an incident and sadly not sure how much info I can give on it, I have no clue if there are any images of this incident but I will certainly take a look
Great video! Thank you for sharing your knowledge. Where is the locomotive now? I know you said the holding company has it, but where geographically is it?
Its scrapped
So? How many "CATs" were there?
In the future wish there was credit for photos and video. And ask For use as well.
I hear Marty Friedman or Jason Becker In the background.
Jason Becker
Enjoyable video.
But please use editing and a script going forward so you don’t sound like you’re stumbling over yourself at times.
Makes you sound a bit better :)
3:54
LESLIE S3L
I never blow crankshafts 🙄
Yeah, I am a bit curious what a blown crankshaft is actually? 😅
@@anthonyklein1608 when parts of the crankshaft destroy or leave the crankcase.
You need a pop filter. And what is this audio leveling?
Did any of these units survive being preserved?
The EMD 645-A3 20 cyl did not weight 4148 lbs it weighed 40,144 lbs.
didn't realize I made that mistake, thanks for catchin that
@@cnwproductions It happens, you sort of recovered it when you gave the correct weight differential between the 645 and the CAT.
Very interesting locomotive rebuild! I feel like anytime CAT engines are installed on a locomotive they always have some sort of issues
Yeah, it was a great concept, just plagued by issues
That doesn't bode well for Progress Rail.
Progress rail is using the old EMD designs as much as possible based on EPA decided emissions requirements.