by Sean Graham-White/photos by the author except as noted
The year 2024 saw incremental growth for Wabtec; Progress Rail seems to have hit a stride of around 120 locomotives a year; and Siemens continues to maintain its position as the dominant passenger locomotive provider. Domestic new locomotive production still suffered from the implementation of Precision Scheduled Railroading (or PSR) and a desire to avoid Tier 4. Wabtec continued to control the modernization category, while Progress dominated in exports.
Progress Rail
Progress was able to maintain a consistent workflow at its three facili-ties: Muncie, Ind.; Patterson, Ga.; and Mayfield, Ky. Muncie 2024 output benefited from its production of essentially three locomotive types. An interesting development for their demonstrator fleet was the conversion of EMDX 1605 to a hybrid — with the ability to produce power from either batteries or a diesel prime mover — giving one more technology option for greener locomotives.
Muncie exported orders to Africa, Asia, and Australia. Customers Down Under can’t get enough of the GT46 product line, which made up more than half of their new locomotive production. Mayfield continued prepping Canadian National SD75 modernizations for completion at Muncie and almost completed an Amtrak order. Patterson continued Metra and West Coast Express orders, and will stay busy as Metra took up two options for more SD70MACHs.
ABOVE: SD70ACe/LWs sit on the dock at Morehead City, N.C., on June 15, 2024, waiting for the ship to take them to Mongolia’s Tavantolgoi-Gashuunsukhait Railway. —Cooper Dwiggins photo
CSX received more SD70MACe kits as they continued modernizing their fleet at Huntington, W.Va., with 120 units completed through 2024, with an expectation of 72 more to go. Progress had Metro-East Industries build two ECO units for Belt Railway of Chicago.
Wabtec
Both Wabtec factories (Fort Worth, Texas, and Erie, Pa.) worked through a mix of new and modernization programs, including production of another FLXdrive road freight locomotive for BHP at the Erie facility. Modernizations were more than 80 percent of 2024 pro-duction, while locomotives for BNSF and Ferromex drove new, domestic production.
ABOVE: VIA 2218 wears a one-of-a-kind paint scheme, nicknamed “Lumi” for “luminosity.” The colors are a nod to the livery on VIA’s TurboTrain from the 1970s. The unit is shown at LaGrange, Ill., on June 24, 2024.
Fort Worth completed the aforementioned units for BNSF and Ferromex, plus some new units for Africa. Modernization programs for CN and UP kept the factory busy. One interesting addition at Texas was modernizing ex-CEFX AC4400CWs for NS (which ended up as Ferromex units in 2025 which will be covered next year). Erie had started work on New York Subway hybrid locomotives in 2023, but the units became a larger part of the plan in 2024, and continued work on modernization programs for MBTA/MNCW CSX and NS (including sending kits to NS’ Juniata Back Shop). For the first time, the NS program sourced units from other than their own cores by purchasing 25 GECX (ex-BNSF) Dash-9s…