Here's my latest finished project. Relatively painless build, but it took a while to track down all of the materials I needed.

This is an SD60MAC, a joint project between the Burlington Northern Railroad, General Motors' Electro-Motive Division, and a German company, Siemens AG. A total of four SD60MACs were built complete with experimental AC electronics and hand-built carbodies; all of them wore this paint scheme. Having satisfied the BN's curiosity, several other railroads borrowed them for their own tests.

While the locomotives were ultimately a success, leading to the SD70MAC (The trailing unit in this photo), the amount of new technology being tested on single locomotives proved to be quite troublesome. According to engineers, the liquid-cooled traction motors had a nasty habit of rupturing, spraying coolant all over the rails.

The AC traction motors tested on the SD60MAC eventually became the Burlington Northern's choice for saving fuel on coal ltrains in the 1990's; favored over natural gas locomotives, or electrifying the mainline for electric locomotives. Putting their money where their mouth was, the railroad made the most expensive locomotive order in history, slapping down nearly a billion dollars for hundreds of SD70MAC's. The AC motors allowed three locomotives to handle a train that required five locomotives equipped with conventional DC tration motors, at a lower speed. This came at a cost, however. The inverters cost considerably more compared to a DC locomotive, so most AC power was reserved for heavy unit trains.

The model itself is a modified Kato SD70MAC carbody and frame, with a Train Station Products cab kit. On the opposite side, there is also an electrical cabinet, which I made from styrene.