The Dash 8-40BW, or B40-8W, is a four-axle

diesel locomotive A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is conveyed to the driving whee ...

built by

GE Transportation Systems GE Transportation is a Division (business), division of Wabtec. It was known as GE Rail and owned by General Electric until sold to Wabtec on February 25, 2019. The organization manufactures equipment for the Rail transport, railroad, marine, mi ...

for the

Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The railroad was chartered in February 1859 to serve the cities of Atchison, Kansas, Atchison and Top ...

(ATSF) in the late 1980s and the early 1990s. It is part of the

GE Dash 8 Series The Dash 8 Series is a line of diesel-electric freight locomotives built by GE Transportation Systems. It replaced the Dash 7 Series in the mid-1980s, and was superseded by the Dash 9 Series for freight usage and the Genesis Series for passen ...

of freight locomotives. The locomotive model designation is interpreted as follows: B (B type truck arrangement, 2 axles per truck) 40 (4000

horsepower Horsepower (hp) is a unit of measurement of power, or the rate at which work is done, usually in reference to the output of engines or motors. There are many different standards and types of horsepower. Two common definitions used today are the ...

) -8 (the generation when it was designed, in this case meaning the late 1980s) W (Widecab). ATSF was the only railroad to order the B40-8W, and a

B unit B, or b, is the second letter of the Latin-script alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is '' bee'' (pronounced ), plural ''bees''. It re ...

(cabless booster unit) was almost made with it, but because the price would have been the same for B40-8Ws with cabs or without, they decided to order units with cabs only. All of ATSF's B40-8Ws were passed on to

BNSF Railway BNSF Railway is one of the largest freight railroads in North America. One of seven North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 35,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and nearly 8,000 locomotives. It has three transcontinental routes that ...

, with some later sold to other railroads.

Disposition

While originally built for high-speed intermodal service, by the mid-2000s the B40-8Ws had been bumped to local service. In mid-2010, BNSF put 15 B40-8Ws up for sale. These units were on long-term lease and were returned to their lessor. Four units have been sold to the

Providence and Worcester Railroad The Providence and Worcester Railroad is a Class II railroad operating of tracks in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Connecticut, as well as New York via trackage rights. The company was founded in 1844 to build a railroad between Providence ...

in Massachusetts. The PW sold one of their B40-8Ws to the Arkansas-Oklahoma Railroad. The rest of BNSF's B40-8W fleet is, as of 2019, undergoing rebuild and refreshment at GE as preparation for their new role as local freight units.

Original owners

Current owners

References

* * * Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway locomotives Dash 8-40BW B-B locomotives Diesel-electric locomotives of the United States Freight locomotives Standard gauge locomotives of the United States Standard gauge locomotives of Canada Diesel-electric locomotives of Canada {{diesel-loco-stub

Disposition

Original owners

Current owners

See also

References