Achievement Unlocked: The Big Mac!

This is the very LAST thing I expected to see in Taft Yard on my way home. CSX's class-leading SD80MAC, The Spirit of Benning, number 4590! I saw what I thought to be an SD70MAC, did a double take when I caught the radiators out of the corner of my eye, and shat bricks! This is Conrail's very first SD80MAC, built as CR 4100, later CSX 800, and now CSX 4590.

The Spirit of Benning is the biggest and most powerful EMD locomotive on CSX, and boy is he a sight to see. There are very few locomotives that can dwarf a GE Dash 8, and this one does so easily. Five thousand horsepower from 20 cylinders will out-muscle just about anything else there is...with better reliability than an AC6000CW! (And better looks, too!!) Mr. Benning also retains his awesome ex-Conrail Leslie RS3L horn and red marker lights, looking commanding at the front of any train. Six windshield wipers, too! Everything about this diesel screams power, from the chiseled nose to the clean lines to the wide, canted radiators. It's a shame I didn't get to hear the engine run!

Specs:

CSXT 4590, fmr. CSX 800, ex-CR 4100

General Motors Electro-Motive Division model SD80MAC
Built November 1995
Engine: GM-EMD 20-710G3C-ES
Horsepower: 5,000
Main Generator: GM TA22CA8
Traction Motors: 1TB2630 x6
Starting Tractive Effort: 185,000 pounds
Gear Ratio: 70:17
Maximum Speed: 70 MPH