SD70i

daboonk

New Member
Hello, I am looking at pictures of CN SD70i's on railpictures.com I have a question tho, what does the "i" stand for and why does only CN use them, thanks guys...
 

siderod

Member
Hey Mike,
As far as i understood, CN only had SD75I's, but they might have SD70I's as well. Not 100% sure of that. The I stands for Isolated, meaning the cab is isolated from the frame, reducing vibration and increasing comfort.

Hope it helps
Later
AR
 

eightyeightfan1

Now I'm AMP'd
I remember reading somewhere that CN ordered the first SD-70's with the Isolated cab, hence the "I". Soon, American railroads like the cab so much, they started ordering their SD-70's with the same cab. It came so popular EMD changed the letter designation to "M" and called it the "North American Saftey Cab" Hence SD-70M.Conrail did order some SD-70's with EMD's standard cab.These all went to NS, after the NS/CSX split.
I hope I remembered that right.
 

lock4244

New Member
I remember the SD70I's when they were brand new, it was about the time I began serious railfanning. I can recall catching 5600 and 5601 working what appeared to be an empty grain train bound for the GTW at Beare, ON. (York Sub in northeast Scarborough). Also caught several undecorated eastbound through the Newtonville, ON., area going to PSC in Montreal for painting (5610, 5612 were two). Also caught one a Newtonville, brand new 5625 (also the last of the 26 SD70I CN bought) and dead as the leader with an HR616, M420W, HR412 trailing and providing the power... ironic that the SD70I and SD75I's helped put the MLW/BBD's out to pasture ;)

They were a nice departure from the usual stuff, but were soon overshadowed by the 175 SD75I's CN would end up buying. They are all now quite boring! These were the first new power CN bought since 1973 that did not have CN's safety cab, and were also (to me at least) noteworthy in that they were originally assigned to Toronto for maintenance, as all new power on CN (and CP for that matter) would typically go to Edmonton for Port Mann (Vancouver).

Wow, talk about digging up old posts... hey, been a while since I visitied last. Siderod, you've been missing from the Atlas forum for some time.
 
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