HO EMD SD9043MAC Locomotive, UP #8044 Overview
During the horsepower race of the 1990's, EMD offered an âupgradableâ SD90MAC. EMD's 6000hp 256H prime mover was still being tested for reliability and issues at the time and UP needed power quickly. To combat this, EMD offered the SD90 with the 4300hp 710 prime mover in it's place until the 256H prime mover was ready to be installed after successful testing. Unfortunately, the 256H was deemed too problematic and the conversion was never completed. UP classed these as SD9043MAC's. Purchased in 1996, these big brutes were initially used in coal drag service before ultimately being used in other types of service. They were factory delivered with the âWe Will Deliverâ slogan. By the mid 2010's, a large batch were sold to NS for rebuilding into SD70ACU's.
Introduced in 1995, the EMD SD90MAC was intended to become that builder's most-powerful single-engine diesel locomotive. The new locomotive was to use EMD's newly developed 265H prime mover, featuring 6000 horsepower. However, this engine was experiencing technical problems in development, which led to the first groups of locomotives being delivered with the EMD 710G prime mover of 4300 horsepower (the intent being to retrofit these with the more powerful 265H later). Ironically, the technical problems with the 265H were never fully resolved, and no conversions were done. The 710G-engined SD90MACs outlasted their later 265H cousins in service by a wide margin, with some units only recently having been retired or sold by Union Pacific, and other railroads choosing to rebuild them for continued service.
The Athearn Genesis SD90MAC features all of the cutting-edge detail and operational features that are expected by discerning modelers: Working number boards and ground lights, see-through steps, numerous separately-applied details on the body and underframe, and a heavy die-cast frame for massive pulling power.