The Rivet Counter series DASH-9 continues to set new standards for railroad and road number specific detail, factory applied detail parts, lighting effects, and sound in N Scale.

Road Number Specific ScaleTrains

Santa Fe

1^st run road numbers (announced January 2019): 600, 607, 642, 653, 666, and 699 

• Era represented by configuration: as-built
• Series 600-649, built 2/3-1994
• Series 650-699, built 8/9-1994
• Red & Silver Warbonnet paint scheme
• Operating pilot-face mounted LED ditch lights
• Small snowplow with open doors
• 4-step stepwells
• Wide profile end handrails
• GE safety cab with “gull-wing” roof profile and three (3) side windows
• Large Sinclair “ice skate” communications antenna, small Sinclair “ice skate” End Of Train (EOT) telemetry antenna, and small cone antenna
• Motive Equipment (MEI) ME7000 HVAC Unit
• Early engine cab profile
• Leslie RS-3L horn mounted on engine cab
• Early flanged exhaust stack housing
• Low-mounted rear sandfiller

Rivet Counter DASH 9-44CW Locomotives Also Feature

• Fully-assembled
• Up to six (6) different road numbers
• Printed and LED lighted number boards
• Operating deck or pilot-mounted LED ditch lights
• Five (5) cabs
  • “Gullwing” with three (3) side windows
  • “Gullwing” with four (4) side window
  • Standard safety cab with low headlight
  • Standard safety cab with high headlight
  • Spartan cab with high headlight (C40-9)
• Four (4) step or five (5) step stepwells
• Narrow or wide profile end handrails
• Dayton Phoenix (DPG) Model 280620 or Motive Equipment (MEI) ME7000 HVAC Units
• Early or late (“tri-fold” power assembly access doors) engine cab profile
• Early flanged or late non-flanged exhaust stack housing
• Low or high rear sand filler
• GE “nub” pattern walkway tread
• Accurately profiled frame with separately applied plumbing and cabling
• Factory-applied detail parts: wire grab irons, snowplow, trainline hoses, 3-hose MU clusters, MU cable, uncoupling levers, windshield wipers, mirrors, sunshades, air tanks, fuel tank mounted bell, brake wheel, exhaust stack, and more
• Nose door with window
• Detailed cab interior with floor, rear wall, seats, and controls
• Tinted cab side windows
• “Bathtub” exhaust silencer
• 5,000 gallon fuel tank
• GE Hi-Ad trucks with separately applied brake cylinders and air plumbing
• Semi-scale Type E knuckle couplers – Micro-Trains compatible
• Body mounted coupler box – accepts Micro-Trains 1015/1016 type couplers
• Motor with 5-pole skew wound armature
• Dual flywheels
• All-wheel drive
• All-wheel electrical pick-up
• Directional LED headlights
• Printing and lettering legible under magnification
• Operates on Code 55 and 80 rail
• Durable packaging safely stores model
• Minimum Radius: 9 ¾”
• Recommended Radius: 11” 

DCC & sound equipped locomotives also feature

• ESU-LokSound Next18 Select Micro DCC and sound decoder with “Full Throttle”
• Cube-type speaker
• Accurate FDL-16 prime mover and auxiliary sounds, horn, bell, and more
• Operates on both DC and DCC layouts

DCC equipped locomotives also feature

• ESU Next18 Micro DCC “motor only” decoder 

DCC & sound ready locomotives also feature

• Operates on DC layouts
• DCC ready with Next18 connector 

* Not all lighting functions on DCC equipped versions are operable using DC
 
The N Scale GE DASH 9-44CW is made under trademark license from General Electric Transportation.

History

General Electric wrestled the title of top domestic locomotive builder from EMD during the late 1980s with their Dash-8 series.  GE once again positioned themselves to shakeup the locomotive world yet again less than a decade later.  Entering the 1990s, GE completely revamped their locomotive lineup by utilizing customer feedback, learning from experience gained from previous locomotive series, and improvements in technology.

A single C44-9W demonstrator unit, numbered 8601, made its debut in 1993 (and later became C&NW 8601). While similar at first glance to predecessor models like the C40-8 and C40-8W, the Dash-9 series featured a few notable physical differences.  Built on a slightly longer platform that allowed for a massive 5,000 gallon fuel tank, Dash-9s also featured thicker radiator “wings” at the rear of the carbody.  This is usually the quickest way to differentiate them from previous models. 

Thanks to its long production span and customer options, small detail differences could be noted between various customer orders.  This includes changes with HVAC system vendors (the large “A/C” box behind the cab on the conductors side), engine cab profile, radiator lifting lugs, hood end, trucks, fuel tank, stepwells, operator’s cab, and even handrail profiles. 

The C44-9W proved to be extremely popular over its production span with over 3,500 locomotives being sold new to ATSF, BC Rail, BNSF, CN, C&NW, NS (including 100 spartan cab equipped versions, nicknamed “Top Hats”), QNS&L, SP, and UP.  

NS was an important customer with over 1,000 Dash-9s on the roster.  They preferred customized models in the form of 100 spartan-cab equipped, 4,000hp C40-9s (nicknamed “Top Hats”) and numerous examples of safety cab-equipped versions rated at 4,000hp, and designated as C40-9Ws.  All C40-9/Ws would eventually be uprated to 4,400hp with their designations changed accordingly.  

Over the years, the Dash-9s could be found in a variety of assignments.  Santa Fe’s C44-9Ws were delivered in the famed red and silver “Superfleet” scheme and could be found hurtling across the southwest with hot piggyback trailer and container trains in tow.  

Southern Pacific’s units were some of the first new six-axle power on the beleaguered railroad’s roster in more than a decade.  They were pressed into a variety of assignments ranging from hot intermodal trains to coal and iron ore drags. 

Chicago & North Western’s units made their debut in flashy “lightning stripe” livery and handled numerous assignments during their brief tenure before being absorbed by Union Pacific.

The Dash-9 series remained in production until the early 2000s when it was superseded by GE’s “Evolution Series” ES40/44-series models.  Age has begun to catch up with the earliest C44-9W and related models so some railroads are storing and/or rebuilding these veteran units.  NS’s oldest units, the spartan-cab C40-9s, are being rebuilt with the latest GE safety cab for increased crew comfort and safety plus AC-traction for increased performance.

Originally built in the early 1990s, some of BNSF’s former Santa Fe fleet are also in the process of being rebuilt with AC-traction to extend their service lives and improve their performance. 

Built over a long timeframe, and proving to be a solid, upgradeable platform, the C44-9W family of locomotives including rebuilds is sure to remain a fixture on today’s railroads for the foreseeable future.