ES44AC Locomotive, CPR #8781

CP FEATURES:

• No engine compartment side grab irons
• Raised radiator grills
• Raised heat exchanger

Canadian Pacific placed eight orders for ES44AC locomotives spanning a decade of production. Early production units featured a distinct cab and nose profile as well as radiator, intake, and hood door variations. These features changed in later productions. The CP units in this offering represents features from the mid- production. While the cab, nose, and radiator intakes are the same as early units, the long hood doors and other features have evolved into what is found on late production units. Athearn has created new tooling to accurately produce these particular units.

Canadian Pacific repainted one of its locomotives in the colors of a customer for the first time in its 140-year history. This extraordinary gesture is to honor Hapag-Lloyd as its most important container service customer and to commemorate the joint efforts to launch the service in Port Saint John, New Brunswick, in Eastern Canada.

ROAD NUMBER SPECIFIC FEATURES:

#8781

• Special commorative paint scheme
• PTC antennas
• raised radiator screen

ES44 SERIES LOCOMOTIVE FEATURES:

• Illuminated ditch lights
• Tinted cab windows
• Large antenna dome
• GPS dome
• Hand brake panel grille
• Nathan K5HL horn
• 5000-gallon fuel tank
• Low or high front headlight per prototype
• See through dynamic brake intakes
• Low or high front headlight per prototype
• See through dynamic brake intakes
• Short auxiliary cab rear left-side doors
• Right side forward electrical cabinet with X-Panel
• Engine compartment side grab irons (Non-CP Units only)
• No engine compartment side grab irons (CP Units only)
• Flush radiator compartment doors
• Flush heat exchanger housing and top radiator grilles (Non-CP Units only)
• Raised heat exchanger housing and top radiator grilles (CP Units only)
• Dynamic brake exhaust vents spaced per prototype
• Minimum radius: 18” — Recommended radius: 22”

GENESIS DIESEL LOCOMOTIVE FEATURES:

• Coupler cut levers
• MU hoses
• Trainline hose
• See through cab windows
• Full cab interior
• Walkway tread
• Windshield wipers
• Lift rings
• Wire grab irons
• Sander lines
• DCC-ready features Quick Plug™ plug-and-play technology with 21-pin NEM connector
• Fine-scale Celcon handrails for scale appearance
• Detailed fuel tank with fuel fillers, fuel gauges, breather pipes, and retention tanks
• Body-mounted McHenry® operating scale knuckle couplers
• Genesis driveline with 5-pole skew wound motor, precision machined flywheels, and multi-link drivetrain for trouble free operation
• All-wheel drive with precision gears for smooth and quiet operation
• All-wheel electrical pickup provides reliable current flow
• Wheels with RP25 contours operate on all popular brands of track
• LED Lighting for trouble free operation
• Heavy die-cast frame for greater traction and more pulling power
• Scaled from prototype resources including drawings, field measurements, photographs, and more
• Accurately-painted and –printed paint schemes
• Fully-assembled and ready-to-run
• Packaging securely holds the model for safe storage

SOUND-EQUIPPED MODELS ALSO FEATURE

• Onboard DCC decoder with SoundTraxx Tsunami2 sound
• Dual cube speakers for optimal sound quality
• Sound units operate in both DC and DCC
• Full DCC functions available when operated in DCC mode
• Engine, horn, and bell sounds work in DC
• All functions NMRA compatible in DCC mode
• Precision slow speed control
• Program a multiple unit (MU) lashup with lead unit only horn, bell, and lights
• Many functions can be altered via Configuration Value (CV) changes
• CV chart included in the box

PROTOTYPE SPECIFIC INFORMATION

In 2002, GE released the first of a new series of locomotives that would replace the popular Dash-9 series. The ES44DC and ES44AC, commonly called GEVOs for General Electric Evolution series, were designed to meet the stricter diesel locomotive emissions standards imposed by the EPA Tier II regulations. To meet the new standards, GE developed the 12-cylinder GEVO 12 engine. Both the bore and stroke were increased to produce the same 4400 horsepower as the older 7FDL16 16-cylinder engine. The new engine drives an alternator producing AC current that is rectified to DC current. On the ES44DC, this powers the traction motors. On the ES44AC, the DC current is “chopped” back into AC to power the traction motors. The two models share a common 73’ 2” frame and external appearance.