| WIMX 6521 hails from HLCX as their 6521, keeping its numberboards, but receiving an all-encompassing coat of blue paint (even the coupler!). Evidently, this unit was built as aSD45, CS 868. After a career with a 20 cylinder, it became a part of a Dash 3 upgrade program by Boise Locomotive for Helm. Its claim to fame can be that it helped keep CSX afloat in the early 2000s as they were desperately hungry for any power. The Dash 3 comes from the Woodward CLC system that controls it. CLC was never a large success, and Woodward stopped producing parts for it around the new millennium. In 2020, parts for it are exceedingly rare, and with the age of the installation, they have become unreliable to operate. More often than not, railroads will simply cut up a CLC equipped locomotive for scrap rather than spend the $40K to replace it, especially a ubiquitous locomotive like a SD40 type. Helm had such rebuilds in the 6000 and 6500 series, and can be said to be the only operating survivor from the original set of 26 units rebuilt (the other two, 6510 and 6517, are merely just empty shells for display). While it may just appear to be a bland blue locomotive, it has rich history and is unlikely to have survived. |