Norfolk Southern No. 3517

Norfolk Southern No. 3517 is an SD40-2 type diesel locomotive built by Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD) in July 1978, originally for the Burlington Northern Railroad (BN) as their No. 7065. After the BN merged into the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway (BNSF) in September 1995, it would operate in regular freight service for the BNSF until it was sold to Helm Leasing as an HLCX lease unit and then to the Norfolk Southern Railway (NS) where it was renumbered to NS 3517. As of today, it is still in regular freight service with the NS.
==History==
Norfolk Southern No. 3517 is an SD40-2 type diesel locomotive built by Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD) in July 1978, originally for the Burlington Northern Railroad (BN) as their No. 7065. When the BN merged with the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway (AT&SF) to form the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway (BNSF) in September 1995, it was then operated by the BNSF. On June 14, 2006, it was one of eleven locomotives involved in the Kismet train collision in Madera, CA. Thankfully, it remained on the track, undamaged with three other locomotives (although a freight car smashes into one of the locomotive's cab). After the horrific accident, it continued its career with the BNSF.
However, in 2008, as the BNSF was ordering their ES44C4 type diesels from General Electric (GE), they decided to retire the locomotive and sell it off to Helm Leasing to continue regular service as an HLCX lease unit, in which the reporting mark was patched and it retained its original road number of 7065. Its career as a lease unit lasted from 2008 to 2013, as in 2013, the Norfolk Southern Railway (NS) acquired the locomotive and put it on their locomotive roster, in which it was renumbered to NS 3517. As of today, it is still in regular freight service with the NS.
==Gallery==
File:1635.1465612628.jpg
File:NS3517.jpeg
File:DB18NS3517sm.jpg
Category:EMD locomotives
Category:Built in 1978
Category:Norfolk Southern locomotives
Category:Diesel locomotives
Category:Diesel-electric locomotives
Category:Locomotives
Category:Standard gauge locomotives
Category:Freight locomotives
Category:American locomotives
Category:United States
Category:Six-axled diesel locomotives
Category:C-C locomotives
Category:EMD Special Duty Diesels
Category:Cab forward locomotives
Category:Standard gauge locomotives of the United States
Category:4 foot 8 1⁄2 inch gauge