Debuting in November 1993 with 130 units for Chicago & North Western, General Electric’s Dash 9-44CW (C44-9W) paired an uprated 4,400 h.p. 7FDL16 prime mover with an updated cooling system first seen on 53 Dash 8s delivered to CSX Transportation the previous July. The following year, Santa Fe, Southern Pacific, and Union Pacific also added significant numbers of Dash 9-44CWs to their fleets, while Canadian National received 23 Dash 9-44CWLs equipped with custom four-window “North American” cabs.
In 1995, another variation appeared in the form of Norfolk Southern’s Dash 9-40C “Top Hats.” Rated at 4,000 h.p., these 125 units were the last Spartan-cab GE road locomotives built for a U.S. railroad. British Columbia Railway purchased four Dash 9-44CWLs, while Canadian National acquired 210 more Dash 9s with a more conventional cab, though still fitted with distinctive teardrop-shaped front windows. Ultimately, repeat orders from BNSF and NS cemented the type’s ubiquity across vast stretches of North America. BNSF eventually rostered 1,697 additional units, while Norfolk Southern purchased 1,090 wide-nose Dash 9-40CWs, later uprated to 4,400 h.p. in 2013–14.
More than 30 years later, most of the 3,542 Dash 9s built remain in active service. Canadian National, Norfolk Southern, Union Pacific, and Quebec North Shore & Labrador are rebuilding portions of their fleets to AC44CM or AC44C6M standards, adding AC traction and, in many cases, new cabs. BNSF helped launch this trend with Wabtec in 2015, converting 21 units to AC44C4M specifications with A1A-A1A trucks, but has since shifted to ordering new locomotives instead.
Announced in July 2020 for the relaunched premium “Genesis 2.0” range, Athearn’s GE Dash 9 has seen numerous paint and detail configurations across its first three production runs. This fourth production, now at retailers, adds Arizona & California and QNS&L to the roster alongside new BNSF, CN, NS, and UP variations. Highlights include BNSF’s first order delivered wearing Heritage I paint in a late-1990s configuration and Athearn’s first release of Dash 9s in the current BNSF “Wedge” scheme. Also debuting are NS “whiteface” and “unibrow” on the Dash 9-40CW, and three different examples of Union Pacific lightning stripe repaints on former Southern Pacific units…
