I've been following 4617 for a while, now. It had been in the Huntington Locomotive Shops vicinity and on the C&O line out of Huntington on work trains, mostly for a good while. SD40's have been on the way out on CSX for years, so I figured 4617 was doomed to remain in that area until it got torched. However, I think about 2 years or so ago CSX finally got around to putting ditchlights on that thing and recently was clear up in Wisconsion on a ballast train. I am hoping CSX plans on donating it to the B&O museum or something like that...im pretty sure 4617 could get retired just about any time now since the 4600 series is going to get filled up with new locomotives eventually. The 4700 series are relatively new SD70's and the SD80's are being renumbered from the 800 series to the high 4500's (I think 801 became 4597?)
My guess is a former C&O guy is keeping her around CSX just because he can. Looks like it still is doing her job. Hate to see it go.
