EMD was late in introducing the Tier 4 version of their most advanced locomotive model at the time when it was due in 2015. Major competitor General Electric had brought out its upgraded and Tier 4 compliant ET44AC locomotive earlier - and it was an immediate success. EMD's SD70ACe-T4, or the heavy variant SD70ACe-H-T4 (in CSX terms short ST70AH) that CSX prefers, was initially tested only by Union Pacific. Years after, CSX and NS ordered several units, but NS cancelled their order later. The 10 engines CSX purchased were extensively tested before entering general main line service. Therefore, it wasn't surprising that it took more than a year before the first ST70AH showed up on the Abbeville Subdivision. In this video, CSX ST70AH #8909 leads autorack train Q210, which was promptly chased for many miles from Elberton, GA to Athens, GA :) As a special treat, Q210 met coal train N321 in Hull, GA, which then had to let Q582 pass (triple meets are always fun to watch). Q582 had four lead units and a GE Tier 4 ET44AH as mid-train DPU; N321 had its own ET44 DPU. To watch a train (in this case N321) climb the "roller coaster grades" at Howie Siding is always fun. I hope you'll enjoy the video - as always best in 4k!

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