Progress Rail PR43C

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title: "Progress Rail PR43C" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["c-c-locomotives", "diesel–electric-locomotives-of-the-united-states", "railway-locomotives-introduced-in-2009", "norfolk-southern-railway-locomotives", "rebuilt-locomotives", "standard-gauge-locomotives-of-the-united-states"] description: "Model of American diesel locomotive" topic_path: "geography/united-states" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progress_Rail_PR43C" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Model of American diesel locomotive ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox locomotive"]

Field	Value
name	Progress Rail PR43C
powertype	Diesel-electric
gauge
image	NS_4004_Progress_Rail_PR43C_at_Anniston_Alabama_2014-03-21_02-27.JPG
caption	NS 4004 Progress Rail PR43C at Anniston Alabama
builder	Progress Rail Services Corporation
poweroutput	4300 hp
aarwheels	C-C
primemover	Caterpillar C175-12 and Caterpillar C18
locale	North America
disposition	All scrapped
::

| name=Progress Rail PR43C | powertype=Diesel-electric | gauge= | image=NS_4004_Progress_Rail_PR43C_at_Anniston_Alabama_2014-03-21_02-27.JPG | caption=NS 4004 Progress Rail PR43C at Anniston Alabama | builder=Progress Rail Services Corporation | poweroutput=4300 hp | aarwheels=C-C | primemover=Caterpillar C175-12 and Caterpillar C18 | locale=North America | disposition=All scrapped The Progress Rail PR43C was a 4300 hp C-C genset diesel-electric locomotive built by Progress Rail Services Corporation. It was the result of a conversion of existing EMD SD50 locomotives. This involved replacing the original EMD 645 prime mover with a pair of Caterpillar engines, a 3600 hp 12 cylinder C175 engine and a 700 hp C18 engine. The locomotive was jointly designed by Progress Rail and Norfolk Southern Railway. Development began in 2008.

Three locomotives were built; they were manufactured at Progress Rail's Mayfield, Kentucky factory. Two operated in revenue freight service on Norfolk Southern, while a third operated as a demonstrator unit for Progress Rail. At one time Norfolk Southern had four more PR43Cs on order. The locomotives operated by Norfolk Southern worked on freight trains in central Illinois, leading to speculation that they were being tested, as Caterpillar's headquarters are located in Peoria, Illinois.

The process of converting an SD50 to a PR43C altered the external appearance of the locomotive; the original radiator section was replaced with a larger one similar in appearance to that of an EMD SD70ACe or SD70M-2.

As a result of repeated failures, the locomotives were retired in 2017, and all were cut up for scrap in 2018. Prior to retirment, they were renumbered to avoid number conflicts with the AC44C6Ms.

References

References

1. Lustig, David. (November 2009). "NS debuts gensets for road duty". Kalmbach Publishing.
2. "Progress Rail Services". TrainWeb.
3. (8 September 2010). "Norfolk Southern orders additional PR43Cs". Trains Magazine.

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