ACE 3000

The ACE 3000 was a proposed modern 4-4-4-2 coal-burning steam locomotive design for Ross Rowland's ACE 3000 Project and for the American Coal Enterprises, the locomotive was designed by Ross Rowland and was developed by American Coal Enterprises in the late 1970s.

Testing
In 1985, Chesapeake and Ohio 614 was modified to do better performance under the guidance of David Wardale. For several weeks between January and February of 1985, No. 614 (renumbered to 614-T, with the "T" denoting testing) had hauled several coal trains between Huntington, West Virginia and Hinton, West Virginia.

When the 1970s came, the 1970s oil crisis had hit and it was causing problems for the railroads that had dieselized in order to cut costs and operating diesels was getting more expensive.

Design
Development of the modern 4-4-4-2 coal-burning steam locomotive that was classified as the ACE 3000 was done by American Coal Enterprises, which was founded to raise funds to build this steam locomotive using modern technologies that could make steam just as efficient as ever than diesels.

The locomotive was originally designed to be a steam turbine locomotive, but was instead redesigned to utilizing a traditional reciprocating drive as the development of the locomotive had continued.

It was designed using a duplex-drive which meant that it would be a duplex locomotive and was designed to be a cab-forward steam locomotive.