Im curious to know if a small railroad that didnt need many locomotives would buy only one or a few models from one builder or would they possibly buy at least one model from multiple builders. For example a small granger shortline would they buy just SD9's or both SD9's and RSD5's, and then later buy just SD35's or SD35's and U25C's. Im really curious as to how smaller railroads choose what to buy so it can help me freelance my next model railroad when i get my first house next summer. I really want to create my own railway but do it realisticly. Any info and tips are very much appriciated.
I think they've got a ballancing act to do. Having a very few models of locomotives on a line has the obvious benefit of easier and cheaper maintenance. BUT, sometimes there's a deal or deals that are too good to pass up.
Say, for example, that BN is dumping all their remaining Alco RS3's. At a REALLY good price. And your line is EMD. And your line isn't so rich that they can just ignore a good deal. Unless it's not good enough to balance out learning how to take care of old Alcos. And scrounging parts.
Ed
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
First the railroad would look at the overall yearly needs and not seasonal..If a 4 axle Geep would work 10 out of 12 months they work go with a 4 axle locomotive like a GP35,38 or 40..The old GP7 GP9s and all the rebuilt Geeps are getting older by the day as is the SD7/9 so,a good used GP35 or GP38 or even a SW1500 or MP15DC would be the better choice since parts are readily available.Reliability is a must.The railroad would select locomotive(s) from one builder since it would be easier to store running repair parts instead of several parts from various locomotive manufacturers.
Back to the seasonal shipping demand.A savvy short line would either lease locomotives by power by the hour or if their track is in good condition just interchange the complete train including the locomotives from your connecting road.
This is such a train.This is a CF&E loaded grain train bound for interchange with CSX at Crestline,Oh.. CFE/CSX just interchanges the complete train.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
This is all really nice info and expands what I now know, thank you all. Just to add a little more info on what i am thinking is that all of these locomotives were bought new by the railroad. Its been a little hard to figure out what fleet of locomotives would be mostly realistic. I have an undecorated Atlas master series SD26 and i want it part of my railroads fleet but for me its hard to incorporate into that fleet. I really want some help on this.
zrailwhat i am thinking is that all of these locomotives were bought new by the railroad.
Ok..New light on the subject and nothing changes much since smaller railroads prefer buying one brand of locomotives since repair parts is easier to maintain then parts from several manufacturers and of course requires less labor to maintain.
Now then what type? That opens the door to several possibilities like EMD,Alco or GE.
A favorite of mine was a friends roster of Alco S2s,RS3s and RSD4/5s..The RSD4/5 was assigned to coal service while the RS3 covered locals and general freights.A RDC 2 handled the dying passenger business.
zrail ...all of these locomotives were bought new by the railroad...SD26 and i want it part of my railroads fleet but for me its hard to incorporate into that fleet.
...all of these locomotives were bought new by the railroad...SD26 and i want it part of my railroads fleet but for me its hard to incorporate into that fleet.
I'd say impossible. The SD26 was a Santa Fe rebuild. So, if your railroad bought all-new, it couldn't buy an SD26.
Ignoring that, your best bet might be to paint the SD26 up into a (fictional) lease engine for an upturn in traffic.
Oh lol my bad, i forgot to say that the SD26 was the one engine not bought new, SD9, SD35, RSD5, and U25C were all bought new but the SD26 would be bought in the mid 80's when the Santa Fe was geting ride of them. And i had never thought about puting it into a lease fleet, thanks for the idea.
Pacific Electric once had a extension from downtown Los Angeles to San Fernando, by 1941 this had been abandoned with the exception of 4.2 mile branch isolated from the rest of the system in San Fernado that was retained to serve several citrus customers, it was necessary for SP to aquire and lease back to PE power for the orphaned branch, in the form of an ancient 600 class motor, and after the wires came down, a displaced 44 ton switcher.
Dave
zrail Oh lol my bad, i forgot to say that the SD26 was the one engine not bought new, SD9, SD35, RSD5, and U25C were all bought new but the SD26 would be bought in the mid 80's when the Santa Fe was geting ride of them. And i had never thought about puting it into a lease fleet, thanks for the idea.
OK, then.
I think that a smart small railroad would have bought just the SD9's and then the SD35's. It'd look a lot more railroady. And the SD26 would fit in nicely.
I'm a'guessing that you want to get the other ones, too. Maybe you could have roster A and roster B, with the idea that only one roster is on the layout at a time. A is the EMD product roster and B is the "other" roster.
Lets not forget that most of us have too many locos, anyway. Except for me, of course. So the AB concept would fit right in.
ndbprrA short line would not be able to afford new locomotives in all probability.
A shortline that was a historic shortline (as opposed to a shortline created by a spin-off of class 1 downsizing) would probably have older model engines. Shortlines tended to dieseize early because the cost advantages were so great over steam and they could do it with a minimum number of engines. Some of the first railroads to dieselize were the TM and the NYO&W.
If they dieselized very early they probably would have gone with F units or RS1's which would mean they would have had a bias towards Alcos. I also would question whether they would have bought SD's as they are heavier and more expensive. A GP7or RS2/3 would be more versitile. Somehow I doubt that a shortline would buy an SD35, SD's were pretty specialized and for their time those were pretty heavy, high horsepower units. In the late 1960's, 1500-1800 hp units were main line power. Unless your shortline is in a very mountainous area or having high speed territory, I don't see new SD35's as a likely engine. The second hand pool in the SD35 era was Alco's and BLW engines. Early EMD's were kept into the 1970's by class 1's and so they wouldn't be surplus until the SD40/SD40-2 era.
Personally for a granger shortline in the late 1960's early 1970's I would have several GP7's, a couple GP18's and an AA or ABA set of F3/F7 bought 2nd hand. None would have dynamic brakes. The next purchase would be GP38's.
If I wanted more variety there would be a couple RS1's and a pair of RS2's, a lone DRS 6-4-1500 (for that branch with the really light rail) and then GP18's.
But that's just my opinion.
Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com
zrail Im curious to know if a small railroad that didnt need many locomotives would buy only one or a few models from one builder or would they possibly buy at least one model from multiple builders. For example a small granger shortline would they buy just SD9's or both SD9's and RSD5's, and then later buy just SD35's or SD35's and U25C's.
Im curious to know if a small railroad that didnt need many locomotives would buy only one or a few models from one builder or would they possibly buy at least one model from multiple builders. For example a small granger shortline would they buy just SD9's or both SD9's and RSD5's, and then later buy just SD35's or SD35's and U25C's.
In real life, many (not all) small railroads focused on locos from only one maker to cut the cost of maintenance, spare parts, etc. Typically, they wouldn't buy from three different makers as in your scenario.
For me, the roster of a model railroad representing a small independent operation seems more realistic with fewer types of engines. But that's just my personal view and most modelers operate with lots more variety than would be typical of most small real-life railroads.
But I still like a little variety, so although my proto-freelanced line will operate only one loco type (in my case, Baldwin VO-1000s as did similar small real-life railroads in the area), the connecting railroads will provide the variety with ALCO S2/S4 and EMD switchers on transfer runs and parallel trackage.
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West Coast S Pacific Electric once had a extension from downtown Los Angeles to San Fernando, by 1941 this had been abandoned with the exception of 4.2 mile branch isolated from the rest of the system in San Fernado that was retained to serve several citrus customers, it was necessary for SP to aquire and lease back to PE power for the orphaned branch, in the form of an ancient 600 class motor, and after the wires came down, a displaced 44 ton switcher.
P.E.'s San Fernando Valley Orphan Branch operated a number of odd and one-of engines at various times after the wires came down. Besides those you mentioned, photos show a second-hand Dan Patch Lines gas-electric and a six-wheeled Plymouth diesel loco (PE #1647) in use at various times there.
Could depend on when they started buying diesels. In steam days, a railroad designed a steam engine and had Alco or Baldwin or Lima or whoever was available build it to their specifications. They might have a run of 10 Pacifics built by Alco, then a year later buy 10 more identical engines from Baldwin.
It took a while for railroads to understand a 1000 hp Baldwin switcher wasn't the same as a 1000 hp EMD switcher. Because of that, railroads that went diesel early (1940's) often had a mix of engines from different builders.
Railroads that bought diesels later were more likely to 'standardize' on one builder. DM&IR for example didn't buy an diesels til 1953, and from then on (with one exception of some oddball Alco RSD's in 1959) only bought EMD engines.
Sometimes railroads that bought several different types of engines later standardized on one builder. In the 1940's, the Minneapolis, Northfield and Southern shortline bought Baldwin and FM engines, but in the early sixties began buying EMD units. By about 1973 all the first generation FM and Baldwin engines were gone, and the road was all EMD from then on.
Depends too on why they're buying diesels. Some roads were fine running steam on the mainline, but wanted to buy a couple of diesel road switchers to run on a branch line, which would allow them to remove a turntable at the end of the line. So a small road might buy two Alco RS-1s in 1948, but keep running steam for another decade. Other roads wanted to do it all at once, and a shortline might decide it made more sense to buy 10 diesels all at once, and retire their steam engines - especially since 10 diesels could replace 20 steam engines.
wjstixespecially since 10 diesels could replace 20 steam engines.
And cut labor costs by laying off the extra steam engine crews,roundhouse workers,replace the money pit roundhouse and turntable with a modern diesel shed,tear down coal towers,water towers,boiler room etc to cut property tax.