Cabless pushers????

[Anonymous]

I was sitting outside watching the trains go by. The UP 2 track mainline goes through my back yard. I was sitting there and at the end of a coal train there was a pusher as most coal trains that go through here do. So I got to thinking, would a cabless pusher be feasible or cheaper? This is just a theoritical question but one that came to mind as I have several cabless units on my roster. I would assume it would be feasible but could be a pain removing them from the train unless they had a remote control option like I have seen on some switchers. Any thoughts?

Thanks,
Jeremy

[darth9x9]

Hey Jeremy,

As my dad always tells me, if there was one perfect solution then everyone would be using it. Cabless units cost less since they lack cab controls. BN did this on several of their wrecked units. They would rebuild the unit but minus the cab and cab controls. I made a similar, yet fictitious, unit for my Chessie System. It can be seen at:
http://www.trainweb.org/chessie/Bill8.jpg
http://www.trainweb.org/chessie/Bill9.jpg

One of the problems with cabless units is that they are less flexible as far as utilization is concerned. Somehow they have to be shuttled (or used) to get back where they are needed again. A cab control unit can be used by itself anywhere. Most railroads opt for the added flexibility vs the cost savings.

[Anonymous]

Jeremy [:)]

This was hashed about in the trains.mag forum a while back. There are a bunch of real railroaders who post in that forum. It was the general concensus that the railroads wouldn't buy cabless units because there would still be the need for a cab unit to accompany them. Also a cabless unit isn't as feasible with the need for less units these days as opposed to 25 years ago with lower horsepower units.

There are some cabless units on the railroads but many of them are rebuilds of wrecked engines. Someone posted a pic about a year ago that showed 4 or 5 BN green units and one of them WAS a cabless unit. They can be found but are far and few between.

I hope this answers your question. [:)]

[Anonymous]

I hate it when I am typing a reply and someone SNEAKS in just ahead of me. [:(] [;)] [}:)] [:p]

[darth9x9]

Sorry, I didn't mean to sneak in an answer. There is no way of knowing who is currently crafting a response, is there? [angel]

[METRO]

A good use of a cabless that I can think of in pushing would be as a seccond unit in a helper consist. Back durring the transition era when diesels were not as powerful as they are today it was very common to see a multiple unit helper section on mountain grades. Since a helper crew is just needed in one unit to begin with all of the other units could be cabless as I doubt that railroads would buy them just for this purpose but it is a logical assignment for existing rebuild cabless units.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by darth9x9

Sorry, I didn't mean to sneak in an answer. There is no way of knowing who is currently crafting a response, is there? [angel]

Oh, I just took tooooo long to proof read it and proof read it and then proof read it. [:)]

You can never be toooo careful. And after all my proof reading I still make boo boos. [B)] Ya know what I mean. [;)]