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Once again, thanks for all your posts.  Please keep them coming. Our gas prices again took a hefty increase but I can't right now remember how much.  Premium unleaded, I think, is now $3.10 or $3.12, with regular unleaded approaching $2.90.  Our area is normally one of the cheaper areas also, so it is very possibly that even regular unleaded is $3. a gallon somewhere around here (especially near the interstate off and on ramps). Now as promised, here is a little info on what railroads are doing, AND have been doing for years to cut back on the use of diesel fuel. Smart Start is the name of one system that will monitor many factors and shut down an ideling diesel engine.  Some of the things it monitors are the battery, air brake pressure, and outside air temp.  The outside air temp must be above a certain degree or the system will not shut down the unit, this prevents the unit from freezing in cold weather.  Another important item it monitors is the air brake pressure.  If the unit is shut down and the air brake pressure falls below a set mininum then the system will start the engine so the compressor can recharge the air and bring it back up.  (It is not hard to find a gladhand with a leaking gasket thus loosing a small amount of air which eventually will cause the system to loose air and need recharging.)   Smart Start will also monitor the battery and if the battery drops too low then the system will start the engine to recharge the battery. All of the new widecabs have a system which will do this.  The name may not be Smart Start but most of the systems by any name will monitor these major items and shut down or restart the engine when needed.  Many of the older engines, when they receive an overhaul, get equipped with a Smart Start (or another brand) system.  Thus even 30 or 40 year old engines now also have the same capability.  This feature does save the railroads a lot of money on diesel fuel.  On engines which do not have the feature, the railroads would like the employees to shut down motors which will not be used in a reasonable amount of time.
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