That's not exactly an Earth shattering revelation that you just posted there, lol.
Before the 1960's were out, strong hints were beginning to appear that suggested the longevity wasn't there with GE's early road power. Union Pacific for instance started assigning their small fleet of U25B's as hump power to replace Baldwin AS-616's.
But at the end of the day they did exactly the job that they were built to do. They got GE's foot into the lucrative road switcher marketplace, preserved a major business for GE's electrical gear, and gained control of their destiny in this marketplace.
While there were flaws and long-term durability wasn't the equal of EMD, they were still useful enough to justify purchasing, helped shove their old partner aside in less than a decade, and perhaps most importantly demonstrated a lot of future promise.
As soon as the recession that the 1960's opened with started to wane, they had no shortage of takers that happily bet that GE were on to something. And it's a bet that continues to pay dividends today for Wabtec, GE, and North America's Class 1's that today see their mainlines dominated by GE designs.
It appears that newer GEs are better than newer EMDs but older EMDs are better than older GEs. EMD should step up the quality of there locmotives if they want there share of the market back.
There is a very interesting answer 'thread' on Quora where an engineer describes 'how do I hate thee? let me count the ways...' from experience. Interestingly he does not mention turbo lube-oil 'incidents'... surely one of the more interesting times he would have lived in sooner or later, I'd think.
When was that Trains story about spouting lube oil from the stack like a harpooned whale?
Looks like the addition of three AC4400CW's to the existing roster of six AC4400CW's and the sidelining of the U30C/C30-7 fleet (down to 1 active member each) is now happening.
https://www.trains.com/trn/railroads/locomotives/lake-superior-ishpemings-locomotives-greens-to-become-backup-power/
As the article says, it will leave them with a fleet of 8 AC4400CW's since one of the original six units is being returned to the leasor.
Reading the article, it appears that it is one of the new ones that is being returned and replaced. #1008-1009 are the only new road numbers. #1003-1005 are owned and 1012, 1015 and 1022 have been on the property for years.
Lake Superior & Ishpeming - RailroadfanWiki
Pickens of SC still runs U18Bs or they did until very recently.
Backshop Reading the article, it appears that it is one of the new ones that is being returned and replaced. #1008-1009 are the only new road numbers. #1003-1005 are owned and 1012, 1015 and 1022 have been on the property for years.
The article was amended this morning with additional information. It didn't read like this when I first read it.
"While the recent additions are on the property, none have been placed in service yet. One has major mechanical problems and is scheduled to be returned to the lessor and replaced with another AC4400CW, while the other two continue to be set up for service."
Early this morning it read more like one of the earlier CEFX units that hadn't been purchased outright was being returned, making this addition of three extra AC4400CW's an increase by two units to their fleet.
Okay, that makes sense. I didn't see the original version.
Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.