yougottawantaI had always been told that diesal overtook steam because of the quick turn around, cheaper cost etc...That from my recent reading is not the complete picture.
The true story is railroads found they could save billions by killing off steam with diesels.
Here's what they saw:thousands of steam related jobs could be eliminated,hundreds of roundhouses and dozenss of back shops could be closed and they eye the elimination of thousands of fireman jobs as a bonus.
Railroads embraced the diesel and only WWII stopped the railroads from dieselizing sooner.
The reason is simple steam was a high maintenance locomotive that self destruct every time those drivers rolled down the track plus a steam engine pounded the rails.
BTW.One thing that got ALCO in trouble is they was still thinking steam when railroads was clearly embracing diesels.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
yougottawanta Just a curious what if post. I had always been told that diesal overtook steam because of the quick turn around, cheaper cost etc...That from my recent reading is not the complete picture. Another factor is that many or all of the steam parts manufacture went out of buisness or switched to diesal manufacturing leaving the hold outs for steam with out many of the small parts needed to build a steam engine. SO the question is how much longer do you think the steam engines would have run if the small parts manufactures would have stayed in buisness ? Five more years ? Ten years ? Something else ? Look forward to your comments YGW
Just a curious what if post.
I had always been told that diesal overtook steam because of the quick turn around, cheaper cost etc...That from my recent reading is not the complete picture. Another factor is that many or all of the steam parts manufacture went out of buisness or switched to diesal manufacturing leaving the hold outs for steam with out many of the small parts needed to build a steam engine.
SO the question is how much longer do you think the steam engines would have run if the small parts manufactures would have stayed in buisness ? Five more years ? Ten years ? Something else ?
Look forward to your comments
YGW
That's like asking if the horse and buggy would have lasted longer if harness makers would have stayed in business longer. The makers of steam accessories needed steam locomotive production to continue in order to stay in business.
I'm fairly certain that N&W would have continued steam production in Roanoke if parts had remained available at reasonable cost. Unfortunately, a customer base of one bodes ill for the continued success of your business, especially if that customer is one of the smaller class 1's. N&W tested 4 unit F7's against its latest Y's and came to the conclusion that for its purposes, the Y was superior. Unfortunately, by that time the other lines were scrapping steam as fast as they could get diesels. One is left to wonder what would have happened if other roads had gone to the same lengths as N&W to get the maximum out of steam.
Andre