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TomDiehl This is the only article I have found so far regarding this news item. If others come to my attention I will post them. I have not found any more regarding this item, ergo there have been no more posts. I will do so in spite of your insolence and unwarranted impatience. Regarding single carload vs the four truckload equivalent, I use that as a point of reference. It does not imply that any of the lines mentioned in the story are only shipping single carloads at a time. Service on these lines is usually once a week, averaging 10 to 25 cars at a time. They often run a geep in tandem with an SW model, probably an SW 1500. So, if you have a reference for your claim that a 2000 HP geep pulling one 110 ton carload is less efficient that four trucks pulling 27.5 tons each, supply it. If you have no reference, at least provide us with some math to make your case. We do have the "Locomotive Gallons Per Mile" thread...... http://www.trains.com/community/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=51885 ....which should help you make your case. For the WATCO scenario, if they did pull a single carload it would be with the SW 1500. If they are using 10 gallons per hour at 25 mph to pull that one 110 ton hopper, that's 2.5 miles per gallon. If it's 20 gallons per hour, that's 1.25 mpg...... http://www.alkrug.vcn.com/rrfacts/fueluse.htm For a 100 mile run, that's 80 gallons. The trucks are probably getting between 3 to 5 mpg for heavy loads, let's call it 4 mpg. 4 mpg divided into 100 miles, that's 25 gallons per truck, times four that's 100 gallons. So, in this scenario, it takes 80 gallons to move 110 tons by rail, and 100 gallons to move 110 tons by truck. Therefore, using the SW model, it is easily possible for the shortline operator to beat the truckers in fuel efficiency for a single carload. (PS - thanks to Hugh Jampton for posting the Al Krug fuel use link)
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