Railroads Should Rebuild Locomotives Than Taking T

[Anonymous]

Family car? yup, probably would be all used-up. I have never heard of an automobile racking-up over a million miles, and still be serviceable. Sure, I would not expect to see a GP-7 heading up a hot-shot intermodal, but as Mark Twain said, "The reports of my death, are greatly exaggerated".
How else can you explain diesels still operating over 50 years after they were built? Sure, they might be in yard service, or sold to shortlines, but they do survive. Long live the Geep!

Todd C.

[Anonymous]

I'd love it if all I saw on the highway were 60's E type Jaguars,Fastback Torinos,Stingray 'Vettes,and Daytona Chargers. All Capers and I need is a time machine.........

[Anonymous]

I would LOVE if every hot-shot freight were headed up by any class of EMD streamlined F units - also 567's.

[Mookie]

reading the conductor "digs" makes me smile. My Dad used to tell about his firemen sleeping during most of the run - and one in particular that came on the engine with a blanket and pillow and used them both for the entire trip. :)

[BRAKIE]

One thing I can say about the old ALCOs,the way they bounce you around you did not have time to sleep! Not to mention the racket.I have dooze off to the chant of a 567... How I love that chant of a 567!

[wabash1]

that is if you can keep the conductor awake most of them think it is nap time when they get on a engine. then complain couse they laid over 8hr and 01 min before going on dutyfor the trip back home. i do like the older engines they get the drafty doors and i stay comfortable.

[Anonymous]

Now if we're talking about a Dash-9 without air no doubt I'd rather have a SD-40 any day.Would also rather have one when the weather is cool enough to not need air.But you should hear the conductors whine when they don't get their confort cab.No desk,no radio hand-set,older seats,harder for them to relax.Know the differance between a baby and a conductor?The baby eventually stops whining.

[Anonymous]

Go back to Kansas Straw head

[wabash1]

when i work the ground i didnt wait on a cab to get me if i had to drag a knuckle or air hose and wrench to change one out usually 10 from the rear i did it walking downn the side of the train. doing my impression of a mountain goat. thats where you find out how good your legs and ankles are. now im running and i get more than my share of non airconditioned units. give me a gp-38 or a sd-40 anyday over a dash 9 wide body that the air has stoped working. there is no air flow thru these units unless your moving and then its marginal. times have changed but they are slow doing so.

[dknelson]

This is like looking at old family photos and saying "Gee you should never have traded in that car - now you'd have a valuable classic." Right -- and likely inoperable. Locomotives age just like automobiles. They have longer useful lives but like cars as they age they fall lower on the food chain and at some point, yes, they do get scrapped because they no longer function. Railroads are not museums

[BRAKIE]

I have talked to several shopmen over the years.Those that worked on the cab units had very few kind words to say.The cab unit was a night mare to work on.Hot,dark,no room to work,dirty and above all little fresh air.Unlike rebuilding a GP7/9 you could not remove the carbody on the cab units like you can the geep units.In short it would be like rebuilding a diesel motor in a WWII submarine.
Most engineers I have talk to that ran the F units did not mind them just as long as there was no switching to do enroute.When they had to drop cars off enroute,you could not see out the window in order to make a reverse move.If you lean out the window,you could not touch the throttle.Recall there was no hand radios for the crew to use like today,everything was done with hand signals.In short you was blind when backing up.There was ways around this with the firemans help...Recall the rear brakeman and conductor was in the caboose at the end of the train,the head brakeman would do the set out work to save time.Say,your train had 165 cars and you are setting off the frist 12 cars,there would be no need for the conductor and rear brakeman to walk 165 cars to help with the switching.It would work much like today when they drop cars enroute except the fireman would relay the hand signals to the engineer from the door or the ground.He who stand where the engineer could see him with out having to look back.Of course the fireman could see the head brakeman.BTW this was really not his job to do so,but most would not mind helping out in such cases.His job was to check the units in the locomotive consists from time to time and to repeat the call out of the track side signals from the engineer.IE, The engineer would say "High green",The fireman would repeat "High green" or what ever the signal aspect was.BTW.The head brakie usually rode the last trailing unit looking back over the train.Yes,sometimes he would ride the lead unit instead.

[Anonymous]

This is a great thread with all of the first hand reports from folks who have operated locomotives. Any one have good things to say about cab units?
Ralph

[BRAKIE]

Yes,I think I understand management.We had some ARFs that would try to tell the engineer how to get a 14-16,000 ton train across the division.Usually these ARFs was promoted from non train service jobs.
Know and understand I am not taking anything away from you railroaders today.Your just as tough as we where.You face the same dangers we did.Of course you know the hardships of being a railroader.As I always said not everybody is cut out to be a railroad man.A youing man that leaves a 40 hour a week job with holidays and week ends off learns real fast this does not happen in train service.You know the routine.
I would not trade my 9 1/2 years experence for anything-I loved the work.Of course I have not railroaded since 1984.I still miss it.

[Anonymous]

No doubt about it those were the days that seperated the men from the boys.Remember the old heads telling me of firemen walking away from the job miles from home because they couldn't take it anymore,having to lay on the cab floor on helper engines while pushing through tunnels hoping they didn't stop.Duct tape, still carry it in my gripe,one of man-kinds greatest inventions.lol Larry you would be shocked to see the way the RR company's want their new engineers to run trains.Tell my students when I get them that I'm going to teach them the way I was taught by the old heads,many of who cut their teeth in the steam era.But still.... gratefull for the advances the industry has made in our behalf as for as creature comforts go.

[BRAKIE]

While I have no doubt railroading is better today then ever before.I remember the duct tape we placed around the doors to keep out the cold wind.I haven't forgotten you had to YELL to be heard.The warm water in the water jug.The long hot waits in some siding in the middle of no where.The cold and drafty PRR N6b cabin cars(used on locals).Climbing the end ladder on a ice covered boxcar in order to release the hand brake.(now you stand on the ground and do it-much better)On the PRR we had a full 5 man crew,on the Chessie we had 4.Today you have 2,now belt packs.
We both know railroading in those days was not for the faint of heart.It was down right dangerous riding the tops of cars to relay hand signals to the engineer,swinging off and on moving cars and locomotives,carrying a air hose (no taxies or crew wagons)to the car that needed it 85 cars deep in the train,repacking a hot box,So,yes,one had to be tough to be a railroader..Now,if you don't believe a fireman was tough,try firing a steam engine across the division even with a mechanical stroker you still had some hand firing to do,never mind about the dirty coal that was mostly slate.Yes sir,Tough? Yes,one had to be tough,you had to be a little tougher in my Daddys day,tougher still in my Grandfathers day,really tough in my Great Grandfathers time.

[Anonymous]

Larry,I've been railroading for 26yrs and have had my share of first generation units.Just because my dad walked uphill both ways 4 miles to school doesn't mean I have to.We've come a long way in working comfort the past 10yrs or so.Heat and air conditioning that actually works,noise reduction so we don't need hearing aides when we retire,refrigerators that work and hold more than just a few bottles of water,larger and safer cabs,etc... It has nothing to do with being tough it has to do with humane working conditions.Spent my share of sitting in sidings duruing 100 degree days with every posible window door open and an inside temp. of 120,only shade to be found is on the leeward side of the train.Glad those days are long gone.Still occasionally get stuck with a SD-40-2 with no air to remind me of what it use to be like.We did it back then because we didn't have a choice.Now we do.

[Anonymous]

I'm glad your teenage(I think he said he was 15)
son has taken an interest in seeing old diesels preserved.That's a worthy cause,and we need a lot more young people in this hobby who will become the next generation of railfans.

John Mallory

[BRAKIE]

Hey,we had AIR! 2 45s! That is 2 windows open and 45 mph! My oh my what would you have done back in the steam days? Talk about HOT! Luckly I was to young to work with the last of steam,so I will never know! I have been in steam locomotive cabs and needless to say it was hot as all get out.I guess it all boils down to different eras of railroaders.Don't you agree? I am yet to hear a old engineer say anything bad about the GP7/9.Alcos? Whole different story.Very few have kind words about the Alcos.
As far as todays locomotives all GEs look about the same as well as the newer EMDs.
Speaking as a former PRR brakeman I much perfer working with any EMD except cab units.As a ex Chessie brakeman I still perfered the EMDs over the GEs..I hated the FM H24-66.Those jewels would wear your legs out riding the steps.I still perfered the GP7/9 as the unit to work with followed by the EMD Switchers..

[Anonymous]

Also when its 90-100 degrees outside give me anything with air!!! You can sweat buckets if you want.

[Anonymous]

Yes they might get you up that hill if they keep working and not very swiftly.Believe me I have had my share of GP-9s and they were a good motor in their day but why drive a model T when you can have something faster and more confortable to ride in.

[wabash1]

i dont need to study up on them in some areas they would do just fine for yard work and local service. i just wouldnt run them in thru freight operations. and i can say this there are more older emd units out there than there is or ever will be ge units.

[BRAKIE]

Those old GP7/9s still get the work done! I have been on a few 14,000 ton trains with 5 GP9s. They took us over the division in fine time.We didn't need a computer in order to run them.

Before you knock a GP7/9 I believe you should study up on them.You will see that those geeps was indeed the RAILROADERS LOCOMOTIVE! Go anywhere,do anything,all around locomotive.

There was 2,615 GP7s built,3,601 GP9s built.Some of these old girls are still around unrebuilt and others have been rebuilt.
Nobody thought that ***'s Dilworth's ugly ducking would be a big hit and would lasted over 50 years!

[wabash1]

i dont think you could get it going. but it would bet a consist of ge's. i wonder if these people feel the same way about old cars?

[Anonymous]

Sure glad I don't have to operate that 10,000 tons with a GP-7 consist.Would take us forever to get where we're going.

[Anonymous]

Now now, No need to use foul language in a public forum such as this!

[Anonymous]

go play with your dam straw

[Anonymous]

Well, my friend, I too hate to see old engines scrapped. But the main reason that you see these SD-40's etc. being torched, is the way railroads aquire their fleets of motive-power. Railroads lease the locomotives, usually for 15 years, so they don't actually "own them" the big banking companies do. After the lease is up, the equipment is "fully-depreciated", and it is financially advantagious for all parties concerned, to "retire" these units, and lease new ones. Not all retired units meet the scrappers torch though, many are sold-off to "shortlines" and see another decade or so of service. As to your reference to the BN B30-7A's, I have read that some company has bought about 30 of them, to use as portable power-plants. Not sure if this scheme ever took off or not though. But I know what you are saying, I would LOVE if GP-9s still headed-up every hot-shot freight. Nothing like the sound of a "normally-aspirated-567" loading up to get 10,000 tons outta town. We should talk, E-mail me at [e-mail]

Todd C.

[Anonymous]

Well, my friend, I too hate to see old engines scrapped. But the main reason that you see these SD-40's etc. being torched, is the way railroads aquire their fleets of motive-power. Railroads lease the locomotives, usually for 15 years, so they don't actually "own them" the big banking companies do. After the lease is up, the equipment is "fully-depreciated", and it is financially advantagious for all parties concerned, to "retire" these units, and lease new ones. Not all retired units meet the scrappers torch though, many are sold-off to "shortlines" and see another decade or so of service. As to your reference to the BN B30-7A's, I have read that some company has bought about 30 of them, to use as portable power-plants. Not sure if this scheme ever took off or not though. But I know what you are saying, I would LOVE if GP-9s still headed-up every hot-shot freight. Nothing like the sound of a "normally-aspirated-567" loading up to get 10,000 tons outta town. We should talk, E-mail me at [e-mail]

Todd C.

[Anonymous]

Whatever some of you people are on,please share it with the rest of us.I know it's hard for many to comprehend,and seems selfish and self-serving,but railroads are not unlike any other business on this planet:Can you say "profit motive"? Sure can you can.Running trains head-on? Again,please share,and if you don't get help at Charter,please get help somewhere.