Railroads Should Rebuild Locomotives Than Taking T

[Anonymous]

Iam with your son on that one.Like to see them run also.

[bnsf4737]

The letter was from my son and his wrote that because he hates it when the railroads dispose their old diesel locomotives. He wants to preserve them and see them running when he is still living.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like a question for a Hollywood producer like Jerry Bruckheimer. Get into that business,hit it big,and you can stage trainwrecks to your hearts content......
In all seriousness,nowadays it is far easier and cheaper to do those kind of movie stunts with digital effects. The film going public can't tell the difference and really doesn't care. And once again,the insurance industry and lawyers make it real hard to do live action disaster sequences on the scale they used to be done.
As a kid,I asked "Why don't they?" about many things.As an adult I've learned the answer to many of those questions:MONEY..........

[Anonymous]

Action movies are the thing today.So why not run a SD40-2 head on with a C30-7.

[Anonymous]

I hope you are fortunate enough to earn the money to buy these locomotives and put them on display.

Railroading is a business. Why should they donate a locomotive to someone when they can sell it for scrap. Some of us own stock in these companies. I would be appalled to hear they were giving the assets away.

Why not lobby Congress to give the Railroads full credit off their taxes when they donate a locomotive.

Then, you probably wouldn't find anyone who could afford to maintain them. And you have to build track for them too. This is no small matter either. Oh yea, make the Railroads donate the track too.

Ed

[Anonymous]

There's this thing you have to deal with when you become a grownup called insurance. The amount of money it would take to stage a train wreck like you're proposing would be exorbitant.Those staged steam engine crashes took place in a time when liability laws and safety regulations were practically nonexistent. Those events were the equivalent of action movies in their time.

[Anonymous]

As you probably know,BNSF 4737,the 4000 Class
B30-7As are no more than 20 years of age.I,too,
was surprised at that move.But I am aware that BNSF loses some flexibility with B units,perhaps that's one reason they were sold for scrap;I'm sure there are others.
Are you aware that some BNSF units are 50 years old?It's true;the 1299 Class and 3820 Class GP7s were built while Truman was in office.
Chances are they worked alongside Santa Fe's steam locomotives,and other early diesels.And the 1600 Class GP9s and 1700 Class GP9Bs were built from 1954-1957.I am so thankful that they are still around.Here in Oklahoma these veterans are alive and well.The 3820 Class GP7s are paired with yard slugs in Oklahoma City,and a couple of GP9Bs are more or less in captive service in Tulsa.And I hope they are around for years to come.
Thankfully BNSF donated their 90 Class FP45s;one of them,the class unit,is in Oklahoma City.Thank you BNSF!!
At last word BNSF 1460,an SWBLW,which is a Baldwin VO1000 with an EMD prime mover,trucks,
and a GP7 long hood was still in Topeka,Kansas.
She was built in 1943,and,while it's debatable,
she may be considered the oldest unit in the BNSF fleet(I think only the frame,fuel tank/air tanks,
and cab are leftover from Baldwin).If not,then GP7
3837 might claim the title as the oldest unit.
The 3500 Class SW1200s are still in use at various yards across the system.And then there are the 6100 Class SD9s,a handful were rebuilt into SD9-3s a few years ago,but that came to halt.
If you don't have a copy,I suggest you get the BNSF 2002 LOCOMOTIVE AND FREIGHT CAR REVIEW by Bob Del Grosso.It gives you the build dates for all the existing BNSF diesels.And I wish you the best in trying to preserve them,it needs to be done.

John Mallory

[bnsf4737]

you are aboulty right. Hey i don't have the money for that. i wi***hat all of us that believe that scraping locomotive do not exist. I wi***hat the railroads can at least donate 1 of every locomotive model that they are sending the scrap yard.Set up an organization and have the railroad donat locomotives.

[Anonymous]

The units going to the scarp line.Why dont somebody buy a few take them to an unused track or a rail siding at a fair ground and run them head on and charge a fee to watch it.They use to do it with old steam engines.I got a train wreck video that has two locomotives hitting head on.I like to see two diesels do it if they didnt have a future.

[Anonymous]

The older units have problems with reliability, the business is getting stuff from point A to point B and if a units goes down some where in route they can't take care of business. Also cost, two C44-9W can replace three SD40 and use less fuel and have fewer units to service. Then there is the EPA most older units if rebuild will not meet the tier-1 standards. And a locomotive is more then just a diesel engine there are all the other parts like traction motors that will have to be replace and then you just have an old unit and for just a bit more you can have a new reliable one. I to am sad to see the GE -7s go and many SD40s too but there are a lot of SD40 out there that will run for years to come, you and me may put them in a musem, but a rail road is in the transportation business and must have the best and most reliable units to move the trains and when there time comes the C44-9Ws and SD70Ms will be replaced with new units to. And about the old units going to the scrapper, their steel will be recycled into new steel, so think of it this way old locomotive don't die they just get reincarnated into new ones.

gwl
http://photosbygreg.20m.com

[Anonymous]

My friend if you ever had to operate a B30-7 you'd see why their going to the scrape-heap! Unreliable,vibrating,slippery(No adhesion to the rail) drafty rough riding pieces of junk! But we should save one or two for museum pieces.

[bnsf4737]

I heard the BNSF and other railroad are disposing their older locomotive and shipping the to the scrapper. I wi***hat would never happen. Just amagine that you are the old locomotive and the locomtive is the you and they are sending you to death. How would you feel? Hey, I'm only 15 years old. I don't like when railroad throw away their older locomotives. Why can't they rebuild them to last another 20 years. The diesel is very expensive too and they should put in a catapiller engine to save fuel. And they don't have a conditioner, why don't you install it. You want to know the answer my friend? BECAUSE OF MONEY!! I want them to live as long as they can BNSF 52 B30-7A's they're going to the scapper in Portland, OR. I live 120 miles east of portland. where i lived, BNSF predessessor Burlington sevred Goldendale, Washington (that's where i live) To me my dream is to have a fancy railroad musem and have the old locomtives that are going to the scrap yard. And have the railroad donated their locomotives. Me and my friend Charles our dream is too preserve every model that is going to the scrap like Amtrak's F40's UP's Tunnel Motors and BNSF B30-7A's. Give me your suggustion when you have the time. Thank You.