Its not that they are hated more so being the fact that they dont fit into the thread of any class 1 anymore. WC had great mechanics, and those SD45s were easily some of the best units on the rails (and Im talking all engines in the 90s) and it was because all of the money that the WC put into them. After a while it wasnt a huge deal repairing them because they were cared for a long time, thats besides the few that had major troubles (all locos do), most ran like a swiss watch. Ask anyone who ran the WC SD45s (and who isnt a whiner when it comes to the noise) and they will tell you they were comfortable and pulled just as well as most new units. Course, during the later years CN didnt repair of give them routine maintenance so they went in the hole pretty fast. But, a few WC engineers were telling me that up and till' the end they still rode like beauty.
Alec
blade wrote:i don't know about any body else out there who is a railfan opinion is but i happen to like diesel locomotives of all shapes and sizes.the sd-45 is no exception,only if cn would be kind enough to keep at least one and donate it to a railroad museum would of have been a nice gesture on thier part.shame on cn for scrapping them all.(p.s.as a side note i don't like canadian national railroad,even though i'm from canada.)cp rules cn drools.
i bet you wouldn't think that way if you owned their stock or worked for them and made ***loads of cash. then again you'd never be at home, either...it's a trade-off, obviously. i'd go work for them and make 5k/half but then again i'm young and the g/f would love the money. The darker side is either she/i would probably end up cheating because of all the time away from home. i've seen it and heard stories of it and it'll always be that way. romance of the rails, baby!
still beats a 9-5 for me. can't imagine doing anything else.
It should be noted that BNSF is still running a small number of ex-Santa Fe SD45-2s. To minimize maintenance problems they are all in Rock train service in North Texas- South Oklahoma, so only one facility needs to stock any parts, also if any major part fails the locomotive is retired.
It has nothing to do with "hate". It's just plain economics. CN wants to own as few locomotives as possible at the least possible cost.
Newer locomotives burn less fuel per HP/hr of work done and they burn less at idle. Compared to and SD40-2, and SD45 burns more idle fuel and, even though the power generating efficiency is about the same, they burn more fuel hauling a train because they provide more HP/ton.
The SD45s also lose when it comes to availability and/or cost to stock replacement parts. There are just enough SD45-only parts that, if you have a small, free running fleet, are an expensive luxury to stock or would keep the locomotive out of service waiting on parts. The turbo and radiator cores are the first two that come to mind.
The WC SD45s probably perform as well as any 40 series, but, in CN's fleet, they are orphans, so are the first to go when new power is delivered.
-Don (Random stuff, mostly about trains - what else? http://blerfblog.blogspot.com/)
WCfan wrote: chuckles wrote: I am sure that Wisconsin Central bought the SD45's because they were cheap and they had good mechanical men to look at them when they were purchased and to keep them running.Yea they where cheap. I heard that WC got 10 for a million dollors, not a millon dollers each, but for all ten! WC had very good mechanical men, They took a CSX GP40 and put parts from 3 diffrent railroads on it to get it running again. Amazing! They also resurrected the GP7s, SDL39s, FP45, F45s and, SD24s. WC adopted all of the equpiment other railroads didn't want because they where cheap.
chuckles wrote: I am sure that Wisconsin Central bought the SD45's because they were cheap and they had good mechanical men to look at them when they were purchased and to keep them running.
I am sure that Wisconsin Central bought the SD45's because they were cheap and they had good mechanical men to look at them when they were purchased and to keep them running.
Yea they where cheap. I heard that WC got 10 for a million dollors, not a millon dollers each, but for all ten! WC had very good mechanical men, They took a CSX GP40 and put parts from 3 diffrent railroads on it to get it running again. Amazing! They also resurrected the GP7s, SDL39s, FP45, F45s and, SD24s. WC adopted all of the equpiment other railroads didn't want because they where cheap.
We got more than 10 for a million dollars , on average (after the initial BN purchase) we paid around 40K -70K for an SD-45 .. you do the math..
Not really. Most parts are interchangeable.
Mechanical Department "No no that's fine shove that 20 pound set all around the yard... those shoes aren't hell and a half to change..."
The Missabe Road: Safety First
My Youtube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/JR7582 My Flickr Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wcfan/
the WC did have good mechanical workers that worked in the shops in fond du lac where all them wc loco's & cars were all refurbrished & painted & the whole works. i liked the sd 45's bacuse of its looks i could reconize it by the back end of it & the first one i ever met personaly was 7515 the closest i ever got to one when i was at stevens point abt 10 yds. any way i dont think 7525 will be around much longer. when they broguth them abck CN said they were gonna be around til next year but i guess CN changed thier mind on us.
Forgot to mention that the SD45s will never meet the new EPA emissions standards.
LC
Mike WSOR engineer | HO scale since 1988 | Visit our club www.WCGandyDancers.com
They are fuel hogs and have a number of non-standard features making maintenance more difficult and non-standard. They are also old and suffering from being run hard and put up wet for a lot of years...
I believe that it was because the crankshafts in the long 20 cyclinder engines were subject to failure. Obviously that would be a big fix even if all the other parts were still usable. The flared and tilted radiators were also subject to leaking according to something I read.
Production began in 1965 with the -2 version coming on the scene in 1972. These locos are old.
Electronic controls in the modern locomotive allow it to perform better in terms of adhesion, fuel consumption, distributed locomotives, etc. At least the new ones are going back to the flared radiators...
Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.