Yahoo Answers is shutting down on May 4th, 2021 (Eastern Time) and the Yahoo Answers website is now in read-only mode. There will be no changes to other Yahoo properties or services, or your Yahoo account. You can find more information about the Yahoo Answers shutdown and how to download your data on this help page.
Trending News
Winds of change close another chapter in history?
my latest job has allowed me to luckily work 100' from the NS mainline, which is a nice change from my living next to CSX. and with this new fortune i have had the priveledge of witnessing intermodal, gen merch., and local service at a rate of 2 trains an hour on average. NOT BAD for a recessionary economy. and i havent included Amtrak sightings yet either! (4 daily that i see)
imagine my suprise when i started seeing UP yellow locomotives roll by! we dont get many of those on the east coast!!!! well, as nice as all this is, its still the latest generation locos. except the locals. those however are powered by second gen locos. of four axle nature. and to my point. GP vs SD.
all you see now is 6 axle stuff. the GPs are relogated to all the lowly jobs much like steam was in its final days. until one day i saw an SD40 roll in behind a GP on the local. and i thought, wow, an SD40 on a local? so if SDs are now starting to run the lowly jobs, does this mean the chapter is closed on GP locomotives working the mainline trains? are we relogated now to an SD market only?
finally one day after even the mighty SD40 has brought in the last local on some obscure backwoods local turn and is shut down one last time, will we be only snapping photos of these 6 axle behemoths that stomp around the rails today?
truth be known, that high nosed GP38 (and SD40 for that matter) looked a dam sight better than what we have today. ofcourse thats my opinion, and looks dont run a railroad.
2 Answers
- AndyLv 79 years agoFavorite Answer
I think the reason you don't see many old units like SD40's on the mainline is the fact that the newer generation locomotives are so much more efficient.The new C44,C45,and SD70's can pull more freight with less units and burn less fuel doing it.The railroads are all about profit.Our yard has two long tracks full of stored GE Dash 8's and GP and SD 40's,45's,etc.They sneak one out in a consist every once in awhile.They are still using the SD 60's too.I think you'll always see the old SD's and GP's on the locals.The reason for that is that the trucks on the newer engines are so long that can't negotiate the tight curves in many industries.Many tracks are even restricted to 4 axle engines.As for seeing Up engines on the NS we've always had many cases of our power being used by them the same way we get many of their units.I don't think there is any merger with them in the works(no rumors anyways).We get quite a few CSX units on our trains too.
Source(s): UPRR engineer - Mike M.Lv 79 years ago
You're right about looks not running a railroad, and I've seen several UP units at the NS yards in Raleigh,NC. Does this mean the UP might merge with the NS? Who's to say? One thing's for sure... In this world of railroad mega-mergers, seeing those two companies merge really wouldn't be a surprise to me.
