Forward for you, backwards for everybody else.

Uke's opinion is that damn near all the newer power outa Erie and La Grange/London, Ont., Canada is overly complicated. And needn't be so.

The damn things are just a diesel engine poering a generator/alternator, which supply current ta move the thing, plus pull tonnage.

There's too many computers aboard. Computers ta run the diesel, modulate the current output ta pull the load, which a good hogger already knows...

Another computer tracks speed, horn use, bells, braking (dynamics, and air apps.) and where the train is... Why not just ask the crew? Ya got a computer ta operate the brakes so that you won't overbrake. Another computer monitors fuel, ambient temps., weather conditions, grade, drawbar pull (strain), running time...

Hell, they don't need a crew, just let the damn computers run the thing! Both manufacturers have given up building locomotives ta lord computer. Look into the nose area; FIVE, or six computers there. Behind ya, in the control cabinet, five or six more.

No wonder ya can't reset a LWSD...or find the battery switch! The railroads oughta train ALL noobs on GP-7s, or SD-9s. Or ALCOs. None of 'em were 'comfort' cabs...with A/C and heat...and had seats from hell!

I have more problems trying to unfuck some computer glitch than anything else on these techno toasters. Something fucks up on an SD40, grab the roll of duct tape and jerry rig the fucker back on the rails.

Shove fusees in the contactors so those ol' gals would make transition? Yeah, that was fun. Snippy surely didn't do that, did he?

Cy Valley wrote:

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Shove fusees in the contactors so those ol' gals would make transition? Yeah, that was fun. Snippy surely didn't do that, did he?

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Yep, the old GE's ya hadda go out and climb in the compartment rite behind the cab, open those 2 big doors and press those little round red flags back down ta reset em

 

Yeah Cal. the enuciator panel. Easy resets. Drop the gen. Field switch first though. Let 'er run in idle for a while... Ten, fifteen minutes later, go!

I suppose the fuel-efficiencey. service reliability thing is what drives the railroads, and by turn the builders ta overrely on computers ta control functions normally taken care of by the crew...

But look at taday's outfits. Longer, heavier trains, distributed power...all to improve 'asset management' (read employee reduction=$$$) and control costs. Yep!

They've won that battle alright! Same rational drives the reliance on RCLs instead of crewing yards.

The 'old' EMD Dash-2 series was EMD's first, best line ever. The locos were stupid. The SD-40-2 did what it was 'told,' and followed instructions, and needed little attention. And they set records for locomotives sold, tonnages pulled, passengers moved... And the costs of owning/operating were well within every outfits budgets.

The GE's of today have a somewhat less than enviable reputation. Yet all the bigs still buy 'em. Why? Dollar-cost averaging. Cheap is as cheap does! And ya get what ya pay for!