mosier@iuvax.UUCP (12/04/83)
#N:iuvax:4100001:000:2514 iuvax!mosier Dec 3 21:58:00 1983 Actually, from an employee standpoint, I always liked the EMD's for road work, the ALCO's for yard and local work, and NEVER did like the GE's. EMD's road far and away the best of all the engines I worked with, had good adhesion to the rail, and they were reliable. They were, excluding the EMD yard engines, rather slow to load up, so were never good for flat switching (kicking or dropping). The ALCO's were rather rough on the bunns, had fair adhesion but were great switching machines. GE's had terrible wheel slip problems ON DRY RAIL. If one had a tonnage train of coal etc. and more than one GE up front, it was hard at best, and impossible if wet to get over the road on anything other than flat level ground (which doesn't exist in southern Indiana). You could always tell a GE from any distance by their sound - they always sounded like a old one cylinder John Deere tractor about to die. In contrast, the revolution of a ALCO's camshaft at idle suggested it may be its last. Oldies but goodies were the the GP-9 - SD-9 (six axle) with 24RL brake equipment (took a little skill!), for road work and RS-3's for yard and local, though worked every- thing from second generation F, E and FP units (called them 'covered wagons') through GP-36/38/40. The only real lemons I saw from EMD were the GP-20's; they were actually worse than the GE's. I worked for 16 years with the Pennsylvania ala Penn Central ala Conrail as fireman - engineman (last 11) before getting fed up with the whole mess and taking up computers, don't ask me why -- I still don't know!! Good as the second generation diesels were, their downfall was their fuel consumption, which could be as high as 4 gal./hr just sitting at idle, EMD's being one of the worst. EMD diesel engines were/are known the world over for their durability and strength, not just for locomotives, but marine and stationary plants. Listen to a river tug sometime, if your close enough you can almost tell which model it is. Don't know about the first generation diesels (the Baldwin's, early EMD's, Fairbanks etc.), they were all gone when I started. ALCO's, I'm told, are still being made in Canada. Also, I'm told that GE is working on better quality control. Last engines I worked with were GP-38's, a more or less standard replacement for the GP-9. Are there other ex RR's on the net? steve mosier CSNet: mosier@Indiana ARPA: mosier.Indiana@Rand-Relay UUCP: ...pur-ee!iuvax!mosier ...ihnp4!inuxc!iuvax!mosier
burton@fortune.UUCP (12/07/83)
To reply to the end of your very interesting news item, I am also an
ex-RRer, as follows:
I spent the first ten years of my professional life in the tranportation
field.
for several years, I worked for the New York MTA ("the wholly [William] Ronan
empire"), and did planning for them. That included all the subway lines and
the LIRR, the world's largest commuter system.
I also did several years as a transportation grad student at MIT, working
on their RR project for the FRA, on such matters as car cycle reliability
and freight car acquisition planning.
I did several years in transportation consulting for Stanford Research
Institute, as a followon to my grad work.
Last, I spent a summer in France as a "stagaire," literally, exchange student,
actually working for the French National RRs, ("la SNCF") at a loco repair
shop in the suburbs of Paris. Tres con, ca.
I left the transportation business because consulting to the guv is too
uncertain, and is a poor payer besides. When I made that decision, myy
wife was 6 months pregnant, and I had just been laid off from a consulting
firm (after SRI) only because a faceless bureaucrat cancelled our followon
contract. No way to live.
Now I'm in the super-stable computer business.
I'd like to read some other bios, and chat, esp. if you're in the Bay Area or
ex-East Coast. (Miss those GG1s.)
Phil Burton
Fortune Systems, Redwood City, CA 96065
415 595 8444 x526