railroad@ucbvax.ARPA (08/05/85)
From: Dan_Bower%RPI-MTS.Mailnet@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA Funny about rebuilding commuter locomotives. One of the P&LE's complaints in thier abandonment petition (for thier last Pittsburgh commuter train) was that the only engine they had with a steam generator (a hand-me-down GP9 from the New York Central) was in need of rebuilding. As the train hadn't been losing money for years, and the P&LE's freight traffic is really down, I'm not surprised that they won the petition. (Remember just a scant 10 years ago when the P&LE was such a hot item for acquisition? Between losing traffic to Conrail and mill closings, life's pretty rough for the P&LE now. With Wheeling Pittsburgh Steel on strike, I wonder how long the P&LE can hold out.) Back to locomotives... Of course, rebuilding engines isn't always a panacea. Up in this neck of the woods, a number of FL9's were rebuilt, and the performance got worse. sigh... Amtrak can't wait to get out of Grand Central so they can ditch the FL9's entirely (and realize a few other benefits).