Milwaukee_F40C wrote: I don't see how they would operate a whole lot differently from an SD40.
I recall them wheel slipping alot more than the SD40-2. If you had a little rain or snow on the rail dragging a 15,000 ton coal train uphill, those C30-7's would be lurching and jumping all over the place trying to keep adhesion. EMD's wheel slip control system was much better. I believe a poll would be (almost) unanimous if the question was: 4 C30-7's or 4 SD40-2's on a coal train; which do you prefer?
However, some of my favorite moments against NIMBYism involved C30-7's...
I worked a piggyback train that drew alot of horsepower on a short, light train. We'd creep out of the yard at 15MPH and once clear of the interlocking, accelerate up to 50 MPH. The NIMBY folks that lived next to the tracks would always flip us the bird; even though we'd wave and smile at their children waving at us. During the summer evenings, when the NIMBYs were hard at work at their bar-b-ques, I'd roll that piggyback train out of the yard, then go Notch 3, Notch 4, then swipe the throttle to Notch 8. Having 4 C30's belching out all that smoke and flames would truly anger our "neighbors". Then, just for spite, I'd notch back down, then repeat the throttle swipe for our "neighbors" further up the tracks so all the finger-flipping respectable folks could enjoy the full-on GE experience ... courtesy of the Dash 7 series.
