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You may have better working conditions on a short line. There may be downsides too. First, the customer base is not as diverse. If a customer goes bust, changes to trucks, moves, then it may be all over. Many short lines also run on a shoestring. This may not be advantageous for making a career. I r...

This thread has died a few years ago, but I was wondering about their rebuilding programs in general. It was stated that the C40-8.5 program was suspended. Did NS scrap all remaining -8? I haven't seen any in quite a while. Meantime, the -9 to AC program is up to the 4500 number block. Way back it w...

Thanks for the detailed answers. They have lead me to a few thoughts in summarization. Maybe Lima was a bit overboard in the calculations of what sized firebox was needed to have the steam production rates needed to have a large locomotive sustain high demand steam load? Maybe in the boom times of t...

It seems to me that the length of time to heat a large volume of water might have been detrimental. Other factors come to mind like water circulation through the boiler, Maybe the size and intensity of the modern (now about 80+ years old fireboxes offset this.

Right again John from Jersey. The staffing problem, as I've mentioned has multiple issues. Over the years prior to PSR many railroads had bee going towards schemes where there was more predictability for crews. In my time at BNSF they had a scheme where the engineers were on call for four days, but ...

This is a complex situation. Even before Penn Central and the N&W expansion, N&W was controlled by PRR. There was a discussion about those roads merging. The topic of NYC and ChessIe System merging was also floated. In this case C&O was a wealthy company. NYC was sick, due to its passeng...

During the war EMD may have been lacking supplies at different times. The out of sequence serial numbers seem to have occurred then. Maybe blocks were built as supplies of material became available. Maybe with war contracts an order had to be put on hold for a spell. X number of 567s for LSTs may, f...

That's interesting to find out that Manafort is in railroad construction now. I grew up in their HQ town of Plainville, Conn., and know some of the family.

John From Jersey, you hit the nail on the head. This is a debacle which has many factors involved. Lots of careful consideration is definitely needed to come to a meaningful resolution. I have seen how the new NS president is trying to play nice with the workers. Maybe it's window dressing, but mayb...

I never saw this post, but in my opinion, you're better off changing your major to something more universally useful. There should be no trouble finding a railroad job, if you would like one. Railroads are desperate for help now. I've mentioned changing your major for a few reasons. First, as mentio...

They shouldn't be.

Re: "New Haven in a few examples would have an appliance from company A on engines 1-10, and the competitor’s on 11-20. That way a real side to side comparison could be observed." ------A policy, or habit, or eccentricity, or... that they continued into the early phase of dieselization: t...

When did Southern finally retire its FT fleet? I'd like to know if a later 567A or B was installed later in their careers.

I agree that BNSF being privately held shouldn't be subject to this. I remember reading about how Uncle Warren said that he wanted his holdings run for the long term, thinking about 100 years from now. Maybe he hast to follow suit to remain competitive? I'm not a big fan of regulation and for once c...

Is it possible that EMD built X number of engines in anticipation of orders, but installed them without regard to their serial numbers in relationship to locomotives serial numbers>