Forgive me if I am showing off my lack of knowledge when it comes to railroads, locomotives, and the like- but I have a question I was hoping someone here could answer. Is the name "warhorse" used to describe any particular type of locomotive, in the same way as say "U-Boat" describes the Universal Series of GE locos? I've seen it used, usually on EMD GP series diesels, but I'm clueless as to what it actually means. Anyone know for certain?
I don't think it refers to any model in particular, but rather any locomotive that has been running and in service (for the most part) for a LONG time - like 40 plus years.
This "nickname" tends to land on EMD products because they are so well built, and there are hundreds of 50 plus year old locos (in particular GP/SD 7/9's) some never extensively rebuilt doing exactly what the designers in LaGrange Ill wanted them to do, but i doubt they expected them to last this long!!!!
To have 50 plus year old locos still in service on a major class one (BNSF with their SD9's) is pretty impressive! They truely earn and deserve the name "Warhorse!"