Anyone know why this particular group were so long lived?
The vast majority of the model on BN, including older and newer examples of similar vintage, died at the typical U-Boat retirement age of 15 (Small numbers appeared to have had their lease extended by a year or two, but they're very much the exception to the rule). Yet this particular order bucked the trend and survived into the mid 1990's with the average retirement age of 20, with several examples even surviving the merger and being assigned BNSF numbers, 6-7 years after even newer U30C's had already been strickened from the roster at age 15.
Did these just happen to be the only group from BN's large fleet of 1972-1975 built U30C's to have been bought outright rather than be acquired with a 15 year lease, or did some other attribute contribute to their longevity compared to their sisters?
The vast majority of the model on BN, including older and newer examples of similar vintage, died at the typical U-Boat retirement age of 15 (Small numbers appeared to have had their lease extended by a year or two, but they're very much the exception to the rule). Yet this particular order bucked the trend and survived into the mid 1990's with the average retirement age of 20, with several examples even surviving the merger and being assigned BNSF numbers, 6-7 years after even newer U30C's had already been strickened from the roster at age 15.
Did these just happen to be the only group from BN's large fleet of 1972-1975 built U30C's to have been bought outright rather than be acquired with a 15 year lease, or did some other attribute contribute to their longevity compared to their sisters?