robelybasis wrote:We should change this to -3H thread!
anways, with ConnDOT getting 6 chargers and Amtrak finishing up the 12 P40DCs for CDOT, that seems like a lot of locomotives for use just on the Hartford Line. Could we see the geeps being retired for good soon. Even though they were rebuilt in 2016-2017, they date back to 1967-71. Does anybody know the lifespan of the geeps after last rebuild or have any insight of what CDOT plans to do?
I think we’ll be seeing the GP38/40 series locomotives in service across the board well into the future. Not just at ConnDOT.
Reading & Northern -for example- has been buying a number of surplus/stored Norfolk Southern GP38-2s over the past several years, refurbishing + repainting them, and returning them to active freight service.
And there are countless numbers of them in service/being rebuilt or overhauled across the country. I suspect this is in part due to certain types of rebuilt locomotives being grandfathered in/being eligible for a waiver from the newer more stringent EPA regulations along with the fact that they were initially built 50 or so years ago *without* all of the computer garbage that is directly built into all these newer locomotive models. And they clearly seem to hold up well physically so I suppose they could be rebuilt in perpetuity (not literally, of course) until they’ve done all they can do.
I have yet to hear of any manufacturer offering a “contemporary GP38/40-like counterpart replacement” locomotive model (correct me if I’m wrong) which would indicate that there’s little to no interest anyway in a Geep replacement.
