Dead SD50F

I am not surprised to read that the 50 series are a maintenance nightmare. The full width carbody units are great if its below zero and the unit is undergoing a load test. I never did understand why the railroads ordered the full width carbody configuration. Every time we needed to move one (full width carbody), "borrowing" the yard switcher was the best choice.

I don't think I have had a bad Cowl unit. Here in Canda they keep the cabs in good shape. Like we have the fridges and microwaves too. We do have the right to refuse a unit that the microwave or fridge doesnt work.

Down in the states you get it ... its just a collective agreemtn thing. We still have a great one here in Canda. Hunter wants it gone ... but as long as its here our work life is great and the units are usually clean.

gp9rm4108 wrote:I don't think I have had a bad Cowl unit. Here in Canda they keep the cabs in good shape. Like we have the fridges and microwaves too. We do have the right to refuse a unit that the microwave or fridge doesnt work.

Down in the states you get it ... its just a collective agreemtn thing. We still have a great one here in Canda. Hunter wants it gone ... but as long as its here our work life is great and the units are usually clean.

just wait until the next contracts come around.. hunter wants all us [descriptive deleted] and our unions to fall... 6 days until we [shopcraft] go out on strike...

Moderator's note: inappropriate language removed by Ken V, Jan 11 2007 11:50 p.m. ET

gp9rm4108 wrote:I don't think I have had a bad Cowl unit. Here in Canda they keep the cabs in good shape. Like we have the fridges and microwaves too. We do have the right to refuse a unit that the microwave or fridge doesnt work.

Down in the states you get it ... its just a collective agreemtn thing. We still have a great one here in Canda. Hunter wants it gone ... but as long as its here our work life is great and the units are usually clean.

Hmmm, so the units with the desktop control stand in Canada don't have worn out controllers? They don't go to 600 amps in dynamic instantly when you put them into setup? The wheels don't have 4 inch flatspots because of that? The toilets don't leak? The windows don't leak? The doors stay closed when they are supposed to? The heaters don't smell like someone took a dump in them? The bells work? The radios don't fall out of their elevated perches? The microwave ovens don't look like somebody cooked a live cat in them? Damn, I am transfering to Canada, eh.

Here she is 3 months later going though the Canyon with a fresh Coat of Paint

<img src="http://www3.telus.net/christian_v/Canadian%20National/5416_Conrad.jpg" width="512"> click on photo to enlarge

Two-Tone-Green wrote:Here she is 3 months later going though the Canyon with a fresh Coat of Paint

<img src="http://www3.telus.net/christian_v/Canadian%20National/5416_Conrad.jpg" width="512"> click on photo to enlarge

OMFG they put the zebra stripes back on!!! All hope is not lost!

Mike

I know eh... When I was reviewing pictures with my buddy who was with me and I was like "Hold on a second... that looks too 'new' " but then I did some research when I got back and I found that picture on RP and I was surprised that they had re-painted her in the Zebra Paint Scheme!

Well I had another one of those junkers the other night along with an SD40-2W that belonged in the scrapyard, 5411 with 5335 leading. 355 died at Thornton just as I was coming in from Lynn Creek on a transfer. They had us get on 355 to take it to Lynn Creek after making some moves in the yard first(set out tail end in track 42 and pick up 301 traffic out of 35) and go to Lynn Creek. Both units had TM's cut out, there was no way they'd make it up the Lake City hill(just shy of a 1% grade) with the 10,000 tons they wanted me to take to Lynn Creek. Thankfully at the last minute they put us on 671, CP potash to Neptune Terminals with some nice CP power.

First thing my hogger and I said when we got on the unit was "What a piece of s***".

CN has alot of junk power. They dont take care of it properly and dont believe in rebuilding it. All those CN SD40-2Ws should be rebuilt. Same with the WC GTW GP-40s. Those 5400 and 5500s are junk. Nobody likes them. Same goes for the IC SD40s and GP40s! Junk.

throttlebender wrote:CN has alot of junk power. They dont take care of it properly and dont believe in rebuilding it. All those CN SD40-2Ws should be rebuilt. Same with the WC GTW GP-40s. Those 5400 and 5500s are junk. Nobody likes them. Same goes for the IC SD40s and GP40s! Junk.

I'll agree with that one. It's sad when WC was able to make up most of their power with rebuilt stuff that was junk from the other rail roads. Then the company that buys them out doesn't believe in rebuilding anything.

CN no longer believes in rebuilding their power (they did at one time). They prefer to buy (too few) new locomotives and push the old stuff into the ground.

Sometimes that's a high art of finance decision - what may work for one company may not work for another company, in terms of tax write-offs, depreciation, etc... CN also has much more buying and borrowing power than WC, so likely their bond interest rates on the new locomotives is much lower than WC's was.

That is true but WHY is CN buying 50 new GEs or EMDs each year witht he option for 25 more when BNSF and UP are buying 200 to 300 each year!
CN is as strong or well managed company as the afformentioned railroads.
CN trains are never powered, never have any extra horsepower where ALL BNSF and UP road have at least 1 HP/ton and high priority trains have 2 to 4 HP/ton! You will not find that on CN! CN needs to rebuild its old junk IC, CN and GTW power because they have more and more failures and problems running equipment into the ground beyond its useful life span!

CN is "sweating the assets". More like beating dead horses. They will only buy just enough to get by, nothing more, and certainly nothing to actually increase their fleetsize. When the new units show up, expect a round of retirements to begin.

In February I shot a train on the Kingston Sub at Newcastle, Ontario. Train 362, 10,200 tons (heard on radio). Leader was C44-9W 2527, which was dropping load when they tried for full power. Trailing was SD40-2W 5247 with numbers 3 and 5 traction motors cut out. This train was heading for the York Sub and the grade up from the Lake Ontario shoreline. It's not 1%, maybe more like 0.7%, but how in the heck this train was expected to make it up the hill is beyond me. Naturally, the crew was calling for the Diesel Doctor, and the RTC was probably going to see if he could find them another unit at Oshawa. I'm glad I just watch the trains.

OMFG they put the zebra stripes back on!!! All hope is not lost!

Mike Very Happy

I was thrilled when I saw it too! But do you suppose it's because only the conductor's side was damaged? The engineer's side doesn't look like it's been repainted.

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=154450

CN is "sweating the assets". More like beating dead horses. They will only buy just enough to get by, nothing more, and certainly nothing to actually increase their fleetsize. When the new units show up, expect a round of retirements to begin.

CN's older power is in a sad, sad state. I know someone who worked for CN in the 1980's and who said that the GP40-2LW units (fairly new at the time) were absolutely fantastic to run.