by rch
I work for a railroad that uses anything from Gensets to SD40-2s to GP39-2s (or any combination of the above) to switch yards and industries. As the Gensets get older and continue to break daily, I wonder if they'll have a service life that approaches the SD40-2s (some mfd. in 1974) or the geeps. It's been okay to downgrade the geeps and even the SD40s to yard service since you can easily see down the long hood and they load up pretty quick, which makes them good switchers. But the same can't be done with older Dash 9s. They're no fun to switch with because they load up so slow. Not only that, visibility is poor from the cab to the ground and the radiator blocks the view of signals on the conductor's side when backing up, so I don't see the same future as switchers for the current road motors as the older geeps and SD40s.
So I guess the question is, what's coming to replace the Gensets? What will the next generation switchers look like? Will they be built new or rebuilds of older engines?
So I guess the question is, what's coming to replace the Gensets? What will the next generation switchers look like? Will they be built new or rebuilds of older engines?