Not to knock them, but the kids today, really truly believe, the GE toaster junkers, with the desk tops, are the greatest things in the world. (absolutely not their fault, it's what they are being trained on, and on at least one western carrier, they are almost agreement mandated, as a lead unit) No control stand, stuck inside a large box, too far from the window, to comfortably sit, with your arm out there, and waiting until the next pay period, for the darned things to load up. I've been sidelined, by those GE's, with very, very minor flaws, in the electrical system, and computer, that couldn't be fixed, without a visit, to a "factory authorized warranty center". (yes, they exist) Nothing like running, at speed, the window open, the wind lightly blowing on you, with the roar of the power filling your ear-plug equipped ears. Hanging out, and looking back, to watch the train snake around curves, bridges and over summits. That's lost, in a new world of "close the window, your letting out the A/C"........
Isolated from the very "feel" of running the engine, you sit at a desk, blankly staring at an array of icons, and digits, on computer screens, and wonder, "how did it come to this"? I would rather "triple-the-hill", with crippled EMD's, than to sit at a desk, and watch the hill slowly move by, the double paned side glass, while sitting in a lounge chair, on a rubber covered floor, in a so called "quiet cab". There are tricks, and ways, to make the SD cooperate. They are being lost to a generation, who think locos always had air, rubber floors, and desks in them. I guess that makes me a dinosaur. I believe the carriers are beginning to implement "deferred maintainance", and RTF with the older stuff. EMD's are great, but the new ones, like the GE's, are taking the fun out of running. Sometimes, it's more like a video game, with no input at all, from the loco, or seat. The newest are going back to a real control stand, but it's not the same. My run, the other night, in a Great Northern F-9, in full GN paint, must seem like a B&W movie, to the newer guys. WTF? No air, fridge or desk??? How the hell am I supposed to sleep on this POS??? Funny thing, for a while there, I thought I never had it so good.......
(24 brakes, real roll up side windows, potato-chip can style control stand, horn CORD, blowing a real M-5, control breakers mounted over the window, in pull-down style switches, Mars light, etc....) I guess "WE" were the same way, when the older, first generation stuff, made way, for the Dash-2's, and the high horsepower stuff. At least we could still sit in the window, and enjoy the air..........