GP40MC1118 wrote:The Gensets were terrible at rescuing passenger trains since they couldn't get out of their own way at station stops.
This was apparent early on and there was an unwritten policy not to use them as such.
Who knows what extras the MBTA cobbled into them... i.e. About any locomotive order or rebuild the MBTA does.
They were never well-liked from what I heard. What makes them suited for the UP or BNSF and not for the MBTA
is a $64,000 question. They've probably spent more time out of service than in the past year or so!
D
Ick...so it was indeed ordering wrong product for the intended job. Most of the N-ViroMotive gensets that UP and BNSF roster are used as switchers in places out west like L.A. basin where the air quality regs are more severely tight. That's the reason for their huge buys of 3GS21B units. Although CSX seems to likes them enough to have bought 16 for itself.
Instead of hanging on for hanging onto sunk cost's sake they should phone up Norfolk Southern for a trade. NS has a couple rostered 3GS21B's of its own, and Altoona will launder anything to anyone as NS's way of currying favor with business parters current or potential. They currently have a supply of 23 stored GP38-2's, all cab signal-equipped, that it's been dipping from as-needed for internal rebuilds and external rebuild-and-sale. They certainly have ample motivation to curry favor with MassDOT as they entrench themselves in the state. 904's last of its kind locally and not going to last forever, and 3247 is so beat-up it's perpetually balky. Gensets + cash in trade for three fresh GP38-2 Altoona rebuilds could be a fair exchange for general-purpose switching and a protect unit for venerable 904. Then maybe they can limit their rentals to just augmenting 3247 with P&W leasers when they need something 3000 HP or better for the work train. At least until some decent-condition secondhand GP40 rebuilds appear on the market like NJ Transit converting a few more retired 'PH-2 revenue units into work engines.
