Re: S300 turns 40!

Krel (krel4203@netconnect.com.au)
22 Aug 97 11:14:58 GMT

MarBau <marbau@aol.com> wrote in article
<19970821192801.PAA21919@ladder02.news.aol.com>...
> As I recall, the main reason the C's were purchased was to reduce double
> heading on jets. Of course the 1st 4 delivered went straight onto the
> SG!!!
>
> I don't know what the previous poster meant by the C's "have had a hard
> life" No more or less than any B, S, or X class.
>
The C's have always been used on big heavy trains whereas the B, S and X
classes do/did occasionally get an easier job on a light pass or roadside
goods.

> <<<and average working life for a turboed EMD in the US
> is 15 to 20 years.>>>
>
> Actually UP is still doing major overhauls on 1972 vintage SD40-2's and
> there are still thousands of turbo loco's (SD40-2's, GP40-2's) in regular
> service in the US that are older than the C's.
>
I did say AVERAGE life; of course there are exceptions.

> One of the great mysterys regarding the C's is why were they built in
1977
> without dash 2 equipment which came out in 1972?? They would be much more
> desirable to keep if they were dash 2 equipped!
>
The main reason they are no longer loved by Railways is they are soooo
thirsty. In the cheap fuel days of the early seventies it did not matter so
much but nowadays they drink too much of the damn stuff. Incidentally fuel
consumption is one of the NR classes big pluses.

> I sure hope at least one gets preserved, blue and gold of course!!
>
Hear, Hear ( I hope more than one gets preserved).

-- 
Cheers Krel


The Law of Inverse Proportions - The chances of the signal clearing 
without having to get out of the cab and go to a lineside phone is inversly
proportional to the amount of rain falling at the time :-)