Chessie Locomotives...huh?

Trains.com General Discussion (Trains.com)
1

I was looking at the chessie system and its coal operations recently and was
astonished at its choice of motive power. It’s one thing to operate coal trains with four axle power in the first place but to do it in the mountains of WV and PA? How did they pull that off? It was rumored that chessie avoided six axle
because of the fuel crisis of the late 70’s/early 80’s. Perhaps they felt GP40-2’s
performed well enough for their needs while being fuel efficient at the same time. What ever the reason…What’s up with that?!! Just strap on a trio of SD40-2’s and get it over with![%-)]

SandboxerG
(new to forum…be nice)

2

Most coal trains were operated with RDMT mother slug sets. This added a little more traction and gave the crew better control of the train than slaping SD40’s on the point.
RDMTs were designed to supply added tractive effort so to speak, which doubled the power a loan SD40 could put out.

3

Based on what I’ve seen, most of the GP40/slug sets are used in mine run service, lots of switching and probably a fair amount of track unsuitable for six-axle power. Since the job is primarily low-speed, horsepower demands are low but more tractive effort is needed at low speeds, making a slug set particularly useful.