how long do thes last howlong til they rebuild or get rid of?
thanks
ray
Depends on the type of service.
Switch power can soldier on for 30 or 40 years without major rebuilds.
Heavy Duty road power can need rebuilt after 10 or 20.
Nick
As long as the frame remains sound, a diesel-electric locomotive can last indefinitely.
Of course, it will probably resemble the mythical Irishman’s hammer - “Sure an’ it’s a hundred years old, with but two new heads an’ three new handles.”
Prime movers get changed, sometimes resulting in radical changes to the enclosing hood. Trucks get changed, sometimes to new designs that didn’t even exist when the original frame was first put into service. Cabs get modified, upgraded or removed altogether. Control circuitry is upgraded. Steps and handrails get changed in response to new safety regulations. Headlight packages get added, modified and deleted. Ditch lights are installed.
If you carefully inspect a fifty year old GP9 you will be amazed at how little of it is original.
Chuck
A perfect example of that would be the E-9 passenger set (A-B-A)in the UP Heritge fleet. Outwardly they look like the E-9’s that were built in 1955 but have new componentry.
Diesel units are fully depreciated after 15 years. Then as above.
I believe BNSF is still running some SD-9’s from the mid-fifties in yard/hump service here in the Twin Cities, and I think a fair number of the Soo’s GP-9’s made it into CP red paint in the nineties, could still be some of them in service?? So that’s around 50 years of life.
The life of a diesel locomotive also depends on how reliable they are in service. Most Cotton Belt RSD-15s were retired to Naporano Iron and Metals after 11-12 years of service. Lima locomotives met similar fates, they were traded in before their time as they were not reliable. Do some research and you will find all different kinds of results for the longevity of of diesel locomotives.