I have always admired Eric Brooman’s Utah Belt railway, with it’s all EMD stronghold.
But now he’s bought GE AC4400CWs, and I consider him a bit of a sell-out. Granted, it’s his free-lance railroad, and he can do what he wants with it, but what do you guys think about it?
trainboy
Again-No offence to Eric
I think it’s his RR, he can do what he wants with it.
His explanation for the purchase in the current MR is concise and logical. I think Eric is a top notch modeler who uses a “thinking man’s” approach to the hobby. I also think the Utah Belt is Eric’s railroad and if he wants to start running horse drawn carriages on it he can!
Why in the world would this make him a sellout?!
(Sorry, but I’ve always hated that term!)
If Eric is imitating the real world (which seems to be the case) then he’s doing what most of the Class 1s are doing…leaning heavily towards GE!
Railroads look at locomotives as investment capital. Reliability, duty availabilty, cost-to-operate ratios, maintenance cycle costs, component life expectency, reliability, etc. EMD is viewed as having the higher quality, however, GE’s seem to be more readily available, parts are much easier to obtain, and of course the units are cheaper. EMD being sold by GM after being part of it for 80 years sure didn’t do much for its image either. Eric may be thinking along these lines, just like the prototype railroads.
Years back, Amtrak’s diesel fleet was over 90% EMD. The F40PH was king. EMD was receiving accolades for the reliability of that tough warhorse. Well…it’s no longer the case is it?? That warhorse that we grew accustomed to has been put out to pasture and those GE Boxcab “P somethings” now command the varnish.
In essence, that’s business. Eric’s got the idea. [:D][;)]
[#ditto], and Antonio gets 10/10. If the company were a reality, and running with the benefit of invested dollars, the shareholders would/should darned well expect the CEO and Board to buy the most cost effective tractors for the type of work they will do. I that is resurrecting old 0-6-0’s, then that’s what the company does.
We all have our pet locos and manufacturers, but others may disagree with your criteria for selecting them in the first place. There-in lies the rub.
I guess that you are all right. I apologise for criticizing. I am just very ani-GE. I think that the AC4400 and Dash 8 and 9 are some of the ugliest locomotives around.
my freelance railroad is still all EMD, with another 100 SD70ACe on order (With modofied cabs to make 'em less ugly)
Trainboy
I like them all and don’t understand the GE hatred. Would someone please explain it to me.
Maybe we are all so used to EMD, and GE is intruding?
Or maybe we think of GE as replacing our favorite locomotives? (Dash8-40CMs replaced M630s on BC Rail)
I don’t like the sound, compared to EMD.
trainboy
Sounds like a Ford vs Chevy thing… Well, we all have our favs. Nothing wrong with that.
I really am impressed by Eric Brooman. He has carefully thought out the equipment on his railroad and when I read about it it is like I’m reading about a real life entity.
I do wish however, he could come up with a way to justify replacing his locomotives with rebuilt Alco’s. Now that would be cool!!
Good grief. This is a hobby. Some of you folks are taking this wayyyyyy too seriously.
The Utah Belt is modeled as a living, breathing real railroad as are many of the model railroads that we greatly admire. As time marches on, motive power is upgraded, railroad structures get torn down and new ones built, rolling stock evolves into new designs, just as the real world. I love it!! My railroad will probably always be stuck in the time warp of the 1950’s but I was a train loving teenager then and have fond memories of the time. But - I do love the model railroads that change with the times.
He should have gone GE years ago, as the real railroads did.
Well you can rest assured that the C&HV will remain a EMD strong hold as will the other short lines/terminal roads owned and operated by CDB Industries…The reasoning is simple…The upper management was not impress with the GE test results.[:D]
Because we REALLY like ALCOs, and GE hosed them by getting intot he business themselves. Alco used GE electrical components. And GE’s prime mover isn’t just a little bit similar to later Alcos.
Actually I think the 70ACe is pretty darn ugly. All that exposed piping and wiring might make for easy servicing, which is certainly a critical selling point, but it does nothing for the looks.
On the other hand, railroads seem to be reluctant to invest in new things - which makes me wonder why they are going for the new GEs, that’s a totally different new prime mover in there to meet the new EPA requirements, whereas EMD managed to accomplish it using what is basically the same diesel engne as previous models. Or maybe that’s why I see GE ads on all the news channels - maybe they AREN’T selling as well as previous GE models, for that same reason.
I just avoid the problem - I model the 50’s [:D][:D][:D]
–Randy
BWilcox,
Agreed. It is a hobby, but these types of threads can be fun because so many different viewpoints can be expressed and debated without anyone being totally right or wrong.
Isn’t that what Eric is doing? Taking his engine power requirements as a company, that to me is more serious then a bunch of us guys/girls half heartedly raking him over the coals. Many of what I see posted is more a poke in fun then a serious demand. Let’s have fun, joke and stop derailments and dead frog power loss.
He can run what he want’s on his stuff. If he gets a wild hair and wants to motorize a bunch of turds and run them, he can do that, too.
Hmmmm. Maybe GE bought a controlling interest in the Utah Belt and strong armed management into the purchase thus putting the financial interests of corporations ahead of the railfan. Or maybe they would have purchased new EMD units but those darn dishonest lawyers threatened to sue. Or perhaps the Utah Belt is protesting Walther’s purchase of Life-Like and the impending collapse of the model railroad hobby and of course the related reason that Bachmann is junk. Oh I know. The Utah Belt did purchase EMD units, but Eric used Photoshop to make us think they are GE units.
Have I hit all the hot threads yet?
[:D][:D][:D][:D][:D][:D][:D]
In any event - Eric Brooman continues to do a fine job with his layout.
I wonder if Digitrax will do a sound decoder…[:D]