I have a vast collection of Railroad DVD’s from the start of America railroads to present. I noticed in the modern era (1990’s to present) alot of switching in the yards was done by fallen flag EMD GP’s, SD’s and GE u-boats. Is this common today and are the SW’s still being used today?
Yes, it is common.
Yes, SW’s are still being used. BNSF had 11 SW1500’s, 1 SW1200, 1 SW1000N, and 5 MP15’s in 2016.
Driving on Highway 99 last weekend from Manteca to Clovis (CA), I saw a GP and an SW in use by private owners at large grain terminals. I was traveling a wee bit over the speed limit, so I couldn’t take proper notes.
Railroads today, aside from using things like existing GP38-2’s and such for switching, are buying gen-set switchers new.
Ed
as 7j43k says there there still are a lot of switchers.
The railroads are frugal. Why buy a new switcher when a down graded road switcher still has life in it and can do the work. However because of stricter air pollution requirements replacement of existing locomotives in yard service will be required in many places.
My recollection is that a BNSF engineer said that he vastly prefers switching with an SD40-2 than a gen-set. I don’t know if that’s yard, industrial, or way freight.
Ed
An UP Engineer who worked the yard in Roseville CA was overheard saying that a gen-set and a diesel working together could easily do the work of the diesel alone.
NS retired the SW1500s but,the exSouthern MP15DCs is still in service.
It seems railroads haven’t been buying new switchers in any quantity for a long time. Those SW-1200 / 1500 EMD switchers that are still around go back to the 1960’s, and the MP-15 (technically a road switcher - switcher body on road-engine trucks) dates from the 1970’s.
Part of it I’m sure is frugality - using what you already have. Why buy new switchers when an old GP-35 or whatever you have will do just as well? Interestingly, railroads are kinda going full circle…100+ years back, railroads were taking the leading wheels off of old 2-6-0 or 2-8-0 engines to convert them to six or eight wheel switchers.
I wonder too if power needs factor into it? Cars are a lot bigger than 50 years ago, more weight. If one 1000-1200 HP switcher can’t do the job, why use two 1000 HP switchers, when one 2000 HP road switcher can do the job?
I’m sure frugality plays a part. Railroads have always been “frugal”, to greater or lesser extents. Back in the day, GN de-trucked a buncha old road engines (2-8-0’s) and made switchers out of them. Of course, they would have worked fine keeping the lead truck, but tractive effort went up. For “free”.
As far as the need for more power: I doubt it. Switchers can pull about as much as a road engine. Just not at road speeds. At low speeds, it’s pretty much weight on drivers. BN SW1500’s had about 260,000 pounds on the drivers; their GP38-2’s had about 263,000 on drivers. Now, we can move the conversation over to SD40-2’s (of which there are/were MANY). There you’re hovering around 400,000 pounds. ZOWIE!
What GP38-2’s and SD40-2’s DO have is a toilet. That may even work. Which makes it a road engine. Which means it can also do road switching. If necessary. It’s also got road trucks
Indeed…Seamless railroading has arrived so it seems now they transfer complete trains with locomotives that is why a lot of yards have become obsolete and closed or downsized.
OTOH NS enlarged Moorman yard at Belleview,Oh but,this is a major yard.
I listened to the conference call of the new CEO of CSX who came from CP via CNI. He mentioned that Atlanta (I think it was Atlanta) has 3 rail yards that they inherited from various mergers. He’s going to close some of those down to reduce unneccessary switching and dwell (time in the yard) time.
Someone at Arnies said BNSF used SW1500’s down in Texas and Gensets out here in California.
It depends on where you live.
Someone at Arnies appears to be wrong.
I just went over to LocoPhotos.
All of the NRE 3GS21C photos were taken in California.
Almost all of the NRE 3GS21B photos were taken in Texas.
The SW1500’s look to be all over. Including California.
If anyone cares more than I do, they can continue the research.
Ed
Opinion: The gen-sets are in California because the Railroads are being forced to use them instead of efficient locomotives.
While not in California - This report documents problems with gen-sets.
Norfolk Southern Locomotive Fleet Overview May 7, 2014
https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2014-08/documents/smith.pdf
From the report:
Challenges in the Yard and Local Locomotive Fleet
• No true switcher or reliable low horsepower locomotives are built today – Last switcher built in 1984 – Last 4 axle locomotive was built in 1991 • No longer can older road locomotives be cascaded down to yard and local service – Current road locos too heavy and long for local service • Weight and curve restrictions at local industries • The genset locomotives from all builders have not lived up to performance and reliability expectations.
Too long??? Too long?
I am so waiting to hear about that.
Wait a minute. Where’s my credibility? It was here a minute ago.
Ed
Wonder why the report didn’t mention NS MP15DCs?
Thanks everyone, these were some great answers. I have been using fallen flag GP’s abd SD’s for switching on my layout.
I have a feeling that old SD7’s and 9’s are very popular for switching. Just won’t take no for an answer.
Ed
The gen-set locos are quite efficient, when used as intended. When you don;t need 1500HP, why run a 1500HP diesel? Yet it’s there if needed by firing them all up. Only need 500HP to move a cut? Then only 500HP is running, the other 1000HP is shut off.
Now, anyone on here actually run one? My guess is that because of the stop/start of the individual prime movers, they are probably rather slow too load and that lag probably makes train handling even harder than usual. Also I’m sure the first ones had serious issues with the control software for starting and stopping the engines, and once something or someone gets a bad rap in railroading, it’s hard to shake.
–Randy
Fr8kar on the Atlas Rescue Forum has run them. He’s the one that informed my opinions and statements on the matter.
Ed
We can add Avon yard to that list since CSX decided they no linger need it…Hundreds of jobs will be lost.