CPKC

[Missaberoad]

I've heard little positive about them (CP 7000's), lots of dead 7000's on the Galt and Belleville Subs, but if they've solved the issues that's good to hear. The need the variety... for the foamers at least.

Guys hate them, but they hated them when they were 9100s too. They're comfortable and pull like crazy so I don't have many issues with them. As long as I don't have to switch with them, they are very slow to load... 

[lock4244]

Guys hate them, but they hated them when they were 9100s too. They're comfortable and pull like crazy so I don't have many issues with them. As long as I don't have to switch with them, they are very slow to load... 

Lol, I got up into an SD60M in Coutts a few years back, hog was telling me the SD's were great to switch with (SD40-2's, SD60's), but please, no GE's. The GE's load so slow that you can't finish a days work in a day. However, in Ontario the big MLW's were superior for switching compared to the SD40's, they had superior throttle response while the lag on an SD was noticeable and disliked. And the MLW's were great pullers, far better than the SD's.

So if the GE's are disliked when switching around Lethbridge, and the SD's are venerated, I imagine should a pair of WNYP M636's showed up as a set they're be fights over who gets them once they'd strutted their stuff, lol.

Much better than my view at work:
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[Lenny53]

They are decent road power, they just suck for switching, but to be fair the 8500s suck for switching too.

Sounds like DC locos are better for switching.  I noticed the Wabtec SD40 rebuild to ET23 is DC.

[Albert in N]

Perhaps someone will post photos of a new, or newly rebuilt, CPKC locomotive painted in the new colors.  Wabtec has a huge plant at Alliance in north Fort Worth TX.  Once such a newly painted locomotive is available, all we need is an  with a camera or cell phone to post the picture.

[Missaberoad]

@Lenny53
Absolutely! DC locomotives have a faster response, and load much better with less delay then the AC Road power. The big GEs are designed for lugging tonnage, and while you can switch with them they are far from ideal.

@lock4244
The SD40s are definitely preferred up here, not sure I know anyone who ever worked with the big Ms
Red Deer was pretty far from their stomping grounds later then the early 70s.
It would be interesting to hear how they handled.

[lock4244]

@lock4244
The SD40s are definitely preferred up here, not sure I know anyone who ever worked with the big Ms
Red Deer was pretty far from their stomping grounds later then the early 70s.
It would be interesting to hear how they handled.

This is anecdotal, but the six axle MLW's rode like shopping carts but pulled like Clydesdales. On CN if you had a pair of big MLW's trailing a GP40-2 you were a happy hogger, nice ride and you wouldn't stall on the grades... of course they were running 4-7000 ton trains in the 80's. If you were switching with a mix of SD's and six axle MLW power, the MLW's would load instantly and when the SD40's got around to loading you'd get a good bump. But the SD40's rode well, so...

Funny thing is, the guys on the WNYP that I knew never complained about the ride on their MLW's.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

It's because they were running over the remains of The Standard Railroad of the World instead of wagon trails over permafrost.

 

[Missaberoad]

It's because they were running over the remains of The Standard Railroad of the World instead of wagon trails over permafrost.

 

Pffft That Standard Railroad couldn't even Span the world 

[lock4244]

It's because they were running over the remains of The Standard Railroad of the World instead of wagon trails over permafrost.

 

Possibly correct, but may have been because they were too busy stoking the fire to notice the ride 

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Thanks Max!

[Hawghead]

Possibly correct, but may have been because they were too busy stoking the fire to notice the ride 

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Thanks Max!

That's on of them new high-bread locomotives, runs on either diesel or coal 

Scott

[Tristan Ashcroft]

It's because they were running over the remains of The Standard Railroad of the World instead of wagon trails over permafrost.

 

LOL.  Admittedly, the P didn't build the part north of Emporium.  They just bought it when they decided that building a line over Keating Summit the right way wasn't worth it.

[lock4244]

That's on of them new high-bread locomotives, runs on either diesel or coal 

Scott

They were glorious!

[nkalanaga]

Hawghead's comment brought this off-topic question to mind:

Has anyone tried, seriously, to run a steam loco on diesel?  I wouldn't think it would be any harder than using oil, with the right burners, and would fit right in on today's railroads.  The Russians once used dried fish for fuel, and American railroads in the Midwest, in the very early years, were known to burn buffalo chips.

[DirtyD79]

Interesting I've heard of the pioneers using buffalo chips to start fires. Never heard of anyone using them to run a steam locomotive.

[Tristan Ashcroft]

Has anyone tried, seriously, to run a steam loco on diesel?

Disneyland used to burn regular diesel in their three foot gauge choo-choos, the internet says now they burn biodiesel.  At a minimum, the straight diesel smoke smelled weird.  My impression is that diesel combustion requires compression, so I don't what that says about how the fireboxes had to be retrofitted or how the air or fuel enters the firebox or such.