Which locos make good switchers

[conrail98]

In Pavonia, it's a mix, but I see more and more SD40-2s and GP38-2s being used. We'll see what returns when they keep sending out the high-hoods to get chopped though,

Phil

[GP38-2freak]

Atlas SD7 or SD9...

Tim

[Ike the BN Freak]

Back when I lived in Las Vegas, UP used all kinds of 6 axle power.  When I first moved there in 2006, it was using SD40M-2s and SD40-2s, so the M-2s were anything from SD40s, SD45s, SDP45s all rebuilt.

When I left in 2011, they were using SD70Ms to do switching and local work.

[OHCR 4218]

Here in the Columbus area CSX usualy uses a GP40-2 and a Road Slug (former GP30 or GP35 with no prime mover, pulls electrical power from the GP40-2) although GP38-2s and GP15s turn up from time to time, yard jobs tend to uses the same. MP15s find there way up here a few times a year too.

 NS uses a pair of GP38-2s high and/or low nose on some locals and SD40-2s on others. The yard Jobs in the big yards are normaly SD40-2s or SD38s usualy with a MT6 yard slug. The small yards and a few locals use whatever power passes by. SD40-2, SD60, C40-8, C40-9W, ES40DC, SD70ACE whatever they can find.

Ohio Central uses a pair of B23S7Rs or a combo of  GP 9, GP10, GP11, or GP30. The Indiana & Ohio uses a GP50 and GP38-2 on one line and SD40-2Ts on the other most of the time. In the modern age I think you can use anything you want. Like we always say in our club . . . .  Prove they didn't do it 

Brandon

[Bob Bufkin]

You can add a SD80MAC to this list.  Just saw some photos of one leaving Benning Yard in DC with just a crame headed to Fredricksburg, VA today.  Speed limited to 20mph.

[mu26aeh]

NS is using a SD40-2 and a GP38-2 currently at a yard in York, PA right now.

[Bendtracker1]

Here in Lincoln, NE BN uses a single SD40 or a Genset for the hump power and in the smaller Havelock yard they use pairs of any four axle power they have on hand.
This summer they had an ex ATSF SD45-2 in the Swoosh scheme and stenciled as an SD40-2 shuffling cars around.
Today I seen a pair BNSF Gevo's switching out a local lumber yard downtown.

Pretty much anything is fair game these days!

As for a model, I just got a VO-1000 for my Riceland plant.  I've got a TCS decoder in it and she has no trouble pulling 18 cars!

[Packer]

Although I haven't seen CSX switch around here, I believe they use MP15s, GP40s, and GP38s, as I've seen groupings of those types more than once. They could borrow the SW1200 from the quarry that's next to the yard.

[avel]

Maybe off topic, but my GP15, from Atlas, had sporadic contact because of how the trucks conducted the electricity to the frame. I soldered some fine enamel covered wire directly to the decoder/motor from the one of the trucks. Runs well now.

[delamaize]

New Bachman 0-6-0 with a new Bachman spectrum tender.
/thread

Next topic 

[kelticsylk]

In Nashville CSX uses teams of MP15's to switch "The Gulch". Nashville & Eastern uses their fleet of GE U boats for all chores.
On my layout switching is done with SW(Life-Like), FM(Trix) or a Shay.(Atlas). The layout is supposed to be the early fifties so there is nothing modern.

[randgust]

The short answer is 'whatever works'.   But 'whatever works' can have some real issues on both layouts and the real world:

1)  Whatever is available and can't be used anywhere else (that's been the rule since switching first evolved out of the primeval ooze); that's how everything from 4-4-0's to GP60's has been sliding down the utilization charts toward obsolescense in the yards.
2)  whatever has enough horsepower to get the job done; huge difference between switching a hump yard and running a five-car local
3)  Whatever doesn't derail out on the road going through industrial trackage, crossovers, and customer sidings (very often this is why there is still a distinct preference for four-axle units)
4)  Crew/company preferences for visibility and safety (NO MORE F-UNITS, please!!)
5)  A preference for fuel economy and simplicity where possible, often ignored
6)  In places, regulatory restrictions on emissions resulting in gensets
7)  If you don't have much switching, you don't need a dedicated switcher - it has to be utilized enough to justify itself, or grab whatever shows up.

On the model side, it has to have excellent pickup, slow speed performance, and can't be particularly fussy on trackwork.   I'm stuck in the 70's, so my switching pair is a rebuilt Kato NW2 to an SW8 for light yard switching, and an Atlas GP7 for heavier assignments and local duty.

I got a big kick of seeing red and silver warbonnet GP60's assigned to Flagstaff as the local switchers (hardly even patched) when I was out there in 2009.  Those were the intermodal hot rods of the entire railroad in 1995, now they're sweeping up the floor after the shift.

Jamestown, NY (EL and Conrail) was content with an SW-9 or 1200 for decades, until they got a new customer with a siding  that had a 4% grade on it that had to have multiple carloads of chipboard delivered daily.   The SW's couldn't cut it anymore and the standard yard switcher changed over to a GP38 immediately.   Similarly, the Allegheny RR discovered the hard way why PRR, PC, and Conrail never used six-axle units; one customer in St. Marys could derail just about anything that ventured in there with six wheels.

[eja]

BNSF uses a pair of SD60's here in San Diego... I have occasionally seen a -9 pushing cars around.

eja

[nkalanaga]

Having used F units as switchers, I'll agree that they aren't ideal, being inconvenient for the prototype crews and looking silly on a model railroad.  However, they were used by a few prototype roads, notably in the 60s and 70s by some shortlines looking for cheap all-purpose power.   In my case, "excellent pickup, slow speed performance, and can't be particularly fussy on trackwork" sums up the MiniTrix units.  Wired together, 24-wheel pickup and very flexible truck mounting made them the best available back then.

[Brakie]

I favor the Atlas MP15DC or a GP38/38-2 or a GP40/40-2 and of course the Atlas GP7/9/15 are excellent slow speed switchers as well thanks to the slow speed motor Atlas uses.