on GE TRANSPORTATION ..

jtomstarr Jun 4, 2018

  1. jtomstarr

    jtomstarr TrainBoard Member

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    Last edited: Jun 4, 2018
  2. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    It will be interesting to see what WABTEC does....
     
  3. Kurt Moose

    Kurt Moose TrainBoard Member

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    Dang.

    Never thought I'd see the day, when EMD and GE, no longer made locomotives.......


    o_O:(
     
  4. Mr. Trainiac

    Mr. Trainiac TrainBoard Member

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    I’ve heard that the Fort Worth plant will become a sort of rebuilding plant to convert older locomotives into ones with higher EPA Tier capabilities. I need to go reread my Trains magazines to be sure, but while GE is getting mixed up, I don’t think they are completely shutting down. There were earlier rumors that they might stop producing locomotives, but it looks like they will just be producing locomotives under new owners. Or the GE nameplate will be replaced by a Wabtec one and there will be no more GEs.
     
  5. jtomstarr

    jtomstarr TrainBoard Member

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  6. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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  7. BNSF FAN

    BNSF FAN TrainBoard Supporter

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    Let's hope that GE Transportation fairs better under new ownership that EMD has.
     
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  8. jtomstarr

    jtomstarr TrainBoard Member

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    Agreed, only time will tell.

    Tom
     
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  9. YoHo

    YoHo TrainBoard Supporter

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    What specific bad things have happened to EMD under Caterpillar ownership?

    GM was a terrible owner from roughly the early 90s on. AS a private company they were at best OK, but not worse than the crap GM was pulling. Under Caterpillar, they've largely turned their fortunes around.
    Certainly the F125 has been a black eye, but is it any worse than the SD50 or SD90? Or AC6000CW for that matter?

    As for GE Transportation. Not sure why all the doom and gloom. They will continue to make locomotives. Of course they will. Why else would Wabtec buy them and create this huge company? Come ON! And no, Fort worth won't become a Rebuild shop. It ALREADY IS ONE! they are rebuilding Dash 9s mostly turning them into AC44C4M/C6M and other rebuild work. And they're also building new units and have been.

    So again, what is all this fuss about?
    What will happen to the Dash series? Well, considering they haven't built one in almost 15 years, I'd say no change. It's a dead product and it will remain a dead product. The ES44 and the ET44 will soldier on in the near term.

    But what will happen to the GE side is a BORING question. Uninteresting. Since they sell tons of units. The really interesting question is what will happen on the MPI side. Will they continue with the MP54 using Cummins QSKs?


    And of course you all missed the most interesting thing about it all, that George Westinghouse's business is merging with Thomas Edison's. They are undoubtedly none too thrilled by this if they are seeing it.
     
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  10. Hytec

    Hytec TrainBoard Member

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    Excellent analysis summary. Regards the merger of Edison's DC architecture with Westinghouse's AC, I'm sure Nicola Tesla is flipping in his grave, if not about arise from it and take retribution on both companies. :mad:
     
  11. jtomstarr

    jtomstarr TrainBoard Member

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    The two previous posts good thoughts we’ll see which Rail Lines will order locomotives and in quantity from the combined GE -Wabtec company.. again as I stated only time will tell.

    Tom
     
  12. BNSF FAN

    BNSF FAN TrainBoard Supporter

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    All good points. No gloom and doom, just random thought of a railfan. From the outside looking in, just seems like orders from both have been flat. Other than the above mentioned "black eye" locos for EMD, they always seemed strong in the market. Now they are arguably second to GE in the market. GE had it's own "black eye" loco as noted. Just would like to see both experience some growth. The rebuild market seems like it may be all the rage now and guess we shall see if the manufacturers embrace this or just muddle by. It's a roll of the dice when any segment of a company is sold off and who knows what will happen. Does at least give us something new to follow and speculate about.
     
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  13. TwinDad

    TwinDad TrainBoard Member

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    You're right it's a roll of the dice, but quite often getting spun off can be very positive for a company... shed of higher level corporate oversight and bureaucracy, with fresh focus and vision, and either no-one to answer to but themselves, or (in the case of GE here) new owners who are more fully aligned with the business unit, things can become really good.

    Of course, without the resources of the larger company, things can get tough, but it doesn't sound line GE had a whole lot of largesse to share anyway.

    I'm looking at it this way, as part of GE, the railroad business was just another business unit to a larger company that is into everything from locomotives to MRI machines. As part of WABTEC, the whole corporate culture is about servicing and supplying the railroad industry.
     
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  14. YoHo

    YoHo TrainBoard Supporter

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    If you've not been paying attention, orders are slowly starting to pick up again.
    The market has been soft an is often cyclical.
    1: The previous recession depressed need for a while
    2: This was followed by the coming of Tier4. Tier4 required major redesigns from both EMD an GE. The new locos were less proven and less fuel efficient. This pushed some of the railroads to over order Tier 3 before the deadline.
    3: Finally King Coal has died and all life saving measures have been tried. It's dead, because natural gas is cheap and base load plants aren't proving as resilient as originally thought. So the Railroads have tons of units no longer needed for coal trains to move elsewhere. Those are some of the units going in for rebuild.

    THe good news is that EMD and GE both have proven Tier 4 product now and traffic is picking up, so orders are as well. And the rebuild work isn't basic stuff. it's pretty major rework.
     

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