Out on the prairies

Just about ready to retire, this old GMD1 is fresh from the paint shop and looking great in it's last colours in 1987.



but it's the big brothers that find work in the yard at Melville SK



Cheers folks, next stop - Kelowna and Belleville.

 

Dave:
We recently had a GMD-1 switching in the Talbotville Ford plant, I'll have to look up the number on that unit cause I wrote it down..... anyhow, I'm just glad to see that it's not gone quite yet.

 

Was 1431, damn CN boys only had it temp while one of the GP9u's was down. We should have hijacked it and parked it in yer garage

Jon

 

I get the vive from engineers in Vancouver that they do not like the GMD1s that much. Me and my dad saw one stopped so we yelled to the engineer something about the unit and he replied "Its a piece of crap!" And then some one who we know who works at Thorton Shops said they are not very good to work with...lots of crews despise them!

Dane

 

But some of them are on their 5th rebuild so they must be worth something to someone. Usually old units like this are trashed.

I kinda like them but they're never offered as a model although there have been some attempts in HO that never please everyone.

Dave

 

well working as a Engineer @ CN I can tell you this , being out there and operating locomotives and handling 8,000FT. trains , the SD70&75I's are the BEST power that CN has , and ALOT of Engineers will vouch for that

 

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Alan:
Talking of different locomotives, Dave, I suppose you are too young, but have you ever driven an Alco?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
I don't think that I have . I realize they were good engines in the past but todays trains are twice as long with twice as many cars , thats not the way I like it but out of all the power I have operated , other railroads power as well , I would say that the SD70/75I's are the best out there .

The UP actually has some new power , I think the numbers of the units start with 4200 , great power as well as CN 5600-CN5800's .

I don't want to start another Atlas-Kato war here OK

 

I understand that todays railroad philosophy dictates the use of very long, very heavy trains moved by few very powerful, very heavy engines. Just wondering what the minimum rail size these largest units are allowed out on. 130lb? 150lb? More?

I think some of the prairie branches are still using 90lb stuff (someone correct me on that) and an SD70 would probably sink all the way to China. The old GMD1s, when lashed up in groups of five, offer 6000 horse power spread over 30 axels.

That's pretty much the only way to get 50-60 carloads of grain out to the main line in one trip.

An era comes to an end...

Dave