What do you think is the best locomotive for any type of job. I would Choose the GP-40 because it was designed for General Purposes and is used by many railroad
For any type of job? That's super-duper general. For all-purpose freight and switching, I am quite fond of the GP38-2's. They are also one of the locomotives that were running all over the place when I was a little kid, so that may influence my pick. You can line a whole bunch up in a consist and pull a whole lot of freight. For passenger diesels, I am quite fond of the ever-harder-to-find F40PH's, also, in part, because they were running almost every Amtrak in the western states when I was a little kid. I also like SD9's and GP9's quite a bit. I am also a steam fan, and include Shays, Willamettes, Mikados, 4-4-0's, 0-4-0's, Heislers, Climaxes, and, of course, the 4449, among my favorites. I don't know. It's all trains.
Something has got to be said about road-worn old end-cab switchers, like SW9's, humming along at the head of a little shortline logging road, too. A lot of larger engines would have a hard time negotiating some of the timber lines.
For its purpose the SW1200. Used to watch these machines throttle up hard to a loud deafening roar belching heavy air distorting diesel exhaust and single handedly labor massive I mean massive cuts of cars. I remember one of these SP units continuously blaring it's P3 horn and commandeering back and forth across a very, very busy unguarded multi-lane rush hour crossing in LA back in the 70's. As a young man at the time I wondered why it took several road units to do the same task as this "little engine that could." :teeth:
What's the best food? What's the best car? What's the best TV? There's a reason they make more than one! There is no best. Sometimes being able to do 'everything' is pretty close to the same thing as being able to do 'nothing'. So, I'll say the best is the best at a particular place and time. Heck, the GP-40 would be pretty useless on a light logging line that used a Shay, but tthe shay wouldn't be much good tryign to pull the Eurostar. That doesn't mean that a railroad necessarily needs lots of different locos, they need locos that do the jobs it needs to do. And for some, that might be a stable of GP-40s. Kind of like Soutwest Airlines uses all 737s. But they don't have any trans-oceanic flights.
the best I meant the best, by your opinion. But you do have a point, certain locomotives can't do everything only what they're best at.
Like some others on this board, I would prefer any locomotive propelled by the dynamics of hate, fire & water. However, there are some diesel loco's I count as friends. Others have reasoned that "best loco", "best car", "best food", "best book", etc is too subjective and I agree with that as well. My personal philosophy is that the "best food", is that which you are now eating, cuz you have it and you obviously enjoy eating it. The "best car" is either one of the two in our family. They are fairly late model, they are paid for, they work quite well and they get us where we need to go. The "best loco" is the one pulling the trains you enjoy watching. Does everyone follow my logic. We all enjoy the hobby because it has something for each and every one of us, so I guess that makes it the "best hobby"! CT
That would be the Chessie System, with its stable of GP40s, GP40-2s and B30-7s. At the same time, other major roads that did try to standardize usually (CP, BN, UP) bought SD40s, SD40-2s, U30Cs and C30-7s.
As for modern railroading many agree that the SD40 is the backbone of today's Class 1's. They are extremely reliable and do not have all the computer troubles of the newest locos. They are used around here for humping, bowl jobs, and road service. I also like the old control stands and the fact that one can "feel" everything going on.
For modern diesels, it'd have to be a SD40-2, it's ubiquity and ruggedness or a C40-8W, they just look cool. As to steam, just two words, UP 4-12-2. :teeth:
I like the GP38 and its Dash-2 cousin. Apparently, so did the railroads, since there were so many built. Local & secondary line trains, yard switching, and road jobs on the mainline- the '38 can do it all. Frisco bought 146 of these beasts, and I remember seeing quartets of GP38AC/GP38-2s on freights roaring thru Afton, and slugging it out on the line north of Ft. Smith. For heavy unit trains as well as pigs & stacks, the SD40 and its Dash-2 kin. BN had a boatload of these locomotives, and after the Frisco merger they seemed to run every single one of them thru Afton on freights.
The GP40, is a good choice, its right up there in the top five of my favorite locomotives. I would have to say the GP60, or SD70, 4000 horses of pure reliable power. EMD makes a great locomotive!
Best road frieght engine - ES44AC has a nice ride, the chairs are pretty comfortable and they have a computer on the conductors side Best Switch Engine - SD40-2 loads quikly, good for kicking cars, and rides pretty nice when you do a local Worst road engine - SD40-2 & C40-8 Defening loud, no ac, loud train control, drafty, everything rattles to pieces including you. Worst Switch engine - SD70Ace (any wide body, but the SD70Ace is the worst) takes forever to load, cant kick a car to save its life, to big, bad visibilty for the engineer so you have to use radio (any one who works in the yard knows the wonders of hand signals - keeps those yardmasters guessing what you are doing)
HAHA! While I was training my conductors kept falling asleep on me! I havent fell asleep yet! i know we have some pretty horse poopy conductors around here but for a new guy i have done a good job of keeping myself awake- coffee soda and good rest is my key.
