Tsk, tsk. We RUN engines, not "drive" them... unless you're in Europe. Then you're a Driver and you "drive" a train. But over here in the good ol' US of A, we are Engineers and we "run" engines and trains.
:-) Now, as for Alco's breaking down... I wouldn't know a thing about that. ;-) (Did I tell you about the one that exploded out the stack once? Ah well... another story left for another time.) Okay, in all seriousness: The Alco's I run daily were all made in the early-mid 60's. The fact that they are still gettin' it done in 2012 is... well... pretty amazing, really. They are some darn tough engines, built like the proverbial brick poop place. (For example, the EMD's I have run from the same vintage had plastic controls and lots of plastic in the control stands. These Alco's are all steel and cast metal. There is NOTHING plastic in a mid-60's Alco.) The Alco C420 I'm currently using on my switch job (A&M #52) is a darn good engine for switching: Loads fast, stops good, pulls its guts out when I ask it to. Just today, while we were switching in the yard, the radio crackled: As soon as we could, we were on our way to meet a train and take tonnage off of it for Fort Smith. Once there and the train arrived, I got ahold of 30+ cars, many of them loads, and starting from a dead stop, got a run at a fairly formidable hill. #52 knuckled down and got with the program and I topped the hill at the allowable (20 MPH in this case). Not bad at all. In a few minutes the radio crackled again: "Did you make it over the hill?" (the TM knew it was going to a hard pull... figuring we may have to double into the yard.) "Stormin' your way." was my response. Surprised, he said he would get his radio and meet us in the yard. Once in the yard, in about 20-30 minutes we had the train broke down and re-classified for tonight's runs. Oft times kicked cars (and cuts) would be drifting down three different tracks at the same time. Yup... sometimes I get aggrevated at these old Alco's... but really... they're doing pretty good to have been in service for nearly 50 years. Andre Ming From: Jamie Bothwell Bud, I was thinking more like good, stout string for EMDs and a sort of fine thread for Alcos. Simulates Alco's propensity for breaking down. (So I've heard. Not to argue with two guys who actually drove them!) Jamie Bothwell Bethlehem, PA
