Absolutely TRAGIC. What a waste, having so many locomotives just sitting around doing nothing. It's this way with all the railroads. This is testing who is a true rail fan, even in bad times.
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Would be interesting to know what is the average age of all of these stored locos!
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Nice photo of a sad situation, Doug. I worked for NS long enough (1981-2015) that I can easily remember when all these locomotives were brand-spanking new. It seems like such a waste, but it is what it is...
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Is it me or is there a passenger car in the mix?
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| Posted by Andrew on July 15, 2020 | |
Why is everybody only interested in the age of the locos? Surely the milage is far more important? The lady across from me has a car ,more than ten years older than mine. Hers has about 10 thousand miles on the the clock, mine more tha 210 thousand. Does the age really matter in this case, why not with locos?
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Age does matter when it comes with locos, a loco built 5 years ago is much more fuel efficient than a loco built 15 years ago. It's all about $$$
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Adding to this is the reduction of coal trains on this line to Norfolk, VA. I was in Crewe, Va on 9/1 and there was not one coal train waiting to head east to Norfolk. Five years ago there were always three or four waiting to go east and three or four empties waiting to go west to Roanoke. In recent months there have been no ships waiting in anchorage in the Chesapeake Bay to go to Norfolk to receive coal. Five years ago there were always several empty ships waiting near the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel.
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How about the locomotive builders? Has anyone ordered new power lately?
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