At 01:25 PM 2/10/2009, you wrote:
>The main reason, it is believed, that the transition to D-E engines was so
>fast was that the rolling stock was worn out after WW2 and in need of
>replacement anyway. Had engines been built and/or refurbished during WW2
>(which rarely, if ever happened), it would have taken much longer to
>amortize them off the books and justify the swift replacement.
>
>OM-4-3-2 Schnozz
Not really - it was operating costs. I have info around somewhere
from the Reading Railroad that did comparisons of operating diesels
and steam on specific routes through Pennsylvania. The maintenance
premium for steam was significant. Also, you can't lash two steamers
together and run them with one crew like you could diesels, where you
can add additional units (to a certain limit) that are all operated
from the lead unit. When diesels were first introduced, the unions
tried to insist that a crew was needed in each engine, even if they
were lashed together. So the railroads countered by semi-permanently
coupling the diesel units together (in the EMD FT's) so they would
classify as one "unit" for crew purposes.
So, fuel, maintenance and operating labor costs were heavily in favor
of diesels. The decision for most railroads was simple. If not for
diesels, the economic collapse of the railroad industry would have
happened in the 1950s instead of the late 1960s-early 1970s.
It's an interesting story that road diesel manufacturing was banned
during WWII - only switch engines were allowed. The Santa Fe,
however, got permission to have EMD build road diesels to operate in
across the Mojave desert, claiming there wasn't enough water supply
to support steam engines with the wartime tonnage. This gave EMD the
lead in diesel technology that they held until about the 1990s.
Steve Troy
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