Railroads that had been buying non-turbocharged locomotives (such as GP38-2)for less maintenance expenses often began acquiring turbocharged units to get more horsepower from the same prime mover (such as GP40-2) or the same horsepower from a smaller one (such as GP39-2), when fuel price became more significant than maintenance costs. Of course, not all railroads dealt with these issues the same way.
On a personal note, it often made it very difficult to get to work. Railroad employees go on duty at all hours of the day and night, and it frequently became very hard to get gas. For example, while working for the WP, I was once called to work a Fremont roadswitcher from 5:30am to 5:30pm. Since I lived in Sacramento, I didn't have time to find a gas station open in the middle of the night (which became quite rare in the summer of 1979). After getting off work in Fremont that evening, I didn't have enough gas to get back to Tracy or Stockton. Alameda County had odd/even gas rationing at the time; it was an even-numbered day and I had an odd-numbered licence plate. After being rebuffed at a couple of gas stations, I bought a gas can and walked into a gas station. Doing that three times gave me enough gas to get to San Joaquin County, which had no rationing. Even so, you might have to wait in line for an hour at a gas station, if you could find one that had gas to sell.