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Re: Santa Fe steam engine to be rebuilt to a "green" loco
Author: Wet Blanket
Date: 05-22-2012 - 11:54
"We'll see what happens": A small so-called research group will squander large sums of money...some of it probably grants, some maybe even taxpayers dollars...on an idea that may truly be "green", etc. etc., but it will ultimately fail.
It will fail because of a miriad of reasons, but chief among them: Retooling and training shops and maintenance folks to keep the engines running. No railroad with any sense would return to maintaining, manufacturing or ordering repair parts for such a behemoth, let alone a fleet of them. No corporation wants to expand their workforce to such a degree required.
Would the research group look beyond the good-intended but narrow merits of such a machine, and closely examine the entire fabric of moving freight or people long distances, they would see an acutely tuned diesel-electric operating network with tailored supporting infrastructure that we have in the Americas.
It will fail because of a miriad of reasons, but chief among them: Retooling and training shops and maintenance folks to keep the engines running. No railroad with any sense would return to maintaining, manufacturing or ordering repair parts for such a behemoth, let alone a fleet of them. No corporation wants to expand their workforce to such a degree required.
Would the research group look beyond the good-intended but narrow merits of such a machine, and closely examine the entire fabric of moving freight or people long distances, they would see an acutely tuned diesel-electric operating network with tailored supporting infrastructure that we have in the Americas.
