Believe me, Wally, the cost of another engine crew was NOT 'nickles and
dimes! .... most especially as collective agreements became firmer. Crew
costs were long a major factor in operating expenses and the diesel electric
locomotive's ability to run in multiple unit consists operated by a single
engineman was a huge motivator for the railways to make the changeover from
steam to diesel. In 1950, a train leaving Hope, BC. for Brookmere might
have two, three and sometimes even four steam locomotives to climb the
Coquihalla. A 40-50 car train could often require three engines, ergo,
three engine crews. By 1959, one engine crew routinely handled trains
exceeding 55 cars up the same hill. Two enginemen versus six. As for
maintenance, even new steam engines required much more servicing than did
diesel locomotives, both on the road and during terminal stops.
Dieselisation easily cut shop staff requirements in half - at least.
Joe Smuin
1. - "Joey, the secret to telling a good railway story is to always try to
stick just as close to the facts as possible." --- (the late) Cliff
Inkster; CPR Engineman, raconteur and philosopher.
2. - The secret to contacting Joe by email is to be sure to insert "Joe" or
"Smuin" into the main text portion of any message you send to him, and thus
your message should percolate through his spam filters.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Wally" <wdowrie@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <cpsig@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, February 07, 2009 3:04 PM
Subject: Re: [cpsig] RE: CPR D-10 from sunset
I wonder given the cost of another crew ( really nickles, and dimes although company accountants have always been the same ) Would the maintainance be a bigger isue?Given the time frame, and the fact that the roster was so old?
Wally
----- Original Message ----- From: dave hill
To: cpsig@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Saturday, February 07, 2009 12:33 AM
Subject: Re: [cpsig] RE: CPR D-10 from sunset
This is one giant reason steam diappeared as fast as it did . a large train
needs to get over thr division one steam engine won,t do it so you call up
a second steam engine you need another enginereer and fireman two more
shifs to pay for . now with deisels you couple 2 -3 -4 5 units together and
they are connected electrially so one crew can run them and its easier to
make them run together . so good bye to steam even though the CPR management
weren,t that sold on steam they kept a numbervof steam engine in storage
till 1966 thats why so many wen t tt he states they were available long
after the USlocos were chopped up CPR was a small power railroad d10s all
over the place no berkshires or mallets, Only a couple for a short time in
the rockies . but imagine trying to run a challenger thru spiral tunnels .
actually R Bowden did have a plan for Berkshires but the diesels took over
regards DAVID HILL
