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The fallen flag thread


metsfan

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From the "save some money" black, to the "leave it the color we found it" schemes/liveries, PC admittedly had a very, very diverse rolling stock fleet of both powered and un-powered vehicles. You had different generations of RDC plus the SPV2000 operating on spur and branch lines, the E44's the wagon trail 3rd rail box cabs, GG1, metroliners and all of it on the pax side, then you had the truly dismal freight ops with tracks that slid out from under the trains here and there hauled by anything without HEP and some stuff with HEP. Sometimes on very cold days the older HEP units in freight service would have their steam generators running to keep the aged electronics & other parts from not working properly. When amtrak and (MTA) and conrail took over when they did, the rail network in the northeast out to chicago aside from the vital main lines were a shambles. Everything was dirty, everything needed repairs & new paint, signals were running on layers of patch jobs, and the rail passenger, once so fond of the click-clack had nearly vanished as a result.

 

It will take decades more to reverse the decline in those years, upgrade & replace bridges, drainage, secondary lines brought up to 89 mph standards etc etc. It will take proper marketing & honest legitimate and hard won political battles to get trains back in people's everyday lives vs just in movies and the occasional trip. The equipment used is slowly being refreshed after decades of real stagnation, from new electric and diesel locomotives, to safer, more efficient and relaxing passenger railcars.

 

I got nothin but love for old motive power, especially the really solid performers, but to make a real change everything everything everything has to be modernized and pretty much at the same time so you don't hang up overall progress on one small thing, even if the rail services are operated in a patchwork of different agencies across different regions.

 

 

canb03.jpg

 

A lot has changed even now. :)

 

- A

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