Last N&W diesel heading to scrap (NW Mailing List)

[NW Mailing List]

"Sooner or later, people are going to have to realize that there are generations of individuals who have grown up never seeing a steam locomotive in true use... while you might not care for the newer generation of motive power, the key to getting this generation interested in railroad history at all is to show them something they can relate to.  I'm fairly certain there were plenty of steam locomotives that were abysmal failures in the operating world, yet for there uniqueness and contribution to history, should have been saved (the VGN Triplex for example)"

Robb,
   To be quite frank with you, I do care for the newer generation of motive power more commonly known as a "diesel".  That's the reason we have good people like you in "hysterical" societies, in order to take care of things such as this:)
    So what happens is that we get a division of what looks good on paper or pedigree, contradicting the truth of the real world. To the railfan or historian, the pedigree of this unit may look like a fantastic find. 
    To the operating employee who knows too well how these units contributed to the decline of any resemblence of "Precision Transportation", you must forgive my less than enthusiastic support of your project. 
    My logic tells me that, yes, in a way you are right to try and save the 8551. My emotion tells me how wrong you are.
    The problem lies in the fact that if 8551 would ever get into a museum, there would be a beautifully written plaque extolling how this was the last of the last or something another and people would stream by and think "how great that is", when the truth of the matter would be that they were poorly designed and over the road were very mediocre units. It is amazing that it took GE so very very very long before it designed it's first decent locomotive...the Dash 9. That should clearly be noted in the legacy of  the 8551.

GP/SD40-2's  FOREVER!
Jimmy Lisle
    
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