BNSF changes on Mullan

[LinxGet22]

As long as I've been following the Montana railroad. Most of all Mullan Pass, after BNSF took over, the problems there have only gotten worse, constantly dirty locomotives, why can't they allocate more SD70ACe series locomotives there? They are running these old SD70MAc's that are not fit for the job. And this C4 series, it's a complete nonsense.

[wwhall]

^I will speculate a bit about this. First, most of the big railroads now practice having locomotives remain with a train from originating yard to destination. So, whatever road power and DP's were on the train when it left its originating yard will remain with the train until it reaches its destination yard, including when it traverses Mullan. As for the helpers, long tunnels like Blossburg raise hell with helper locomotives, covering them with soot and filling filters, etc. with soot. MRL's SD-70ACE locomotives were no exception, but MRL had loco maintenance personnel to tend to them regularly. I suspect that BNSF is taking the same tact that UP took for the helpers assigned to Tennessee Pass for the relatively short time that they operated helpers there--assign locomotives there for relatively short period of time until they got too filthy and "plugged up" to keep running there, then rotate them out for some different ones. BNSF using aging SD70MAC's already mostly worn out makes some sense in that scenario--BNSF is not trashing newer locos in that service over Mullan. I'm not defending that mode of operation, but I suspect that is what's happening. By the way, one could always spot MRL SD70ACE's that had been in helper service for awhile--they would be filthy. I live hundreds of miles away from the old MRL, but I now see the MRL SD70ACES pretty regularly on the BNSF near where I live. One other note, generally speaking, BNSF locos are way cleaner than UP's are these days. I regularly see UP locos today that look like they haven't been washed for a year or more. Back when I lived around the D&RGW, with all of its tunnels, the running joke (and not really a joke) was that the D&RGW painted its locos black so they didn't have to wash them. They would get so filthy that train crews would often have to wipe down the road number on the cab just so it was readable. That said, in those days, though, dirty as they were, the D&RGW locos were well-maintained mechanically.

[yellowdog]

Back when I lived around the D&RGW, with all of its tunnels, the running joke (and not really a joke) was that the D&RGW painted its locos black so they didn't have to wash them. They would get so filthy that train crews would often have to wipe down the road number on the cab just so it was readable. That said, in those days, though, dirty as they were, the D&RGW locos were well-maintained mechanically.

I believe this is true of the Clinchfield as well, that migrated from the grey/yellow paint scheme to a all black scheme. They also traded their U36Cs to SCL for SD45-2s to keep an all EMD roster for the sake of ease of maintenance.