Alan... > I began to speculate whether EL would have been a customer for GP15-1s > as replacements for the remaining F units and first-generation Geeps. > (snip) Doubtful, in my humble opinion. > Although I often think of the EL as the "big power road" of the > northeast, it did have many small light-duty branchlines to serve. Not nearly as many as other roads that purchased the GP-15-1. You could make the case that EL had relatively few branch lines. On the entire western half, could you count the number of branches on one hand? Considering the state of the economy in the mid to late 70s, one could say that if anything, many more customers were lost than gained. Fewer customers means fewer trains and fewer units needed to switch these customers. > Those first-generation Geeps, RS2s and RS3s couldn't last forever. True, but the rebuild program for RS3s had already begun with #1060 and supposedly another was in the process of being rebuilt at Hornell on 4/1/76. It stands to reason that more RS3s would have been rebuilt, and one could speculate that the GP7s and 9s might have been rebuilt as other railroads were doing in the mid to late 70s. > So, my guess is, had the EL continued operation, the GP15-1 (or even GE > U18Bs) would likely have served well on EL lines. Opinions? > I guess the question I have to ask is...how many units were stored unserviceable (in the dead line) on 4/1/76??? I'm guessing that most of the dead units were EMD cab units, Alco switchers, and RS units. As a result of these unserviceable units, how many units did EL have to lease or borrow in order to run the railroad? I'm guessing none. So, did the EL need any more units than they had in working order on 4/1/76? It would be cheaper to rebuild more Geeps and RS3s than to buy new units. Even in the most optimistic scenarios, had the EL reorganized outside of Conrail, they still would have been strapped for cash. pat moore #1719 ------------------------------ End of ErieLack Digest V3 #332 ******************************
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