I'll respectfully disagree Russ on two points - use of steam generators &
E unit utilization. For the former, the Q made good use of steam gen's for
the many mixed trains that ran into the 60's - more than most RR's. (Also
back-up power for branch line passenger service) I suspect the generators
were victim of poor maintenance more than poor design in later yrs.
Ironically when I was with C&NW in the early 80's as Gen. Diesel Shop
Foreman Trainee @ Proviso, there was still at least one GP with operating
steam generator - not used in years BUT was in the maint. pool out of
Proviso which still had a man on staff who knew boilers & kept it tagged as
operational. Some gen-equipped locos were also used by the Q, I understand,
on work trains.
As for E unit utilization, I fully agree that Morgan had a well-
documented love affair with the Q (who can blame him!) and Murphy used the
P.R. "Diesels West" provided for all it was worth. However if you look @
Railway Age magazines in the 50's, a lot of coverage was given to the Q's
unique interchange of locos for both conventional & commuter service. Other
RR's used pools, etc to get optimuum usage but none quite as creatively as
the Q did (which often thought out of the box to use a current mgt. phrase).
To be objective I must admit the great loco mystery of the Q/C&S was why
neither their Motive Power people NOR EMD's could figure out for years that
a diesel could indeed operate at the high altitudes at Climax, Colorado -
classic example of an assumption based on bad science (I suspect it was EMD
that dragged their feet for fear that if it failed, it would a black mark on
their 567 power and they were only losing 1 potential loco sale by not
encouraging use of same by C&S). Gerald Edgar
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