Canadian Railroads > CP Rail: mean time between failures?

I noticed the NS 8105 (Interstate Rail heritage unit) in Allentown PA the other day. Recently washed, orange and cream colors looked great.

Paired with two of the filthiest engines I've ever seen. ES44AC units from the CPR. Both looked like they spent weeks in a coal mine, after which they had serious oil leak issues. One was so filthy, the number was unreadable under the window. But they sounded fine, good engine rumble, no different than the NS unit. I figured they'd be clanking and spitting, etc.

So, is this part of the EHH plan to get more use out of engines? We'll maintain them, but we won't wash them? Or just a few engines far from home with nobody interested in cleaning them up along the way?

And, does anyone know what CP's MBTF is compared to CN, BNSF, etc?

Don't have a number, but well-placed folks tell me failures are through the roof in the last year.

On the image side, there is a lot of paint flowing lately. Lots of 9500's especially are getting done, but of course in short order they are a mess.

Bill Miller
Galt, ON

CCMF Wrote:
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> On the image side, there is a lot of paint flowing
> lately. Lots of 9500's especially are getting
> done, but of course in short order they are a
> mess.

The idea of actually washing them still seems to be a bit of a stretch.

Ray

A better measure for recent GEs would be mean time between fires.

KG

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
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> So, is this part of the EHH plan to get more use
> out of engines? We'll maintain them, but we won't
> wash them? Or just a few engines far from home
> with nobody interested in cleaning them up along
> the way?


My personal take on the cleanliness of CP engines is that there's no difference between before EHH and now.

I agree with KH in this one. When I worked out of Calgary we'd always have dirty units, cabs etc. During my recent trip west of Calgary I've seen more a lot of new paint on units, except perhaps the SD40-2's which still soldier on in action red.......

Posted from iPhone

You should see a standard NS unit. The black hardly gets washed. Just the white gets cleaned off.

Posted from Android

It's only you rail fans who care what they look like . As long as they perform the way they were meant to , that's fine. There is a repaint program going on l believe. The word is no new locomotives until 2017

bayview_boy Wrote:
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> It's only you rail fans who care what they look
> like . As long as they perform the way they were
> meant to , that's fine. (snip)

That's the point I was looking to discern, whether the locomotives are performing as expected, or whether they're falling apart on the road at an increasing rate.

My sense is there's no significant difference now, compared to the Fred Green era.