Canadian Railroads > CP has banned their New SD70ACU's from their B.C. mainline

Rumours elsewhere on the internet suggest that CP has banned their newly rebuilt SD70ACU's
from their mainline between Calgary and Vancouver.

Thanks to a legendary CP loco source,
it is possible to count how many ACU's are in BC on many days of the month.

April 30 - 5
May 2 - 7
May 3 - 4
May 4 - 5
May 5 - 7
May 6 - 6
May 7 - 6
May 8 - 3
May 10 - 2
May 12 - 1
May 13 - 1
May 15 - 1
May 17 - 0 
May 18 - 0

As of May 17, these locos had interchanged to UP at Eastport, ID
7043 May 14
7019 May 15
7035 May 15
7048 May 16



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/18/20 22:48 by Marcus.

Marcus

Many people have said that this is only a rumor. I'm not one of them. I believe that CP had restricted the use of the SD70s and you've provided some pretty concrete proof.

Tim
mp35mountain

Posted from Android

Why would this be?

Agreed. Without a good reason, I don't know why they would. The frame have no issues negotiating those curves. Curious as to what it is.

phlone Wrote:
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> Why would this be?

mp35mountain Wrote:
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> Marcus
>
> Many people have said that this is only a rumor.
> I'm not one of them. I believe that CP had
> restricted the use of the SD70s and you've
> provided some pretty concrete proof.

Correct, it is not a rumour. I've had it confirmed by an impeccable source but he is still working on finding out the rationale.

The initial allocation of early units to Golden, BC, was reassigned to Winnipeg in the past month, presumably in line with this change.

I saw CP 7011 eastbound through Albion, BC, on May 13 in Train 400-13 (Coquitlam-Calgary), and that could well be the last appearance in the Vancouver area for the time being.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/18/20 16:50 by railsmith.

Is there a British Columbia requirement that they don't meet? 

I heard that there were too many failures, with these units in B.C. 

When these units were new SD90-43MAC's, they wouldn't load to full horsepower when m.u.ed to an AC4400CW. The first orders of CP AC4400's had a switch on the console which limited the traction output to 4000 hp when not required. This function did not work on trailing SD90-43MAC's.
In fact, some times they wouldn't load atall. CP solved that issue by dissabling the 4000-4400 hp switch on the AC4400CW's.

always shop queens, always will be

We finally have something to look forward to and now it has been taken away.I saw them in the lead on the Ayer Sub a few times  and they are great looking units.Bill Webb

I have seen thease units running all over the system and country for that matter (US)

fredstoltz Wrote:
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> I heard that there were too many failures, with
> these units in B.C. 

There are too many failures, period, mainly electrical issues. The solution is to keep them closer to a concentrated base, Winnipeg and St. Paul, while these issues are sorted out.

 

they already had 20 years to sort them out, i ran them years ago, only had 1 trip they did't have some sort of issues, still trying to make chicken salad sanwich out of chicken sXXt, 

alco244 Wrote:
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> they already had 20 years to sort them out, i ran
> them years ago, only had 1 trip they did't have
> some sort of issues, still trying to make chicken
> salad sanwich out of chicken sXXt, 

So you're basing your opinion on stuff that happened 20 years ago?
Have you run one since their rebuild?

no, last good EMD derived locomotives were the 40 and 60 series, never liked the 70's when new, had one crap out with 40,000 miles,NS diesel doctor laughed when i gave him the codes, said they were new ones he never seen before, he said they bought them, the SD70's in a effort to keep GE down on their prices. only had 1 SD80, wouldn't start, 50 series i ran were CN equipment, not very reliable either, every version of the GE's gets better and better. i will give credit, the EMD wheel slip control system is better, that's it



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/19/20 17:58 by alco244.

CP shop employees saying the same thing, units are shop queens.

ken

alco244 Wrote:
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> no, last good EMD derived locomotives were the 40
> and 60 series, never liked the 70's when new, had
> one crap out with 40,000 miles,NS diesel doctor
> laughed when i gave him the codes, said they were
> new ones he never seen before, he said they bought
> them, the SD70's in a effort to keep GE down on
> their prices. only had 1 SD80, wouldn't start, 50
> series i ran were CN equipment, not very reliable
> either, every version of the GE's gets better and
> better. i will give credit, the EMD wheel slip
> control system is better, that's it

Interesting first hand experiences, thanks for the insights, really interesting.

CP had several SD70 demonstrators test on the property over the years, both DC and AC.  A friend was on a test where a senior motive power officer was along for the ride. They loaded the EMD test set to the max. The motive power staff had lap top computers hooked up to the electrical cabinet. They anticipated the train would climb Eagle Pass at about 5 miles per hour.  In fact it stalled. The senior motive power officer was an old school "ABC" (Always Blame the Crew) manager and accused the locomotive engineer of throttling down. My friend emphatically denied touching the controls and explained that the grade was actually steeper than shown on the printed track profile. The senior officer said the printed profile was accurate, but someone else in his crew confirmed that there was a five car long steeper section. The senior manager was not well pleased and criticized his subordinates for not keeping him informed. CP didn't buy the early SD70's, but did check with CN and BN what they thought of the SD70's. . AC SD70's made at least two trials on CP.

The senior motive power manager?  His attitude toward his subordinates came back to haunt him. When a former subordinate was promoted to corporate CEO, he chose to terminate the motive power manager .

Blaming your team rarely works well over the long run. That's a weakness in hiring people off the street.

The company culture is THE problem.

Posted from Android

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
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> Blaming your team rarely works well over the long
> run. That's a weakness in hiring people off the
> street.
>
> The company culture is THE problem.
>
> Posted from Android

I've seen people who came up in the company do the same thing, blame your subordinates, because it's all about them and they're never wrong.