GETTYSBURG, Pa. — Time may be short for the GP10 locomotives that handle traffic on the Gettysburg & Northern, a 27-mile Pioneer Lines short line connecting to CSX Transportation at Gettysburg and Norfolk Southern at Mt. Holly Springs, Pa. Photographer William Anderson reports that the railroad is currently testing a CEFX (CIT Rail) lease unit, GP15D No. 1501, with a GP20 locomotive expected soon. With that unit’s arrival, plans are to either sell or scrap two of the units, while retaining former Elkhart & Western PREX GP10 No. 1000 as a backup.
Years ago I remember watching from the window of my algebra class in high school as five or six ICG GP10’s pulled trains out of Mobile headed for Hattiesburg, MS. It was always quite a show with lots of smoke and noise as the loco’s struggled to drag their always long trains up Spring Hill and out of Mobile. The cars would rock and roll along the light jointed rail followed by an orange ICG caboose. And my grades in algebra were never good.
Caterpillar 3512 and 3516 engine parts aren’t cheap and are much more expensive than comparable EMD’s. They may find themselves surprised by their move.
A regional railroad for instance that had been relying on earlier CAT repowers has been phasing them out despite still being solid performers and with superior fuel efficiency to equivalent EMD products, simply because they’re too expensive to buy replacement parts for.