I got a cup full o’ knowledge yesterday. I was running a coal train from Chattanooga TN to Bridgeport AL and the dispatcher told us that we were to swap with the short line crew and deadhead home to Nashville TN. I had a SD70MAC in the lead and a CW40-8 in trail. Just before we got there it hit me… The short line mentioned has 4 GP20s, a Dash 7, a GP9, and a GP7. I thought, how in the world are these guys going to be able to run the big MAC if all they run on their line are old jeeps and a -7? Before we even dismounted they jumped up on the engine almost excited-like. I asked the Engineer if he knew how to run a 70MAC and he told me, “Oh yeah, we went through a course offered by KCS in Kansas City.” I was amazed that a short line would do this but I think it is great. In most cases Class 1 foamer-engineers are envious of short lines getting to run the old stuff and short line foamer-engineers are envious of the Class 1’s getting to run the new stuff. These guys are getting the best of both worlds now. I’ll bet they are enjoying that. They did at least let me go check out their GP20. Unfortunately they were stripped down and thieves stole wiring from them. But hey, history is history. Now to run a steam engine >=)
-Will