mkstarks
New Member
Since the beginning of time, we have faced forward without looking back. With that comes the fact that technology and it’s advancements propel us into the next millennia and things that can’t keep up quickly found themselves getting pushed aside and forgotten. Whether it’s your first generation iPhone, computer, car or truck, there comes a time where you have to make the choice to move forward.
The same thing goes for the railroads, except on a larger scale. Capital investment in the physical plant is a necessity to stay competitive and meeting ever exceeding customer demands. Over the last several years, the major locomotive builders such as EMD and GE have stuck to primarily larger road locomotives which has left the smaller railroads to rely on smaller and much older locomotives that the larger railroads have felt they no longer needed.
California Northern Railroad (CFNR) started here in the state in 1993 under the ownership of Park-Sierra Rail Group and quickly began providing quality service to its customers. In 2002, Park-Sierra sold CFNR to RailAmerica, a company which had a network of short line railroads across the US.
Under RailAmerica’s ownership, the railroad continued to grow and a decision was made with the help of a grant from the State of California to order five new genset low emissions locomotives to replace twelve of the older and “less efficient” locomotives. The order went out to National Railway Equipment Company for the 3GS21B-DE locomotives. Arriving in 2009, the locomotives were quickly put to use which led to the sidelining and eventual removal of several of the older locomotives (they were sent to other RA properties out of the state).
Many rail photographers lamented the newer units, seeing that they were now replacing the old classics like CFNR 113, a GP15-1 that was originally built for the Chicago & North Western railroad. But, the thing with new technology, sometimes it has its bumps and those bumps come with downtime.
Here we are, four years later and we still find the old technology turning a wheel, while the new unit is down for maintenance.
The same thing goes for the railroads, except on a larger scale. Capital investment in the physical plant is a necessity to stay competitive and meeting ever exceeding customer demands. Over the last several years, the major locomotive builders such as EMD and GE have stuck to primarily larger road locomotives which has left the smaller railroads to rely on smaller and much older locomotives that the larger railroads have felt they no longer needed.
California Northern Railroad (CFNR) started here in the state in 1993 under the ownership of Park-Sierra Rail Group and quickly began providing quality service to its customers. In 2002, Park-Sierra sold CFNR to RailAmerica, a company which had a network of short line railroads across the US.
Under RailAmerica’s ownership, the railroad continued to grow and a decision was made with the help of a grant from the State of California to order five new genset low emissions locomotives to replace twelve of the older and “less efficient” locomotives. The order went out to National Railway Equipment Company for the 3GS21B-DE locomotives. Arriving in 2009, the locomotives were quickly put to use which led to the sidelining and eventual removal of several of the older locomotives (they were sent to other RA properties out of the state).
Many rail photographers lamented the newer units, seeing that they were now replacing the old classics like CFNR 113, a GP15-1 that was originally built for the Chicago & North Western railroad. But, the thing with new technology, sometimes it has its bumps and those bumps come with downtime.
Here we are, four years later and we still find the old technology turning a wheel, while the new unit is down for maintenance.
