DD> BW> Without going into any discussion of the latest in technology going
DD> BW> into American locomotives currently, how efficient are those engines
DD> BW> now 25-30 years old in comparison with those less than, say, ten 
years?
 
DD>A lot of the reason has to do with the tax laws re: depreciation etc, 
lso,
DD>the majority of locomotives on US railroads are leased rather than owned,
DD>giving advantages to disposing of them before the end of their useful 
ife.
DD>It's more complicated than I can understand though.
 
Which might have come along shortly after all those EMD GP9/SD9 engines
came down the tracks?  As many times as Southern Pacific rebuilt their
"Cadillacs" (the SD9s), one would have to think that the railroad owned
those from the get-go, going over them every few years to keep them up
and running. At the very least, it kept the former Sacramento Shops with
lots of work to do.
 
You're right, though, about how obtuse the laws and/or bookkeeping ideas
might be for the average guy on the street who sees virtually nothing
but new (or nearly so) locomotives pulling freight duty all over the
countryside. Noted just a few days ago that U.P. is stating that their
fleet of engines is the youngest around, with an average age of 13.7
years.
 
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 # SLMR 2.1a # hAS ANYONE SEEN MY cAPSLOCK KEY?
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