Locomotive Failure Rates

There seems to be a lot of issues with the new Lionel VL Big Boy.  Just look at the postings on this forum.

Railroad Mechanical Departements certainly do track such information, however I would be surprised if you would ever see such data published.

Yeah....it couldn't be good for business if that got out.

-Greg

Couple of my old GE buddies, Jim and Walt worked in #26, Erie,  and went over the GE crap-outs on a pretty regular basis !

 I think I've heard the mechanical depts. slang names for the locomotives used in today's railroad industry,ah both are represented here :

 

 GE (Guaranteed Employment)

 EMD (Engine May Die)

I had a friend who worked for GE out of Erie as an electrical engineer and told me tales that never made it in to the rail press. But the engines from both companies are big, complicated and practically made on a production line so problems are part of it.

Haha, yes, some cynics on the railroad still exist.

 

However, today's locomotives have low failure rates, because of maintenance agreements normally signed at purchase time for the last 30 years.  The railroad craft employees -- machinists, electricians, pipe fitters, cab carpenters, laborers -- actually do the work under supervision of Foremen and Supervisors employed by the builder, using parts supplied by the builder.  Certain shop tracks are used by EMD or GE.  The railroad's older, non-contract locomotives are maintained on other tracks by the railroad.

 

Burlington Northern, among Class 1 railroads, was a leader in implementing this idea.

 

There are other components of the contract, which can vary, but they all penalize the builder when the locomotive is unable to produce power.  Therefore, the builders learned just what their products did after delivery, and both EMD and (significantly) GE improved the reliability of their respective locomotives.  They gained direct knowledge of weaknesses and improved designs accordingly.

 

And, yes, the railroads all keep very comprehensive records of reliability.  In the 1980's, at Santa Fe, there was a list of road locomotives, compiled daily, known as the "Dirty Dozen" -- the 12 road locomotives in transcontinental freight service with the highest failure rates.  The list excluded first generation locomotives, and was limited to the then current road locomotive roster -- SD45, F45, SD40, GP40, B36-7, B39-8, C30-7, GP60, and variations thereof.  Some of those locomotives were under contract, but many (SD45, F45, C30-7) were not.

Steam or diesel?

 

Seems I remember reading where the UP always had 1 or 2 Big Boys in the shop being worked on while the rest were working...These days they can't keep any steam "active" 

All cool stuff!

 

Thanks!

The "modern era" term for tracking diesel locomotive failures is, or at least was when I retired, MTBUS:

 

Mean Time Between Unscheduled Shoppings.  

 

Naturally the goal is to have any single unit "in the shop" only four times a year, for the normal 92 day scheduled maintenance.