This post is in response to some interesting reading over on the goat. I would respond at the goat but at present I haven’t got the blessing required to post there with may current email address. .Readers frequent both webs so I will post here.
This talk of the RGRPC being removed and the possibility of John Bush helping with a winter program.
I am not in the loop with what is going on here and want to say up front that I am keeping my opinions to
My self concerning all of this BUT concerning the “BUSH REPORT”
Again I am reading some very shallow interpretations of information presented by a person who is much more qualified to talk about the C&TS than the arm chair politicians at the goat.
A very impotent aspect of railroad maintenance and physical responsibility is being swept under the rug again and the flag of “Band-Aid Repairs” is flying over the battlefield. The current shop has taken great pride in approaching the locomotives with an attitude addressing nearly every moving part in there rebuilds. This is a very admirable and sometimes necessary approach particularly when you are fighting a slightly uneducated political body that has an agenda to find fault or negligence I your efforts. I do not wish to speak negatively toward their efforts.
My point is that a locomotive is the sum of a lot of little mechanical systems, all of witch have there own life expectancies. and Importance. Example Tire contour and rod bushings will never ware to a point of replacement at the same time. So when operating a railroad of the size & nature of the C&TS it is important
to understand when to spend money and when to get the full life out of money spent. The bottom line of this balance is in the welfare of the locomotive and the reliability to perform,. The cost of operation should yield the lowest cost possible and still maintain the equilibrium of good performance. John Bush made a report that reflected his understanding of the monetary responsibility when approaching this balance.
To label his report as a band aid repair is more of a political attack than an educated response.
Lets remember that through the 1990s this aspect of the C&TS was taken for granted to a fault and the result of this was ultimately loosing control .
Jack Campbell