| Railway Preservation News https://www.rypn.org/forums/ |
|
| Proctor to stay open for now https://www.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=10791 |
Page 1 of 1 |
| Author: | bobyar2001 [ Tue Sep 07, 2004 1:32 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Proctor to stay open for now |
From the DM&IR list, some news about the Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range shops and roundhouse at Proctor, Minnesota, recently acquired by Canadian National: An update on the DM&IR locomotive fleet. 1. As Chad Anderson mentioned at our convention, CN has decided to keep the car shops AND diesel house open. The union was told that 12 machinist positions will be retained at Proctor and the facility will do running repairs and some heavy component swap-outs. All overhauls will be done at Homewood (Chicago) or Winnipeg. With some machinists already electing to transfer to the docks or into train service and with recent retirements, the railroad thinks that only a small number of mechanical employees will actual lose their jobs (assuming they don't transfer to Homewood). That's VERY good news for these folks. 2. Interestingly, one plus for Proctor is that the wheel truing machine the Missabe bought from Minntac when that operation ceased rail haul a few years ago is apparently the most modern on the entire CN system and Winnipeg's is outdated and in need of repair. On the down side, CN is considering moving the machine to Winnipeg as a replacement (they can use it 24/7 versus limited shifts at Proctor). 3. CN has decided they will overhaul all the Missabe diesels (200s and 400s) with the exception of the 300s. This work will most likely be done at Homewood. Specific 200s overhauled depends on any major failures suffered by that class between now and overhaul time. The Missabe overhaul benchmark was after a unit reached 1,000,050 gallons of fuel burned. CN's system is based on miles, which isn't great for the Missabe given short distances and heavy grades (that's why the DM&IR used the fuel consumption method). The locomotive shops will be getting CN's locomotive maintenance/availability computer system in the near future. 4. Speaking of the 300s. They are all stored with the exception of the 308. The 308 is assigned to Keenan because they need a 300 to work Unitac's "ball and rod" track account of the fact that the 200s and 400s can't negotiate that trackage. Proctor can only reactivate the 300s with permission (they had permission to use the 303 on the "training" train at Proctor). Best guess is that they will be put up for sale, baring a upswing in traffic on the CN that requires their reactivation for a short period. 5. CN wants the railroad to run very lean with engines and not have "extras" sitting around waiting to fill in for road failures. The positive is that unlike Great Lakes Transportation, CN is now making sure the reliability of the fleet is better by allowing the mechanics to do some preventative repairs and spend extra time making sure they take care of all issues when an engine comes in (instead of repairing just the one issue that brought the engine into the shops and nothing else, even if they notice something needing attention). This policy is also one of the reasons Proctor will remain open. |
|
| Page 1 of 1 | All times are UTC - 5 hours [ DST ] |
| Powered by phpBB © 2000, 2002, 2005, 2007 phpBB Group http://www.phpbb.com/ |
|