magickmaker
New member
Thought I'd pass this on. While bouncing around Railpictures.net looking at some cool Swiss locomotives for a donation route I keep meaning to finish, I happened upon something that I didn't quite make sense of. Well, not until I read more into the history of it, and then hit upon an idea.
Here's the thing. Ever have one locomotive you loved, but really didn't have a place for? Maybe it's a passenger engine that just struck you as cool, but really you couldn't justify operating it since your route (whether model railroad or Trainz) doesn't serve passenger. On one hand you could make it a "special" preservation type thing...on the other hand you could do what Makies AG (a gravel company in switzerland did.)
Makies operates a couple trains, and really needed something that could pull their gravel cars. Let's face it. Gravel is HEAVY, but buying specalized locomotives tends to be on the expensive side. Even second hand locomotives aren't cheap. However, at the same time, SOB of Switzerland was upgrading their units. The old BDe 4/4 units were being replaced with EMU's. So Makies bought them. Now, it's strange, when you think about a gravel company buying EMU stock...but that's not where the strange ends.
You see, the BDe 4/4 is a POWERFUL unit in itself. 2100 Kw of power to be exact. So, by picking these EMU's up cheaply, they got the heavy locomotives they needed. Sorta.
Makies took to modifying the two units that they picked up, even going so far as to completely remove the seats from one and adding a diesel powered generator in its place. Thus allowing the locomotive (for lack of a better word) to operate in areas where overhead catenary wasn't present. What's more, they added cabling to their gravel cars, and have started operating their trains with two BDe 4/4's, one on each end, in a kind of "push/pull" configuration.
After repaint, the engines have earned the name the "Stoned Cucumber" but honestly I think it's a really cool idea.
So there's your answer for that odd locomotive or EMU you have. You can always claim that your company bought it cheaply, and use it to pull freight, or work trains, or even just like Makies, a specalized service.
Oh, and here's a link to the photo:
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=406203&nseq=22
Here's the thing. Ever have one locomotive you loved, but really didn't have a place for? Maybe it's a passenger engine that just struck you as cool, but really you couldn't justify operating it since your route (whether model railroad or Trainz) doesn't serve passenger. On one hand you could make it a "special" preservation type thing...on the other hand you could do what Makies AG (a gravel company in switzerland did.)
Makies operates a couple trains, and really needed something that could pull their gravel cars. Let's face it. Gravel is HEAVY, but buying specalized locomotives tends to be on the expensive side. Even second hand locomotives aren't cheap. However, at the same time, SOB of Switzerland was upgrading their units. The old BDe 4/4 units were being replaced with EMU's. So Makies bought them. Now, it's strange, when you think about a gravel company buying EMU stock...but that's not where the strange ends.
You see, the BDe 4/4 is a POWERFUL unit in itself. 2100 Kw of power to be exact. So, by picking these EMU's up cheaply, they got the heavy locomotives they needed. Sorta.
Makies took to modifying the two units that they picked up, even going so far as to completely remove the seats from one and adding a diesel powered generator in its place. Thus allowing the locomotive (for lack of a better word) to operate in areas where overhead catenary wasn't present. What's more, they added cabling to their gravel cars, and have started operating their trains with two BDe 4/4's, one on each end, in a kind of "push/pull" configuration.
After repaint, the engines have earned the name the "Stoned Cucumber" but honestly I think it's a really cool idea.
So there's your answer for that odd locomotive or EMU you have. You can always claim that your company bought it cheaply, and use it to pull freight, or work trains, or even just like Makies, a specalized service.
Oh, and here's a link to the photo:
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=406203&nseq=22
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