Jump to content

Talk:GE 45-ton switcher

Page contents not supported in other languages.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by William Grimes (talk | contribs) at 20:58, 10 December 2006. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

WikiProject iconTrains: Locomotives Start‑class
WikiProject iconThis article is within the scope of WikiProject Trains, an attempt to build a comprehensive and detailed guide to rail transport on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, you can visit the project page, where you can join the project and/or contribute to the discussion. See also: WikiProject Trains to do list and the Trains Portal.
StartThis article has been rated as Start-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale.
???This article has not yet received a rating on the project's importance scale.
Associated projects or task forces:
Taskforce icon
This article is supported by the Locomotives task force.


This locomotive's specific 45-ton weight was directly related to one of the efficiencies the new diesel locomotives offered compared to their steam counterparts, reduced labour intensity. In the 1940s, the steam to diesel transition was in its infancy in North America, and railroad unions were trying to protect the locomotive fireman jobs that were redundant with diesel units. One measure taken to this end was a stipulation that locomotives weighing 44 tons or more required a fireman in addition to an engineer.

Why would they make a 45-ton locomotive to skirt a 44-or-more-tons requirement? Shouldn't this be "more than 45 tons"? Perel 02:04, 8 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

This information was found on the 44 Ton page, but applies to the 45-ton also. Locomotives 44 tons or more were required to have a crew of two, this includes the smaller but heavier 45-Tonner. Billy Rules 20:03, 8 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]


This locomotive can be called a 45-Tonner, but what does "tonner" mean, is it a run-on of Ton and Switcher, is it slang?Billy Rules 20:08, 8 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]