5:08 As a Chicagoan, I can confirm the Amtrak Midwest ones do not work well. The moment winter hits, the Chargers stop working. They get stranded in snow easily and throughout winter, it isn't uncommon for trains usually pulled by Chargers to be swapped out with Dash 8s or P42s. I can also say that the Cascades SC-44s and regular ALC-42s are not good either. During an NRHS Railcamp tour, our group spoke to the Amtrak shop crews, the people who maintain and repair Amtrak and Sounder locomotives. They told us that Siemens locomotives often have issues, more issues than the other locomotives. They also are a pain to work on, as they are more difficult to repair. One of the reasons is because you need to connect a laptop to the locomotive to find the issue. The shop crews hate them. That same day, 4 Siemens engines were outside waiting to be worked on. There was only one F159PHI outside waiting for repairs. These engines, SC-44s in particular, are also seen as ugly by the railfan community. SC-44s and the ALC-42s honestly, with their mechanical flaws and apperance, are hated for legitimate reasons.
The best part about freight railroads is when the daily turn train that always has the same power get a Heritage unit. The MWGWG west chicago rochelle turn got the CNW heritage unit for about two weeks and would lead and trail once a day.
Down here in South Carolina the same power stays on 18D and 19D for six days straight (train runs daily except Sunday) so when we get a heritage unit on those, there's some good opportunities to catch it. Hence the train NS 8100 is on in my profile pic. There was even a time when CSX 1982 worked the downtown switch job (I missed it since I was at work the whole time).
I prefer passenger over freight all though that could be because freight has a 0% chance of coming. I don’t even live anywhere near Metrolink or any other commuter service. The Union Pacific just simply ceased operations after over 100 years of SP and UP. All I get now is the Pacific Surfliner and Coast Starlight.
As someone who also completely prefers Passenger over Freight, I agree with every single word in Part 1. I’ve always wanted to say all of that, but wasn’t sure exactly how to word it, but you did, and I guess I gotta say thanks for that. And yeah, I know the feeling. Most of the entire rest of the SoCal Railfanning Community wants me burned at the stake just because I don’t like Coaster 2304’s K5CA-LS.
I like some of the new stuff like the Amtrak phase 6 ALC-42s but i mainly like older stuff because the old stuff won't be around for much longer and it's just more variety.
I like freight mostly because that's what I grew up with, and after years at the same spot with the same railroads you get the same familiarity as passenger. I do like passenger too and I get some when I can (I live in South Carolina so we don't have much). As for new vs old, a lot of that depends on who you are. Crews love GEVOs and hate EMDs, railfans love EMDs and hate GEVOs. I love old stuff as much as the next person but as someone who worked with old power at a museum, I get why crews love new power. You pretty much have to be an athlete to run steam day in, day out. Most of what I go for when I railfan is good shots, but I'll go for rare power, chases, or good scenery any day. Documenting the way freight railroads operate is pretty interesting to me too. I love to notice small things, especially on freight trains, like fallen flags, unusual loads, etc.
I just film the trains, I don't really care that much about the horns or the special power, I just like the fact that they're trains. I do find it interesting when I see rare power, like when I saw a four locomotive train with no GEVOs, but I don't really care about the special stuff. I just film the BNSF in Wayzata whenever I can or want to. The Wayzata Sub is the closest to my house.
I live right next to our Exo commuter lines on cp and down the street CN’s freight Montreal subdivision, freight is wayyyyyy better for me. Tired of seeing the same locomotives going back and forth every hourz
