I have heard from several local railfans that the Appalachian & Ohio is going to begin leasing the old B&O West End from Grafton to Cumberland starting Labor Day weekend in September and westward from Grafton to New Martinsville down to Parkersburg in December. I haven't heard or seen any thing official but it has been said it was a done deal when the A&O started the Cowen Sub operation. Have no idea if this affects the construction of Cars shops and Locomotive facility in Buckhannon if this is true. Also, if all this come to past, the A&O may be bumped to a class 2 Railroad by both mileage and income. There would also be a serious deficit of motive power, possibly requiring WATCO to purchase brand new from EMD or GE.
It sure sounds nice. I don't know that ordering new would help their motive power issues in the short term though. I bet they'd get put on the back of the list. More then likely they'll resort to rent-a-wrecks.
Yesterday, was checking with a railroad fellow I know. His job monitors motive power, and he seems to think there's a slight downturn right now. So some leased units are definitely stored. Thus, I wonder if some might be turned back, or sold. So WATCO could pick up a few that way. Boxcab E50
If WATCO does get all the trackage that has been rumored, there will be a TON of Rent-a-Wrecks. LTEX, FURX, NREX, maybe even some X-LAX
Well around these parts, vary different! All you would ever see would be a pair of AC's. Maybe an SD70 on occasion. Now there are SD50's in place of the AC's, but much more colorful. The UP Yellow really shows the soot better than CSX Dark Future units.
