| Today, most or all diesel-powered commuter rail operations do not change the length (number of cars) of trains during off-hours thus accumulating many extra miles on the cars and using many gallons of extra diesel fuel. It seems to be a trade-off between today's labor costs vs. fuel and equipment costs. In this picture of Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy E8A 9973 leading a commuter run on Sunday July 5, 1964, and the "Q" obviously didn't expect many riders and cut the train to one push-pull gallery car. The trade-off was different. |