Southern Pacific Switching Layout

[Brakie]

Russ wrote:
"I presume that the crew that worked the local industries would show up at the job site, fire up the locomotive, and go to work on the local switching"

Speaking of "firing up", I read somewhere a loooonngg time ago, that diesel locos were rarely shut down as it took several hours to fire 'em up again....Any truth to this..??

No,they basically start like a truck in fact railroads shut down locomotives whever there's a long wait between runs to conserve fuel costs...In the winter the locomotives prime mover heater is plugged into a electrical outlet or a APU in order to keep the water system from freezing ...See: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.hotstart.com/home/products/locomotive-products/idle-reduction-solutions-2/apu-auxiliary-power-unit/">http://www.hotstart.com/home/products/l ... ower-unit/</a><!-- m -->

As far as having on site locomotive mechanic they would probably have a on call locomotive repair service that does on site repairs..