It's curtains for a Haverhill Line diesel; was it shorted out by a weasel?

Not an expert but I've cold cranked a couple of these in my day.

The vents on the new locomotives are just that... vents. Diesels generate a lot of heat. In fact on some diesel generators I have seen the exhaust pipes glow red hot. Hard to see during the day but at night it's a rather eerie thing to see. So hot parts are one consideration. Indeed it's dang hot in there and dangerous.

So when a locomotive is operating, that part of the body can be very hot and the exhaust system and fans that assist in cooling don't always do everything. The train movement assures additional air is moved inside for venting and cooling purposes.

Both the F40 class (older locomotives) and the newer HSP46 units have a car body that allows for a small inside cat walk where a person can move within for purposes of checking things or to move from the coach set to the locomotive cab area. Often the operator will pass through here when switching ends. He/she does not always climb out and walk to the other end outside.

The GP40 class have an outside catwalk and while functional those can be pretty dangerous when wet from rain or winter ice.

As to failures, it is not always the locomotive itself. The electronics that connects the cab-end controls (the controls at the rear of the trainset when going "backward") can sometimes fail. Safety features than may cause this can sometimes work against you.

Have you even been in a powered revolving door and have it suddenly stop and you walk into the glass? I have. It's a safety feature so no one gets hurt, but if you push or pull on the door the slightest amount it stops because it thinks someone is stuck. Trains have safety features that do things because something is not right, and sometimes the result is a train that goes nowhere. You cannot or should not always override these features as the runaway Red Line train showed us.

Not all that long ago a trainset headed to Framingham-Worcester got as far as Yawkey and the HEP (head end power) failed. This is the generator that gives power to the lights and heat in the coaches. It is located in the locomotive compartment. Why did it fail? A guess here is a problem with the generator, a short circuit in one of the coaches, the train was trying to use too much of the available current, etc, etc. Why does a circuit breaker in a home snap off? So the conductor gave riders a choice; wait for the next train or ride to their stop in the dark. The riders elected to stay on without lights.

The good news (??) is that as new locomotives and coaches get circulated in, tested, and pressed into service, this will (hopefully) cause the situation to get better.

As of now a number of locomotives, the worse or oldest in the fleet have been retired into temp storage for further disposition. These include F40 class 1000, 1001, 1002, 1003, 1004, 1005, 1006, 1007, 1008, 1009, 1010, 1011, 1012, 1013, 1014, 1015, 1017, and GP40 class 1117, 1120, 1127, 1137. The lower numbered F40s include those known as the "screamers" which had no HEP generator and had to be run at full throttle in order to power both the train and coaches. GP40 1118 and 1132 are out of service and sided at Somerville.

Awaiting repairs in Somerville are F40s 1028, 1032, 1036, 1050, 1051, 1054, 1061, 1063, 1068, 1071.

HSP46 (the new ones) out for warranty upgrades are 2030, 2038, 2004 and 2034. The first are being handled in-state and 2034 went to a facility in NY.

Of note... an experiment is being considered to resurrect a few of the stored locomotives to be used in expanded service on the Fairmount (Indigo) line with more-frequent service and fewer coaches per trainset. Those locomotives will have to have engine gear ratio work performed that will allow for faster starts and stops like a subway train. As of now that project is still in the discussion phase and no final plan to execute it exists.

i have an opinion, yes i do, if you don't like it, F (rhyme this).