Sometimes two large units just aren't enough on those grades. The extra unit helps out. The same thing happened when Conrail purchased the SD80MAC's and tried running them in pairs alone on these trains. The grades just proved to be too much for two of those monsters.
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I am aware that throwing an extra unit onto a train to help out is common, but I find it strange it always ends up being a GP40-2. Most AC locomotive sets comprise of two AC60s, AC44s, SD70MACs and/or SD70ACes on the B&A. Most of the time I see a GP40-2 helping a set of DC power. I actually saw two GP38-2s helping out a lone AC unit this same day!
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Q437 has GP40-2's on it because these units are heading to Selkirk for servicing, usually these units are off-line.
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