These locomotive deadlines do seem to be a bit different from years past. For one thing, this is mostly big, high horsepower stuff... the days of end-cab switchers and old rebuilt 1,000 to 1,750 road switchers is long gone; the power shown in the accompanying photos was meant to move heavy and/or fast unit trains. The other thing that is a bit unusual (or so I have been told) is that these units aren't generally in bad shape, most being stored/laid-up in good order. There were a lot of seriously clapped-out units that got cut up in the 1980s and 1990s because they could not be "rebuilt" (often for the second time) in a profitable manner; these, however are generally okay though they aren't spring chickens.
One of the things that has happened over the last year or so in this area is the return of single locomotives on the head end of local trains. For decades, there would always be at least two engines MU'd back to back for two reasons: the power could travel in either direction without needing a wye or turntable, and because if one engine went down, the remaing one could finish the turn. One more sign that the transportation industry - particularly rail - is feeling the pinch.
Mr. niteowl77