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Why so few SD.80 MACS?
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Eric: Just call me Mark. That "Mr." bit makes me feel older than I already am :) <br /> <br />Here's the numbers for hp/gal/hr that I have that might be of use for SP (or D&RGW for that matter): <br /> <br />SD7: 16.1 <br />SD9: 16.2 <br />GP30: 18.0 <br />GP35: 17.4 <br />SD40: 17.9 <br />SD45: 18.6 <br />SD40-2: 18.2 <br />SD50: 19.1 <br />SD60 20.6 <br />SD70: 20.8 <br /> <br />Note with some exception (the GP35, not surprisingly), these show steady improvement. <br /> <br />This also shows that the conventional wisdom about the SD45 being a "fuel hog" is dead wrong. It is a little more thirsty at idle, but that's not a very big number compared to notch 8. <br /> <br />To tell you the truth, when I read your first post on fuel economy, I began to wonder if all the talk I've heard the last 30 years about fuel efficiency really did matter-- because I'd never seen any numbers that put it into dollars and cents. I was taken aback when I ran those numbers to see how much money it really was. <br /> <br />Speaking of D&RGW, I was surprised talking to them about 15 years ago that their F9s, SD9s, and GP9s were NOT 1750 hp locomotives. They had reset them from 835 rpm to 800 rpm, dropping horsepower to 1500, in order to get better longevity. (A tugboat machinist I once knew told me that a 567C run at 800 rpm would run forever, but that he really preferred Alco 251s, because they had to be bolted back together so much more often -- lots of overtime!) <br /> <br />D&RGW also put D liners in their 567Cs because they had bigger cylinder ports, so pulled in more combustion air, which helped make up for the thinner air at high altitudes. <br /> <br />Like you said earlier, it's all a matter of value. <br />
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