GE vs. EMD which is the best

[Anonymous]

COULDN'T SPELL KAT IF YA SPOTTED HIM THE K AND THE A

[Anonymous]

Very perplexing; And all those years I tried to get a RR job?

[Anonymous]

Ya got to love it...lol

[Anonymous]

Very convenient that RR names are abbreviated-makes that loan app much easier.

[Anonymous]

Going to start a railroad soon are you? Sounds like EMD locomotives are the way to go. Not that anybody gives a rip but my personal favorite is the SD60 series from EMD. A lot happened with this machine and from what I understand was relitively pain free. I used to root for GE when they were not making many locomotives cause I always root for the underdog. Now it's EMD but still like GE just because it is a locomotive.

[Anonymous]

run old SP tucumcari route, herington,ks to kansas city, and herington to pratt,ks. yes, long live EMD! we get lot's of stacks, racks, and grain trains (when grain is moving). used to have coal trains off the hoisington line too, but not many now. Have tons of new 70M's running around along w/AC6000's, used to get 90MAC's too, until they restricted the speed on them to 60. still get 'em occasionally on grain or junk trains.

[Anonymous]

thanks for the info.

[Anonymous]

After all these years I thought that I knew how to spell but I guess I was wong.

[Anonymous]

Dan

I will give you one very big reason.
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ Cost is a main one.

[EvanWerkema]

The 50-series wasn't the only EMD series with
problems. EMD's problems have often come from
stretching systems too far. The GP35's
stretched the capabilities of the 567 engine
and the DC generator. The 35's had nightmarish
electrical cabinets - what was it, 14 stages
of transition? The 30's, 35's, and 40's also
had problems with wheelslip - putting too much
horsepower to too few axles. Wheelslip control
systems on later models helped this to an extent,
both on EMD and GE.

The problems with the 50-series have already
been mentioned. More recently, EMD pushed the
limits of the 710 engine too far with the SD75M's.
The BNSF fleet had terrible reliability - mean
time between failures was among the worst on the
system, and the locomotives were only a few years
old. And don't even mention the SD90MAC's.

About old GE's, the U-boats had a lot of problems.
From what I understand, many of those were fixed
with the Dash 7's, and even more with the Dash 8's. The Dash 8's and 9's are supposedly
actually pretty good locomotives. I've heard
a few BNSF engineers singing the praises of
their 1000+ fleet of Dash 9's.

There are several reasons why GE's don't tend
to be rebuilt. One could well be that U-boats
had so many problems they weren't worth
rebuilding. Another is that GE keeps fairly
tight reins on parts licensing, unlike EMD, so
it's harder to get GE parts for a large rebuild
program. Another factor is GE creative financing. Why rebuild U-boats when you can trade them in to
GE and get the latest model? Santa Fe traded
their U28CG's and U30CG's in for B36-7's in
1980, and later turned those back for a price
break on some Dash 8's.

It's not quite fair to say there is no market
for used GE's, either. "Dirt cheap" is a selling
point even for inferior goods, and there are
several shortlines that run nearly solid GE
rosters - Nashville & Eastern, Georgia Central
(who recently replaced their old U-boats with
MORE old U-boats), TransKentucky Transportation,
and Lake Superoir & Ishpeming are examples.
BCRail picked up those ex-ATSF B36-7's and
some reconditioned C30-7's, and lately have been
trying lease-return B39-8's.

Bear in mind, too, that GE never built the
equivalent of a GP9, which seems to be the
shortline mainstay these days. 2500 hp with
a turbocharger is apparently more than most
shortlines feel they want to deal with.

[Anonymous]

WOW Evan, exellant input. Couldn't have said it better myself! One thing to consider though, the EMD does the switching chore better than the GE. GE's really were designed to be the replacement of the EMD F units.

[Anonymous]

Now that iz funnny!

[Anonymous]

A very large part of the answer to your question is that EMD can offer the railroads locomotives and locomotive service. GE can offer locomotives, locomotive service, freight cars (through GE capital, one of the largest railcar owners), financing for capital projects (track rebuilding, etc.), purchase and lease back of facilities (to improve cash flow), automation of building controls (heating and air conditioning), insurance, and a host of other services. So by purchasing more than just locomotives from GE the railroads can obtain deep discounts. They can also get better responce because if the customer is unsatisfied with the locomotive, the seller stands to lose much more than just the locomotive business.

[Anonymous]

Dan
Ive heard that the reason GEs are so cheap is becasue they get you on maintaince. they requiire more checkups then EMDS. I like EMDS 40-2 all the way

[Anonymous]

Yes, it looks like GE sells a whole package. Not a bad way of doing business I think.

[eolafan]

SIMPLY PUT, E.M.D. FOREVER! G.E.'S ARE UGLY, SOUND LOUSY BUT ARE JUST PLAIN LESS EXPENSIVE. WELL, THERE YOU GO, A SHORT REPLY.