let it go

[csxengineer98]

can we please let the GE-vs-EMD battle die already.

[dknelson]

Baldwin-Lima-Hamiltons Rule! (lol)
Dave Nelson

[eolafan]

GREAT IDEA, BUDDY, LET'S START THIS RIGHT NOW. I COMMIT TO NOT CONTINUING THIS DISCUSSION, ANYBODY ELSE?

[wabash1]

ok how about a emd -vs -ge battle. on second thought it wouldnt work it takes 2 ge to do the work of 1 emd they already pulled up short.

[Anonymous]

What we have here is the railroading equivalent of two tribes going to war. Racecar enthusiasts can do it week and and week out when GM and Ford do battle on the race tracks of America - and Australia and New Zealand. Last Sunday I attended the annual GM versus Ford battle when the Aussie Touring Car circus came to New Zealand, along with 80,000 other fans -total population of NZ is 3 million. We all dressed up in our Holden (GM) or Ford gear and for a day played out our battles against our friends and work colleagues as the cars thundered around the track. Then at the end of the day we all went home happy and we put our Holden or Ford corporate gear back into the cupboards for another year. By the way, the overall winner was our local Holden driver. And along the back straight of the racetrack was the main railwayline between New Zealand's largest cities, with a steady parade of trains pulled by - GM and GE locomotives.

[Anonymous]

Hi. I couldn't resist putting your "favorite topic" to the top!!! Now is't below this one! Should have waited a few more days, and it might have fallen of the page.
Still LoL!!! Tim from Wisconsin

[Anonymous]

GEs are J-U-N-K

LC

[Mookie]

If you guys are going to get rid of a topic, you have to think up a really cool one to take it's place! And if it causes a little controversy - so much the better!

Mook

[Anonymous]

I still Vote Thomas the Tank Engine, After wathcing the little Engine that could movie, i find it impossible that it could have made it up that around 100% Grade, so i Vote Thomas the Tank Engine

P.S. limited clear: GE... ALL THE WAY!

[eolafan]

As far as this foamer is conerned, any running engine (and some that aren't running) is a good engine, regardless of who made it.

[Bergie]

I hate to quote myself, but...

Here's what I posted within the Trains.com home page poll thread for favorite modern locomotive. What do you guys think of the march madness idea?

Erik

QUOTE: Originally posted by Bergie

With all the F-unit, GP30, F45, and ALCO chatter, I guess I need to define modern next time. [:D]

I wish I could list every diesel locomotive ever made so we can crown a true champion. Maybe in March we can have a braket just like the NCAA men's basketball tournament. It'll be our own March Madness. Each day we could have a two locomotives going head-to-head in voting, with the winner moving on to the next round. With a bracket of 64 (like the NCAA tourney), we'd have 32 days of voting. We could do only a 32-locomotive bracket, but we'd have to leave out some beloved odd-ball locomotives (CF7, BL20-2, etc.) that might very well pull an upset. What do you think?

Erik

[Anonymous]

It's a good thing EMD doesn't make light bulbs, I'd have to change brands!!!!!!!!!!! LMAO


P.S. I think its a great idea Bergie. At least try it once to see how it goes. [8D]

[Anonymous]

Gotta head out in a few hours for my lovely night local. Hey at least it'll be cooler. Of course we'll probably have a "Supertoaster" (Dash-9) for power so switching out 40 cars will take 3 hours...assuming the computer is even working. Hope we don't burn the toast like last week when the dynamics fried...lol...GE...Ja-JUNK...Ja-JUNK...Ja-JUNK...they make the right sound anyhow...

LC

[Mookie]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Limitedclear

Gotta head out in a few hours for my lovely night local. Hey at least it'll be cooler. Of course we'll probably have a "Supertoaster" (Dash-9) for power so switching out 40 cars will take 3 hours...assuming the computer is even working. Hope we don't burn the toast like last week when the dynamics fried...lol...GE...Ja-JUNK...Ja-JUNK...Ja-JUNK...they make the right sound anyhow...

LC

Hey LC - I saw a new GE AC engine - you know, one of those that has alphabet and numbers instead of something easy to remember like - dasher, dancer, prancer, etc. Anyway - one was coming into the yards and I was flapping my hands and going "look look" - like I had just gotten into loco weed! They are big! Look nice from the side of the road, anyway.

Jen

[Anonymous]

Jen-

They look nice and on the road they pull pretty well, for a while. They are awful to switch with, the electronic independent brakes (EPIC or similar) are terrible, and the computer lag on power drives the brakie nuts, only good thing about the NS Dash-9s is at least they have a regular AAR control stand and not those lousy desktop things (good way to dislocate a shoulder) oh, and they also have those lousy modified toadstool seats that will take a bit of your kidney if you aren't careful. Oh, and don't even get me started on the surveillance camera riding around with you...

LC

[Mookie]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Limitedclear

Jen-

They look nice and on the road they pull pretty well, for a while. They are awful to switch with, the electronic independent brakes (EPIC or similar) are terrible, and the computer lag on power drives the brakie nuts, only good thing about the NS Dash-9s is at least they have a regular AAR control stand and not those lousy desktop things (good way to dislocate a shoulder) oh, and they also have those lousy modified toadstool seats that will take a bit of your kidney if you aren't careful. Oh, and don't even get me started on the surveillance camera riding around with you...

LC

Really? I am all ears I mean eyes!

Jen

[Anonymous]

Drailed1999 this ones for you.... and thanks for giving me the idea...


Why doesn't EMD make lightbulbs?

Because they'd only run for 12 minutes!!


LMAO!!!! thanks man

[Anonymous]

GE lightbulbs don't even last that long...

We switch the Sylvania Plant where they are smart enough to stick to lightbulbs. Sylvania doesn't make locomotives...lol

LC

[Anonymous]

Oh, and another thing, the GE sidewall heaters don't work with a damn and the A/C fails after about 6 months. And they made the powder room too short so you bump your head if you are over 5'8" tall. Oh, and all the resets are in the wrong places and they move them every time they come out with a new series of locos. EMDs have been the same since the FTs hauled the freight. Now you have to have a laptop and mechanical codes just to limp home after the damn things failed.

LC

[JoeKoh]

matt says peep peep for thomas! Just put your trains on the track and my camera will take your picture.Waving is optional.
stay safe
joe

[Anonymous]

AMEN to Wabash1 and LimitedClear. I'm right up there with ya!

[Anonymous]

An EMD Mac is about as bad for you as a McDonalds' big mac...


And i'm still not sure which one is BIGGER!

[Anonymous]

But an EMD still cooks better than ANYTHING GE makes...LOL

LC

[Rick Gates]

Besides all the obvious differences that have been pointed out, Limitedclear makes the best point about they move all of the resets and switches everytime the introduce a new model. It's a real pain trying to find them things in the dark just to keep moving! EMD's are much more reliable and they sound like it. Subtle changes in sound while running are part of the operation. Emd's do it better!

[Anonymous]

uh..........fun. I guess all I care is that I like to be a railfan. in my opinion, niether is better, niether is worse, they are locomotives.

Just an amature railfan's opinion.

[Overmod]

I might raise a separate issue, which has come up in this debate before: there are two distinct threads here, which aren't really comparable:

1. How well do the engines perform, as assessed by people who make a living with them; and

2. How interesting, or fun, or attractive, etc. are the engines to watch?


Now, unless I remember things very poorly, the GG1 was a miserable locomotive to 'drive'. It was also a splendid thing to watch from just about anywhere.

I find it hard to believe that anyone running an Alco with a 244 engine really enjoyed black smoke, turbo lag, etc. But we love watching them.

R.J. Russell, who ran Metroliners in the 1970s, said that one of his favorite locomotives was the Baldwin BP20 on the NY&LB. I think I understood him correctly when he said that the 'accepted' starting procedure involved yanking the throttle and watching the ammeter run over until it 'pegged' at 2000A. It would stay there until the train got up to speed (quickly!) and then he said, it would float down to reasonable levels. He then said you did NOT do that with EMD E units! (Now, does this make the big Shark a better locomotive than an E7 or E8?)

One of my favorite locomotives is the U34CH, which is one of the all-time contenders for 'honorary steam locomotive.' I had no problems watching these and E8-powered trains at the same time, and enjoyed them both for the particular things they did well.

I loved the SP's first order of Dash-9s, which were particularly good to 'pace' coming down Ark 29/Louisiana 3 from Lewisville to Shreveport. I also loved the combination of SD90MACs and GE Dash-9 4400s on coal trains. These are both great locomotives to listen to, and to watch.

Wonder why nobody mentions the difference between GE locomotives from the '60s to the '80s and the ones made once Jack Welch and crew resolved to remake the American locomotive industry? (Of course, There May Not Really Be One, so no snappy comeback lines please.) Theoretically, at least, if you're going to offer a 'power guarantee', you're going to use six-sigma or whatever to make your locomotive 'better' -- otherwise money will be bleeding away. It does surprise me that nobody at GE has made a list of the operating and ergonomic problems I have seen reported in these forums, and at least tried to address them. It surprises me still more that 'computers' are continuing to fail on so many of these engines. (Of course, I still get surprised at the thought of someone being made to perform fast switching moves with a Dash-9 high-horsepower unit, but then again I'm woefully outdated in many critical respects!)

I have still not heard a comprehensive discussion of whether it's better to have six inverter control circuits or two on a C-C locomotive. Or whether EMD would go to six as soon as the cost of the electronics comes down...

But:
FDL-16 exhaust? Love it. (Cooper-Bessemer too)
EMD 567 exhaust? Should be on anybody's top-ten list of best mechanical sounds. (My early experience was with idling NWs on Erie-Lackawanna and with undermaintained FL9s out of Harmon with that distinctive chug-and-whine acceleration).

I like Dash-8s, Dash-9s, SD70s, 80s, and 90s. Oh yes, I like Genesis units much more than F59s, but that doesn't mean I don't like F59s.

I also like many of the new paint schemes on diesels, particularly those on BNSF (which to me had reached a particularly depressing nadir on BN with that generally-filthy green-and-black scheme that looked worse than filthy-all-black). Now if only we can get NS to adopt NYC lightning-stripes instead of that plain old black-and-white (or return to the good old Tuscan of the early N&W diesel power... with perhaps some keystones...!!!)

Hey, guys -- there doesn't HAVE to be a loser for there to be a winner. I tend to like EMD better as a manufacturer. I like Ford better than GM. (But I presently have a diesel Suburban, a Cadillac convertible, and a BMW, and no running Fords at all. Go figure!)
The moral of the story is that if it's interesting, you should like it, regardless of what someone else tries to tell ya.

[wabash1]

Overmod i can tell by your response that you never ran a engine. I might haft to run a ge engine but i dont haft to ( and dont) like it. otherwise what you said ........ yea ok sure.

[daveklepper]

Interesting. I vote we retain the topic. Dave

[Mookie]

Well if you don't keep both of the engines, Grandma Mookie won't be able to tell a Dash 9 from an SD70. So I vote to keep both. Run the SD70 on point and the Dash 9 behind it! Works for me!

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by csxengineer98

can we please let the GE-vs-EMD battle die already.

IT'S FUN FIGHTING ABOUT GE AND EMD I'M PERSONALLY A EMD FAN GE STINKS AND EMD RULES

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