Question please
Can anyone tell me what is the size and power of the largest modern diesel electric loco. Would that be something like the EMD SD70 MAC?
Thanks
Happy Railroading.
Lee
yankee flyer wrote:Question please Can anyone tell me what is the size and power of the largest modern diesel electric loco. Would that be something like the EMD SD70 MAC?ThanksHappy Railroading.Lee
Answering very carefully the most powerful Diesel-electric currently being built, as rated by horsepower are the 6000hp Diesel-electrics being built by GE and EMD for China. All North American railroads are currently satified with 4300 to 4400hp locomotives. In the recent past both GE and EMD built small batches of 6000hp locomotives, but they had many teething problems and there haven't been any repeat orders. The all-time highest horsepower Diesel-electric is the EMD DDA40X built for the Union Pacific in 1969 and 1970 which used two diesel motors to achieve 6600hp. These are known as Centennial type locomotives, 47 were built. They were successful, but their sheer size limited their operational flexibility. None of these are in regular service, but the Union Pacific has one as part of their Heritage Fleet and it is frequently used to power special passenger trains for company officials.
trainfan1221 wrote:I never counted the DD40X too much in this, I usually think of most powerful as concerning a single engined unit. Remember the SD45 being the "Big Engine?" Darn how things change!
You got to be kidding me.. You don't think the DD40x is not counted.. It haul freight for a decade..
Well if by "largest" you mean shear size, I think the SD-90 would be pretty hard to top, it's a few feet longer than an SD-70 IIRC.
UP Centennials were HUGE of course - but I don't know if they'd qualify as "modern" anymore, seems to me they were last in regular service in the eighties??
Awesome!,
As I said I was referring to a single engined unit in terms of largest or most powerful, which is why I didn't count the DD40X which is essentially two units merged into one. I think it is more pure that way.. and I was referring to then as opposed to now after that.
I thank everone for their answers.
My focus was on length and horse power. I came across the centenials in a book. They are quite impressive, but I don't have a direct compairson with the EMD SD70 which also looks very long.
Good day
trainfan1221 wrote: Awesome!, As I said I was referring to a single engined unit in terms of largest or most powerful, which is why I didn't count the DD40X which is essentially two units merged into one. I think it is more pure that way.. and I was referring to then as opposed to now after that.
You got a point!
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