I mentioned in my profile that I'm just getting back into train watching after being away for a long time. In the 80's the SD-45 was the 'Big Birtha' of it's day. Is the SD70 mostly horsepower increases? I imagine there have been many crew-comfort advances made over the years. When you spend that much time in the cab it makes for a better work day.
Mr_Dave 1947
P.S. What are the tags for, product or favorite Road?
The SD45 had a starting tractive effort of 92000 lbs and a continusous tractive effort of 82,100, while the SD70MAC's have a starting tractive effort of 175500 and a continuous TE of 137,000 lbs. The DC versions SD70's have a dstarting TE of 163000 and a continuous of TE of 113,100 lbs. The SD70's are not all horsepower, there is a great increase in tractive effort as compared to the SD45's. Most of this can be attributed to the computer controls which allow for the greatest tractive effort at any spped.
Ira
In the steam era railroads had their own unique styling and choice of locomotives for particular applications on particular territories, divisions or branches. Each wheel arrangement could be done in different sizes; often these locomotives were unique to one railroad so that a 4-6-4 on one railroad wouldn't resemble a 4-6-4 on any other railroad or could be exact duplicates; often these locomotives would be designed by the railroad and built by them or by the manufacturers. Diesels are modern day automotive with the builders designing, building, and selling to the railroad almost ala Henry Ford. The one constant has been that each railroad is unique unto itself. Yes, bigger units and more horsepower is available as well as the choice of AC or DC now. But if you have to rebuild your railroad to use them, then it might be cheaper to by the smaller locomotive...and there are probably hundreds of variables that help make the choice. Maybe they need loco's from mainline trains to do yard or branchline duties between runs or the decision means another decision of whether there it would be better to buy 500 hp switchers or use GP or SD40's instead....so many things have to go into the decision of what to buy, where and why. Just because there could be an SD100MAC, if your track or bridges won't hold it, why bother just for one train? So many questions and qualifications....
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Very interesting information. Thank you sir.
In addition to the TE mentioned, wide cabs are much safer in a collision. Reliability and fuel economy as well as emissions are much improved, and they don't break crankshafts like the 45's did.
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