Powering the Future

[Acela026]

          I am going to be writing an essay (for school) on modern Diesel Locomotives entitled "Powering The Future".  The main idea is about today's top 5 Diesel locomotives.  I have a general idea of which ones they are, but I would like to get your opinion too.  If you could please leave the top 5 most-used/ advanced locomotives, it would be greatly appreciated. 

          Also, if you have a link as to where I could get detailed information about these locomotives, I would appreciate thet too. 

      Thanks! Acela026

[YoHo1975]

Well, I would think that rather than talking about specific Diesel locos, it might make more sense to talk about manufacturers and types. EMD and GE, AC vs DC Gensets. Passenger. Maybe you get into some older power that is still of major importance like the Venerable GP38 or SD40.

[carnej1]

Acela026

          I am going to be writing an essay (for school) on modern Diesel Locomotives entitled "Hauling a Nation.  The main idea is about today's top 5 Diesel locomotives.  I have a general idea of which ones they are, but I would like to get your opinion too.  If you could please leave the top 5 most-used/ advanced locomotives, it would be greatly appreciated. 

          Also, if you have a link as to where I could get detailed information about these locomotives, I would appreciate thet too. 

Thanks! Acela026

 The only locomotive models that the Class 1 American Railroads are purchasing new for linehaul freight service right now are EMD's SD70ACE and SD70M-2 and GE's ES44DC and ES44AC (including the 4 motored ES44C4 version) models so really you may want to center your report around them. Good places to start would be the Electromotive Diesel website as well as that of GE Transportation systems.

 If you start writing a long history of the evolution of diesel locomotives you may not produce a very focused essay so I recommend focusing on the current GE and EMD freight offerings and perhaps the GE Genesis Series (Amtrak's newest diesels) and/or the Wabtec MPExpress commuter locomotives..

[Paul_D_North_Jr]

For technical data, The Diesel Shop seems to have pretty good info that is fairly easy to access for each model. See - http://www.thedieselshop.us/INDEXBLDR.html 

For example, here's the page on the GE C44-9W - http://www.thedieselshop.us/DataC44-9.HTML 

- Paul North.

[fredswain]

The 5 that I would talk about would be the SD70ACe, ES44C4, the GS21B Genset, The Green Goat Hybrid, and the Acela. This way you get sevral different aspects involved. You get to mention the latest road going locomotives from EMD and GE. I'd list the main engines from them simply because they are the only 2 large players. They each take different approaches to the problems faced in designing a locomotive.

The SD70ACe represents the most modern from EMD. It differs from other engines as it has a 2 stroke prime mover as opposed to the other selections with their 4 strokes. EMD also offers steerable trucks that the others don't. These features separate EMD out from the others and makes this engine a prime candidate for your paper. 

The ES44C4 from GE would be on my list as opposed to the other ES44 variants because it only has 4 traction motors on 6 axles and has the ability to vary tractive effort through unloading of the center axle on each truck. It is a modern day compromise between the old balancing act of 4 or 6 axles and is a unique system to GE. I think that makes this engine worthy.

The 3GS21B Genset of course has to be there. It too is unique with multiple prime movers kicking in as needed in an effort to save fuel. It also has the backstory of how an employee at UP thought of this concept as a modern way to save fuel and then got the company to finance it's development. You can talk about all of it's efficiency improvements over a single prime mover approach. You could also mention the reliability issues associated with more complex computer controls as well as multiple prime movers.

The Green Goat I'd mention simply because this concept engine uses battery banks and is another approach to pollution control. It too has it's own strengths and weaknesses that can probably make up their own book.

Finally I'd mention the Acela as it is pure electric. It represents the push for high speed rail in the US that is already predominant in other parts of the world.

This will give you 5 different engines that have 5 different approaches to locomotive design. They are also application specific so you can compare 2 engines for road use, 2 for yard use, and then electric high speed for passenger use. There are other options out there that would probably be equally viable but these are the ones that stick out to me.

[Acela026]

YoHo1975

Maybe you get into some older power that is still of major importance like the Venerable GP38 or SD40.

Thanks for the help! I re-thought my paper and did a section on older power, as you suggested.  It turned out great. Thanks for the help. I will be working on a way to post it so anyone can see the finished product. 

Acela026