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Diesel vs steam: power at speed
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erikem wrote:<br /><br />Supposedly the rationale for the UP's Big Blows was to replace the Big Boys on a one-for-one basis. The DDA-40X's were then supposed to replace the Big Blows on a one for one basis.<br /><br />OTOH, the Milwaukee's Little Joe's were about the equivalent of an articulated steamer at low speeds, but power dropped off above 30 MPH (series motors from a constant voltage supply). <br /><br /><br />Hi erikem,<br /><br /><br />How I could dare to forget them...<br /><br />but they were quite specialized engines... few quantities. Few RR's owned them.<br /><br />This could be said for some articulates too, but in my mind there is a nice anecdote, found at Don Strack's Utahrails.net:<br /><br />"UP had purchased early examples of diesel passenger power from Electro-Motive for use on its passenger trains, but when the builder offered to sell UP its 5,400 horsepower FT locomotive model, UP's president William "Bull" Jeffers responded by saying that as soon as EMD could build a diesel locomotive that could match the performance of its 4000-class 4-8-8-4 Big Boy locomotives (at approximately 6,300 horsepower) on the Wasatch grade in Utah, then UP would be interested."<br /><br />Well, 40-50 years later, in the 90ties, EMD finally could offer that 6000HP diesel engine...<br /><br />BTW, the DD-40AX power was far away to replace the BB one-by one. Its advantage was high-speed freight service up to 90mph, but on a drag it was not really powerful.<br /><br /><br />Kind Regards<br /><br />Lars<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
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