Classification Confusion

[TrainFreak409]

We all know about the DD35, and the proposed, but never built DD40, but what about the Centennial?

Recently, I bought a Bachmann DD40X Centennial. Before buying this, I thought it was the DDA40X. Before that, I thought it was the DD40AX.

WHAT IS THE TRUE CLASSIFICATION OF THE CENTENNIAL?

DD40X, DDA40X, DDAX40, DDX40, DD40AX, what is it?

[8]TrainFreak409[8]

[ericsp]

UP lists it as a DD40X.

http://www.uprr.com/aboutup/history/loco/locohs03.shtml

[ericsp]

QUOTE: Because they liked it better without the A For the same reason, many railroads simplified DASH 9-44CW to just C44-9W, and so forth.

What is the purpose of the Dash on the from of the name? Why won't the railroads just drop the Dash without rearranging the rest of the name?

[ericsp]

QUOTE: Eric, you'd have to ask General Electric and the railroads that question, but I wouldn't expect an answer. GE must have thought it important to use that model designation; the railroads must have thought it important to use something else. It's like asking a mother why she named her baby "Susan" instead of "Suzanne." It's subjective, and parsing it or asking why won't lead you to any insights, because there are none to be had.

Doesn't GE have some sort of a system for naming locomotives? I always thought the "9" meant it has significantly newer technology then the "8"s, the "44" is the horsepower in hundreds, the "C" means it has 6 axle trucks, and the "W" means wide cab. It does not seem to me to be the same procedure for naming a baby.

[ericsp]

QUOTE: Well, yes, GE and EMD both have a convention, which they change practically with every major redesign -- which hardly makes it a convention! And while the nomenclature you cite above is somewhat consistent, look at it this way:

U25C
C30-7
DASH 8-40C
AC4400CW
ES44AC

There you have it -- the progression of GE models in 40 year: all over the landscape in terms of model designation. The C in ES44AC does not mean six-axle, but it does in all the others. Horsepower has gone from two digits to four to two. W for wide nose has appeared and disappeared.

You'd ask why they'd changed -- well, because they felt like it. You can look deeper all you want, but I don't think you'll find it.

You have a point, but my point is that except for the "U" in the U-boats and the dash, all of the characters have a meaning, even though the C went form 6 axle to current. I do seem to recall the U meaning Universal. Is that correct?

[Anonymous]

This is from memory, so I'm not 100% sure...
The first DD35 were booster units (I believe that EMD built a demonstrator set with two DD35 between two GP35, for a total of 15,000 horsepower, which is what Union Pacific's operating people thought they wanted). A year or two later, U.P. asked for some with operating cabs: they were called, to distingui***hem from the earlier B-units, DDA35.
When EMD introduced its "40" series of 645-engined models in 1966, the catalogued a DDA35 lookalike called either-- I don't remember which-- DD40 or DDA40. No sales. After a few more years, Union Pacific ordered a modified-- bit larger, wide nose, various technology updates that eventually went into the 1972 "Dash 2" line, engine rated at 10% more power-- version, which I'm pretty sure was called the DDA40X: DDA for a cab-equipped DD, 40 for its 16-645 engines, X for the new features ad semi-experimental status. They were delivered in 1969, the hundredth anniversary of the completion of the transcontinental railroad, so U.P.'s p.r. people dubbed them the "Centennial" class.

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

The Universal line from GE actually predates the U25B by several years. It was originally applied to GE's export designs which came out in about 1956 to replace the prior shovel-nose designs, some of which had 244 engines.