6000hp engines.

[Anonymous]

DUDE, ITS NOT A MATTER OF WHO WILL OUT RUN WHO... YOU KNOW AS WELL AS I DO, YOU CAN GO ONLY AS FAST AS THAT TRAIN IS ALOWED TO GO.. PROFILE RESTRICTIONS AND SLOW ORDERS..NOT FORGETTING THE SPEED LIMET. I HAVE RUN A LOT OF EMDS..OLD AND NEW...I HAVE RUN ALOT OF GES..OLD AND NEW..AND I WILL ALWAYS PUT GE AHEAD OF ANYTHING THAT EMD WILL EVER BUILD... BESIDES...IF YOU REALY WANT TO GET TO THE BRASS TACKS OF IT...IF YOUR A GOOD ENGINEER, YOU WONT HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT AN EMD OR GE GETTING YOU THE POINT WHERE YOU HAVE TO PULL SLOW SPEED...GOOD TRAIN HANDLING, AND YOU WILL BE ABLE TO MANTAIN SPEED NO MATTER WHAT POWER YOU HAVE!!!!!BESIDES..WHAT YOU ARE SAYING MIGHT BE TRUE IN SOME AREAS.... BUT ON THE RAIL ROAD I RUN... I NEVER SEE FASTER THEN 40...40 MPH IS MAX SPEED ON THE SUBDIVISONS I WORK ON...JUST REMEMBER...SPEED KILLS PEACHES!!

[wabash1]

ge rules i dont think so.... you say emd ac are slow well everything ge builds is slow and breaks down and is ready for the scrap yard in 10 years. as far as the dynamic. well they had to have something that worked. but a emd will do the same thing but from 60 mph. a emd will out preform a ge and a older emd will do it even faster.. and dont give me that junk about a ge will pull hard at low speed..... couse a emd wont let you get that slow to haft to pull.... ill take emd units and out run you ge anyday..

[PaulWWoodring]

I have run many of the CSX GE AC6000's. When they are properly matched to a manifest freight of the right tonnage they are great. They have a really bad low speed vibration problem, so bad at times that you think it may jump off the rails. CSX also doesn't believe in giving the engineer enough sand to work with on newer units (the contrast with the ex-CR SD60's is rather stark in this regard). The really outstanding feature on them are the high capacity dynamic brakes (good down to 2 mph) that are really too much for a train under 2000 tons. At that weight even a minimal dynamic application can generate too much braking power and slow the train down too much.

The biggest drawback to any GE is the slow throttle response, especially when trying to maintain speed going from dynamic to power. Overall I'm really glad when I have one of them as a lead unit, they are so much more comfortable than the older conventional cab units, at least while they are still fairly new.

CSX apparently agrees with the previous poster in that they went back and ordered more 4400 hp AC's that are 17,000 lbs. heavier (called "Magnums" by some wags), primarily for coal drag service. They are rated at 10% more tractive effort than a standard AC4400.

[Anonymous]

I expect that what we are seeing right now is a repeat of what happened in the early 1970s. EMD had the SD45X out at 4200 HP which only sold a small hadfull to SP and MLW had the M640 which only sold one unit to CP. The technology of the time just wasn't up to supporting 4000 horsepower. But now a 4000 (or greater) HP locomotive is common.

So some years from now, when the builders have been able to develop the technology to reliably produce 6000 HP and deliver it to the railhead, we will see 6000 HP locomotives becoming common.

[Anonymous]

From what I have heard it hasn't sounded like any road is too thrilled with them. I heard that the GE's were burning out their traction motors pretty fast and the EMD's were having problems with some of the prime movers at first and then some of the radiators.

TRAINS had an interesting article a couple months ago, saying they think the horse power race could be over. And after reading it I can agree. The locomotives in some ways are too big. They are definately not as versitile as older power, if you use them in a yard switching or on a local you're not using them efficiently. Plus they're so heavy, it's kinda like the situation UP had with some of it's larger older power (length mostly), when a locomotive is too big and heavy it has to be confined to the mailines with the heaviest rail and roadbed. If you have alot of lighter units go down at once then what do you do?

[Anonymous]

GE RULES...EMD SUCKS... EMD AC'S ARE SLOW LOADING...WEAK DYNAMIC ROLLING SCRAP. GE CW44-9AC'S ARE GREAT... I HAVE NEVER FOUND THE TOP END OF THEM..OR THIER CW60-9AC'S SISTERS..AND THIER DYNAMIC BRAKE WILL BRING A 17 THOUSAND TON COAL TRAIN FROM 40MPH TO A CRAWL IN NO TIME!!! TRY DOING THAT WITH AN EMD!!!!I WOULD RUN GE ANY DAY OF THE WEEK!!!

[Anonymous]

Basically the UP was the driving force behind the 6000 HP models from both GM and GE,and by all reports Uncle Pete has not been happy with the results. Both manufacturers had to pu***he envelope in developing the new prime movers for these units,and it's been a rocky road in the development process. There's also concern that the big engines are too hard on the rails and switches.
CSX seems to have been the most satisfied of the three roads which roster 6000 HP locomotives,but their whole fleet of AC6000CWs just had to be sent back to have the traction motors replaced. CP has a small number of H engined SD90MACs but hasn't shown any interest in ordering more.

[wabash1]

i have run a set of ge 6000 hp units other than a little slow on loading but better than past ge units they were great. its one of the few ge units i enjoyed running. i have not run any emd units yet but awaiting the day i do.

[Anonymous]

Can anyone tell me how successful are the new 6000hp engines from EMD & GE? I assume from the lack of orders and low visibility in train media that these new giants are not making the impact expected? I appreciate any news.