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[quote user="oltmannd"] "Heavy" is just fine for locomotives.  Six axle locomotives are constructed such that they have an extra 30-40 tons of steel in them to get them up to "fighting weight".  Take that out plus diesel engine, generator and engine support systems and you have quite a bit of weight to spare for batteries.  The tough part is finding enough space to put them. The applications for a successful a battery powered locomotive would include:  yard switcher in urban areas where diesel smoke is an environmental, social or political issue, helper locomotive and "super slug", just to name a few. <div style="clear:both;"></div> [/quote] I do agree that battery weight is not an issue with locomotives as it is with the Volt.  I can also see validity in the non-smoke-making objective if that is sought for some particular purpose.  Although I believe that objective can be met with diesels as well, and will probably be mandated anyway.  <o:p></o:p> A helper application might fit the limited range of a battery locomotive, but I don’t see the point.  I would bet that the life cost of a battery locomotive will be higher than that of a diesel, so how do you justify a battery locomotive even if it is practical for short helper assignments?  <o:p></o:p> No, I don’t think there is any practical motive behind the 999 other than NS jumping on the fashion bandwagon and crowing about how green they are.  And for that, apparently NS thinks it is worth spending other people’s money, even if the locomotive is not practical for pulling trains.       <o:p></o:p> If anything, they did prove that you can paint a GP38 to make it look like a BL2.
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