In general terms, multi genset locomotives are far more complex, and complexity does not mix well with the railroad environment.
I understand that there would be a delay between when power was requested and when a shut down engine would actually fire up. This quirk would make these units very unpopular with crews.
Greetings from Alberta
-an Articulate Malcontent
Not that ago, in the pages of Trains, the Gen-set was praised as the next big thing for moving to a greener tomorrow. Well, tomorrow is here, and the Gen-set has not lived up to the hype. Interesting given the advances in computer control (have you driven a Ford lately) this concept isn't working. Now, the future is the battery-power can the Experts here chime in on the reasons why the Gen-sets failed?
Just so folks have a visual of a Gen-set, and commentary on their weak point, I'll direct you over to RailPicutres.net:
https://www.railpictures.net/photo/759522/
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