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Amtrak electric locomotives went through a period of uncertainty early in the passenger railroad’s existence. Not long after its inception, Amtrak began to focus on the fact that its non-Metroliner passenger service in the “Northeast Corridor” would require a replacement for the stalwart GG1 electrics that hauled its “conventional” trains over the electrified […]
In service cab signals: When you watch trains these days just about any locomotive can show up on the point of a train. From run-through agreements to precision scheduled railroading keeping locomotive rosters lean, you just never know what may show up leading the next train. Over the years, a railfan seeking home road power […]
National passenger carrier Amtrak recently turned 50 years old. To mark the occasion, Lionel has released a LionChief 2.0 version of its P42 Genesis locomotive. These engines will run on O-31 curves and they’re loaded with detail. They feature operating couplers front and rear, a nice pilot with MU detail, ditch lights, headlights, a spectacular […]
What locomotive generators do is no secret: They produce electricity. Alternators and generators in locomotives convert mechanical energy from the prime mover to electrical energy to pull the train. They are the main device connected to the prime mover. Advances over the years have improved the type and size of alternators and generators, enabling locomotive […]
Working mountain Alco locomotives: Nestled in the wide rolling hills on the western edge of New York’s Southern Tier lies the formerly two-railroad town of Olean, N.Y. A quaint, unsuspecting town of 13,000 residents located along the placid Allegheny River was once a railfanning destination, that is — until the formation of Conrail. Dozens of […]
Belt Railway of Chicago locomotives: I recently photographed an ex-Belt Railway of Chiacgo Alco in, of all places, Olean, N.Y., on the Western New York & Pennsylvania. That old Alco and I go back to the mid 1980ss when I first laid eyes on her and a stable of other exotic beasts at BRC’s Clearing […]
Cowl locomotives: Six-axle cowl locomotives purchased for freight service have been rostered continuously on Class I railroads since Santa Fe first purchased EMD’s F45 model in 1968. More than a half century later, the industry is down to a single Class I railroad operating this locomotive design, Canadian Pacific. Although cowls have been hauling freight […]
Repowering locomotives is essential for a railroad to meet its needs. This is installment, number three, on our quest to find mishmashed locomotives, which reinforces the notion that railroaders will do anything and everything necessary to keep the daily routine fluid. Sometimes they ask a builder to create what they need, other times they make […]
Six axle comfort cabs on shortlines: Comfort cabs took North America by storm in the late 1980s with the introduction of the design on EMDs’ SD60M and GE’s C40-8W. While Canadian operators had been using the design since the early 1970s on both four and six-axle locomotives, it wasn’t until the SD60M and C40-8W arrived […]
Changing a locomotive headlight: Everything we do on the railroad is guided by FRA standards and practices. According to the portion of federal law that governs railroads – 49 CFR § 229.125 – every lead locomotive used in road service shall illuminate its headlight while the locomotive is in use. If a road unit is […]
Alco RS27 failure: It’s tough when professional engineers create a decent locomotive that builds on successes, and pitfalls, of the past and still nobody really wants it. That was the Alco RS27, also referred to as the DL640. Its 16-cylinder, 251B prime mover pushed out 2,400 hp. Coincidentally, only 27 were built between December 1959 […]
Electro-Motive history: Steam was king, its supremacy uncontested, in 1922 when Harold L. Hamilton and associates rented office space at 17th and Euclid in Cleveland, Ohio, for their fledgling Electro-Motive Engineering Co. Established to design, market, and maintain gas-electric railcars for light-density passenger service, the modest enterprise could hardly be considered a threat to […]
