Best locomotive ever?
- Thread starter Truemac
- Start date
The American Locomotive Company RS3!
No this is.
Have you ever seen such a pretty picture of a Ps-4?
http://www.shorpy.com/node/4046?size=_original
smokeygear
C/LTJG - Operations
I have to agree with Ben on the USRA 2-8-2 for mainline steam. Very versatile and agile machines. Wished more survived.
NTrainR160
Building something...
EastCoastTrainz
Hating Foamers since 1980
Ive always loved that shot of the PS-4 Kyle. I cant believe the clarity of the details.
As far as I locomotives, its purely subjective. From a operating standpoint?
Best to switch with: SD/GP 40 series. Fast response, good power both low and high, lightweight enough for crappy yard/industry tracks.
Road service: This is again *subjective*. I love the GE's after the Dash 8 series. Not the fastest in throttle response, but they will dig and not give an inch. Couple that to AC traction and no more worrying about blowing a traction motor. And air conditioning is always a plus...
Thats my choices as a MODERN DAY locomotive engineer. I never ran a GP7 or a PS-4 so they are irrelevant to me. This is based on my experiences from day to day at work.
~Zak
As far as I locomotives, its purely subjective. From a operating standpoint?
Best to switch with: SD/GP 40 series. Fast response, good power both low and high, lightweight enough for crappy yard/industry tracks.
Road service: This is again *subjective*. I love the GE's after the Dash 8 series. Not the fastest in throttle response, but they will dig and not give an inch. Couple that to AC traction and no more worrying about blowing a traction motor. And air conditioning is always a plus...
Thats my choices as a MODERN DAY locomotive engineer. I never ran a GP7 or a PS-4 so they are irrelevant to me. This is based on my experiences from day to day at work.
~Zak
Wow, zombie thread. Still, it's an interesting discussion.
I'm surprised the EMD FT isn't mentioned in here. I'd content that the FT did more to bring about the modern age of diesels (sorry steamer guys), proving they were easier and cheaper to operate. Need more horsepower? Just add more units and MU them electrically, rather than add a whole engine crew for each locomotive added. I agree the GP7/9 and even the SD9 were major innovators, but the technology first appeared in the FT, if not earlier in specially built diesels.
I'm surprised the EMD FT isn't mentioned in here. I'd content that the FT did more to bring about the modern age of diesels (sorry steamer guys), proving they were easier and cheaper to operate. Need more horsepower? Just add more units and MU them electrically, rather than add a whole engine crew for each locomotive added. I agree the GP7/9 and even the SD9 were major innovators, but the technology first appeared in the FT, if not earlier in specially built diesels.
I know that this is about the best locomotive, but I believe that we need to look at not the locomotive, but the features that they featured. Here's some examples:
1. The steam locomotive. Now it requires only one locomotive to haul the same amount of stuff that used to take several horses to haul the same amount of stuff.
2. The knuckle coupler. Now a person doesn't have to stand in-between two cars that use link-and-pin couplers to guide the link into place to put the pin in place to keep the train together. Standing in this place would sometimes result in the loss of body parts.
3. Superheating. Steam locomotives with superheaters could now produce more power than a locomotive without a superheater. This theroretically means that a 2-8-0 with a superheater can pull a longer train than the same 2-8-0 without a superheater.
4. The diesel locomotive. Now railroads didn't have to worry about large coal towers and water towers placed along the tracks to fill up the empty tenders. Plus the steam locomotives was built for a specific purpose, while, with only changing the gear ratio (and a steam generator) will allow a diesel locomotive to haul both fast passenger trains and slower freight trains.
5. Dash 2 electronics. Without this, locomotives such as the SD40-2 would not have happen.
6. The HTC truck on the SD40-2. Now the traction motors will be set facing the same direction, removing the problem of backwards-facing traction motors causing a rough ride from the torque of the backwards-facing traction motor rotating the opposite direction.
7. The Radial Truck. Now larger locomotives can handle curves that locomotives the same size without radial trucks will just derail on (i.e. Alaska Railroad's SD70MACs are the only 6-axle locomotives on the roster, which is mostly Geeps, because their radial trucks can handle the curves that, before the 70MAC's, only the Geeps could handle)
8. A.C. Traction. A coal train that would require 5 SD40-2's, which use D.C. traction motors, now only needs 3 A.C. traction locomotives.
9. Gensets. The most advanced, enviromently-friendly locomotives produced (behind electric locomotives)
10. Microprocessor control. Now a computer can 'keep tab' of everything going on on the locomotive (i.e. the amount of fuel being comsumed, the amount of air in the brake cylinders, etc.).
Anyone know of anything else?
1. The steam locomotive. Now it requires only one locomotive to haul the same amount of stuff that used to take several horses to haul the same amount of stuff.
2. The knuckle coupler. Now a person doesn't have to stand in-between two cars that use link-and-pin couplers to guide the link into place to put the pin in place to keep the train together. Standing in this place would sometimes result in the loss of body parts.
3. Superheating. Steam locomotives with superheaters could now produce more power than a locomotive without a superheater. This theroretically means that a 2-8-0 with a superheater can pull a longer train than the same 2-8-0 without a superheater.
4. The diesel locomotive. Now railroads didn't have to worry about large coal towers and water towers placed along the tracks to fill up the empty tenders. Plus the steam locomotives was built for a specific purpose, while, with only changing the gear ratio (and a steam generator) will allow a diesel locomotive to haul both fast passenger trains and slower freight trains.
5. Dash 2 electronics. Without this, locomotives such as the SD40-2 would not have happen.
6. The HTC truck on the SD40-2. Now the traction motors will be set facing the same direction, removing the problem of backwards-facing traction motors causing a rough ride from the torque of the backwards-facing traction motor rotating the opposite direction.
7. The Radial Truck. Now larger locomotives can handle curves that locomotives the same size without radial trucks will just derail on (i.e. Alaska Railroad's SD70MACs are the only 6-axle locomotives on the roster, which is mostly Geeps, because their radial trucks can handle the curves that, before the 70MAC's, only the Geeps could handle)
8. A.C. Traction. A coal train that would require 5 SD40-2's, which use D.C. traction motors, now only needs 3 A.C. traction locomotives.
9. Gensets. The most advanced, enviromently-friendly locomotives produced (behind electric locomotives)
10. Microprocessor control. Now a computer can 'keep tab' of everything going on on the locomotive (i.e. the amount of fuel being comsumed, the amount of air in the brake cylinders, etc.).
Anyone know of anything else?
Steamdemon
Pizza Delivery Train
Hmm, this is tricky... For the brits, it has to be the Deltics, the Class 66 and the 9F. for the Yankees (no offense), it has to be the DDA40X (AKA, Big Jack) and the Big Boy. For the Australians, the UGL Rail C44 ACi.
Opinions are usually very subjective and everyone always has their favorites, but SteamLocomotive.com's page, The "Best" Steam Locomotives, provides a rather interesting "best of American steam" list.
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amtrak2041864
High Speed Rail!!
Pennsylvania's Railrords GG1, man that made the History book's remember its name.