Early GE locomotives

[ATSF854]

So recently I've been reading about previous engineer's experiences with older GE locomotives (Universal series) (U-boats).

According to most, many preferred to run most EMD locomotives over the U-boats any day. The main reason being that the locomotives taking ages to load and suddenly would lurch forward like an angry cat.

My main question here is, what causes these locomotives to take so long to start loading? What causes that?

For those who don't know what locomotive series I speak of, this is the U30C from the Universal series.

 

[wilh]

I have book about U-Boats, so you would think I could answer this question, but no.

I believe it had to do with the engine that GE was using at the time. There still were some kinks that needed to be worked out (one of them being the problem that you mentioned).

 

[jjanmarine3]

The engine governor matches the mechanical and electrical load ( diesel engine and generator outputs ) and there is an excitation control system built in consisting of high and low voltage equipment that control the rates, so although I have no experience on this particular class locomotive I would guess it was a built in rate and exitation control problem causing the delayed and overpower reaction .

 

[ATSF854]

Ah, thank you. That clears things up a lot. Looks like I've still got some things to learn about the operation of diesel locomotives.