Just for you @Duke Andrew of Dank a basic idea of the Turbo Series GTELs I mentioned in the Test Thread. 🙂
Top Locomotives Never Built
- Thread starter Duke Andrew of Dank
- Start date
Kickass. I can see why the US railroads didn't go through with buying them though given their length.
True, but the unit has the power of four SD40-2s, so its not like the power isn't there. It's meant for fast freight services in any case (it's turbine is more efficient at those speeds and the carbody design improves aerodynamics at speed). For those who need the speed and power, its the locomotive of choice. The reason for the double cabs is this as well - they can run at full speed in either direction, so no need for wyes or turntables for these.
Still, I can imagine railroads like the Santa Fe, Union Pacific, and especially Burlington Northern would actually have quite a bit of use for that design.
I also forgot to mention that this is a reason why during the War, when the B&O needed new mixed-traffic locomotives, it opted to order clones of the Union Pacific FEF-3 locomotives which were built by ALCO and at the B&O's own Mount Clare Shops. These locomotives were classified by the B&O as the W-2 locomotives.
@TheMann what is Amtrak's locomotive fleet in the Amigoes universe?
I am thinking in my own ideas, many state-level regional networks use bi-mode multiple units. Usually clones of the BR Class 802 by this year in the Dankverse.
I am thinking in my own ideas, many state-level regional networks use bi-mode multiple units. Usually clones of the BR Class 802 by this year in the Dankverse.
@TheMann
Would a coal-fired the CN U-1-a have been a viable locomotive for the PRR to clone? I could see them at least consider the locomotive to replace the I1sa decapods on the Iron Ore runs from the Great Lakes to Harrisburg. Plus maybe additional duties on key PRR secondary lines in the Northeast.
Or would the U-1-a be too heavy, and a Garratt in general just unsuitable? If not the U-1-a per se, maybe the PRR would have a better time with what's basically a standard gauge clone of the South African GEA?
Would a coal-fired the CN U-1-a have been a viable locomotive for the PRR to clone? I could see them at least consider the locomotive to replace the I1sa decapods on the Iron Ore runs from the Great Lakes to Harrisburg. Plus maybe additional duties on key PRR secondary lines in the Northeast.
Or would the U-1-a be too heavy, and a Garratt in general just unsuitable? If not the U-1-a per se, maybe the PRR would have a better time with what's basically a standard gauge clone of the South African GEA?
Nope. The idea is that Baldwin will figure out very quickly the flaws with those units and quickly replace them with newer, better designs that are cheaper to make and easier to maintain.
Ah understood.
In that, maybe they could also make better version of those passenger sharknoses they built for the PRR. Perhaps that way when EMD takes over their locomotives the ATSF or Rio Grande for example might be interested in Baldwin again.
Related note, I'm gonna be redoing that hold John Deere idea again soon.
Since this post, John Deere has come out with engines of up to 914 hp. What would be needed for a TL where such an engine is used on a locomotive by John Deere in the early 1990s?
@TheMann since the Rio Grande was entirely standard gauge from the start in the Amigoes universe, is there a chance the ATSF would build from Gallup to Farmington, NM like what's been proposed in OTL?
Given how the Santa Fe and Union Pacific in my universe would still be diesel-dominant, I could actually see these locomotives being successful for those two in a 1970s oil crisis.
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Easy answer, have a couple of big John Deere customers (maybe agricultural firms who handle a lot of traffic by rail?) ask about adapting tractors to use as railcar movers for their yards. It's a perfectly valid use case, and with the right timing they could become a significant player in that market. With success there, they can grow into the light switcher space.
Indeed I had already thought of just that idea.
That line from Scranton to Pittsburgh via State College, right?
If the M-1s of the C&O were built in say... 1935 what could be done to try and make them at least decent enough to have a preseved example? I already had some ideas for how Baldwin could work with EMD before becoming a part of it in the late 1930s, which includes them building the Centipede and partneting with GM to try and iron out its design flaws.
My idea would be that in the early 1930s, Centipedes are build for the Seaboard Air Line and Mexican National Railways (since in my universe Mexico would still nationalize its domestically-owned railways, then work with US-owned ones). However, their initial headaches do lead to Baldwin deciding to stick with steam since that's the motive power they know best. Then, the C&O approaches BLW with the idea of a steam turbine, and BLW teams up with EMD since they helped BLW correct the mistakes made on the Centipedes.
I could see a BLW steam turbine design, being sold to several railroads or railroads designing their own with Baldwin's help. Preferably the standardized design though.
Question now is how in the case of the M-1 and Jawn Henry, the coal and water issues could be corrected.
Them just existing would do that, owing to their size and design. But for them to exist you need to give them a reason to.
They were built because the Robert Young-era C&O was aiming to massive shake up the industry and Young had the M-1 built for the Chessie, which was meant to be a battleship-shell size shot over the bow of the rail industry (and what Young saw as archaic practices with regards to customer service) and the Chessie wasn't designed for diesels in order to throw a bone to the coal industry. In 1935 none of those factors exist - The Van Sweringens are still trying to hang on to the C&O and the rest of their empire and they have no intention of spending a fortune on the turbine idea. If the Van Sweringens were going to build a Chessie, it would almost certainly be diesel-powered from day one and the M-1 would never have existed.
The reality is that the M-1 was never going to work for a railroad like the C&O. Your better bet would be to try to make it work for the PRR, as they had the passenger traffic for something like the Chessie to make sense and had enough interest in steam power (and the connections) to make something like the M-1 work.
EMD was aiming from the start to put Baldwin out of business (like the other steam locomotive builders) and Baldwin at the time, owing to the problems its early diesels had, was absolute in its belief that steam power would be dominant for decades after WWII and completely and utterly missed every advantage a diesel can provide from an operating cost perspective. It's every bit a Hatfields vs. McCoys type of situation, but one side has massive financial advantages and an idea that in 1935 wasn't proven but by 1945 was the future of railroading.
The Centipede even in the early 1930s was totally obsolete - it should have never been built as it was - and its reliability issues souring Baldwin on diesels will not only screw them over with SAL and NdeM, but also send both straight into the arms of EMD and Alco-GE. As Westinghouse was a major supplier of electrical components to Baldwin the idea of EMD components is pretty close to ASB, and I've already mentioned the issues with the M-1.
I highly doubt that. The turbines' issues combined with the financial advantages and bombproof reliability to most early EMD products (Alco's RS series did well here too, as did the GE Tonners) basically kills this idea for most railroads. Heavy coal haulers like the C&O and N&W that have the finances to give it a try could work on the idea, but that's about it. Nobody in desert climates is going to want something so water intensive, Southern and Seaboard Air Line committed early abs heavily to diesel power, NYC might be an option under Young but once he's Perlman is in charge forget it. Finances are an issue for the PRR and ACL. CB&Q is a possibility but you'll need to do it before they have the Zephyr fleet.
See above. Keeping water (either liquid or in the form of steam) and coal dust out of the electrical equipment is the key task there.