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EMD SD50F
The EMD SD50 is a diesel-electric locomotive built by Electro-Motive Diesel, General Motors Electro-Motive Division. It was introduced in May 1981 as part of EMD's "50 Series"; production ceased in January 1986. The SD50 was a transitional model between EMD's EMD Dash 2, Dash 2 series which was produced throughout the 1970s and the microprocessor-equipped EMD SD60, SD60 and EMD SD70, SD70 locomotives. A total of 431 were built. History The SD50 was produced in response to increasingly tough competition from GE Transportation, whose GE Dash 7 Series, Dash 7 line was proving quite successful with railroads. While EMD's EMD SD40-2, SD40-2 was a reliable and trusted product, GE's line included locomotives up to with more modern technology, as well as very competitive finance and maintenance deals. EMD responded throughout the SD50 program by offering discounts on large orders. The GM-EMD locomotives that immediately preceded the SD50, the EMD SD45, SD45 and EMD SD45-2, SD45-2, u ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kansas City Southern Railway
The Kansas City Southern Railway Company is an American Class I railroad. Founded in 1887, it operates in 10 midwestern and southeastern U.S. states: Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas. KCS hauls freight for seven major government and business sectors: agriculture and minerals, military, automotive, chemical and petroleum, energy, industrial and consumer products and intermodal. KCS has the shortest north-south rail route between Kansas City, Missouri, and several key ports along the Gulf of Mexico in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. The KCS, along with the Union Pacific railroad, is one of only two Class I railroads based in the United States that has not originated as the result of a merger between previously separate companies. The company owns or contracts with intermodal facilities along its rail network in Kansas City, Mo; Jackson, Miss.; Wylie, Texas; Kendleton, Texas; and Laredo, Texas. KCS o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
EMD SD40-2
The EMD SD40-2 is a C-C diesel-electric locomotive built by EMD from 1972 to 1989. The SD40-2 was introduced in January 1972 as part of EMD's '' Dash 2'' series, competing against the GE U30C and the ALCO Century 630. Although higher-horsepower locomotives were available, including EMD's own SD45-2, the reliability and versatility of the SD40-2 made it one of the best-selling models in EMD's history, edged only by the GP9, and the standard of the industry for several decades after its introduction. The SD40-2 was an improvement over the SD40, with modular electronic control systems similar to those of the experimental DDA40X. Peak production of the SD40-2 was in the mid-1970s. Sales of the SD40-2 began to diminish after 1981 due to the oil crisis, increased competition from GE's Dash-7 series and the introduction of the EMD SD50, which was available concurrently to late SD40-2 production. The last SD40-2 delivered to a United States railroad was built in July 1984, w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
EMD SDP40F
The EMD SDP40F was a six-axle C-C diesel–electric locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division (EMD) from 1973–1974. Based on Santa Fe’s EMD FP45, EMD built 150 for Amtrak, the operator of most intercity passenger trains in the United States. Amtrak, a private company but funded by the United States government, had begun operation in 1971 with a fleet of aging diesel locomotives inherited from various private railroads. The SDP40F was the first diesel locomotive built new for Amtrak and for a brief time they formed the backbone of the company's long-distance fleet. A series of derailments in the mid-1970s shattered Amtrak's confidence in the locomotive, and many railroads banned it from their tracks. Multiple investigations pointed to issues with the locomotive's trucks, the weight of the water and steam generators used for train heating, the rough and poorly maintained tracks, or the harmonic vibration of baggage cars behind the locomotive. In 1977 A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada. ''Amtrak'' is a portmanteau of the words ''America'' and ''trak'', the latter itself a sensational spelling of ''track''. Founded in 1971 as a quasi-public corporation to operate many U.S. passenger rail routes, Amtrak receives a combination of state and federal subsidies but is managed as a for-profit organization. The United States federal government, through the Secretary of Transportation, owns all the company's issued and outstanding preferred stock. Amtrak's headquarters is located one block west of Union Station in Washington, D.C. Amtrak serves more than 500 destinations in 46 states and three Canadian provinces, operating more than 300 trains daily over of track. Amtrak owns approximately of this track and operates an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flexicoil Truck
Flexicoil suspension is a type of secondary suspension for railway vehicles, typically having steel coil springs between the bogie trucks and chassis/frame of a passenger coach, goods freight wagon, or locomotive. Suspension systems using steel springs are more common than those with air springs, as steel springs are less costly to make, relatively wear resistant, and require less maintenance. History Flexicoil (though not known by this term) suspensions were fitted to locomotives in Spain, the Soviet Union and Africa as early as the 1930s. In Germany, Flexicoil suspensions were first used in the 1950s under high-speed electric locomotives, notably the DB Class 103. British Rail Between 1969 and 1971, British Rail conducted tests of modified Flexicoil bogies under a modified Class 86, to prevent further track damage caused by the original Class 86 bogies; tests were successful and all Class 86 locomotives were refitted with the modifications in stages through the 197 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Traction Motors
A traction motor is an electric motor used for propulsion of a vehicle, such as locomotives, electric or hydrogen vehicles, elevators or electric multiple unit. Traction motors are used in electrically powered rail vehicles (electric multiple units) and other electric vehicles including electric milk floats, elevators, roller coasters, conveyors, and trolleybuses, as well as vehicles with electrical transmission systems (diesel-electric locomotives, electric hybrid vehicles), and battery electric vehicles. Motor types and control Direct-current motors with series field windings are the oldest type of traction motors. These provide a speed-torque characteristic useful for propulsion, providing high torque at lower speeds for acceleration of the vehicle, and declining torque as speed increases. By arranging the field winding with multiple taps, the speed characteristic can be varied, allowing relatively smooth operator control of acceleration. A further measure of control is pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alternator
An alternator is an electrical generator that converts mechanical energy to electrical energy in the form of alternating current. For reasons of cost and simplicity, most alternators use a rotating magnetic field with a stationary armature.Gordon R. Selmon, ''Magnetoelectric Devices'', John Wiley and Sons, 1966 no ISBN pp. 391-393 Occasionally, a linear alternator or a rotating armature with a stationary magnetic field is used. In principle, any AC electrical generator can be called an alternator, but usually the term refers to small rotating machines driven by automotive and other internal combustion engines. An alternator that uses a permanent magnet for its magnetic field is called a magneto. Alternators in power stations driven by steam turbines are called turbo-alternators. Large 50 or 60 Hz three-phase alternators in power plants generate most of the world's electric power, which is distributed by electric power grids. History Alternating current generating ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wheel Slide Protection
Wheel slide protection and wheel slip protection are railway terms used to describe automatic systems used to detect and prevent wheel-slide during braking or wheel-slip during acceleration. This is analogous to ABS and traction control systems used on motor vehicles. It is particularly important in slippery rail conditions. Sanding Sanding is one method of reducing wheel slip or slide. Locomotives and Multiple units have sandboxes which can deliver dry sand to the rails in front of the wheels. This may be initiated automatically when the Wheel Slide Protection system senses loss of adhesion, or the driver can operate it manually. Sanding may be connected to a computer system that determines the train's direction and where the sand should be applied: either forward or aft of the trucks. In older locomotives there was a manual lever attached to a valve that had three positions: Off, Forward, and Aft. Automatic control systems Wheel Slide Protection (WSP) equipment is generall ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prime Mover (locomotive)
In engineering, a prime mover is an engine that converts fuel to useful work. In locomotives, the prime mover is thus the source of power for its propulsion. In an engine-generator set, the engine is the prime mover, as distinct from the generator. Definition In a diesel-mechanical locomotive, the prime mover is the diesel engine that is mechanically coupled to the driving wheels (drivers). In a diesel-electric locomotive, the prime mover is the diesel engine that rotates the main generator responsible for producing electricity to power the traction motors that are geared to the drivers. The prime mover can also be a gas turbine instead of a diesel engine. In either case, the generator, traction motors and interconnecting apparatus are considered to be the power transmission system and not part of the prime mover. A wired-electric or battery-electric locomotive has no on-board prime mover, instead relying on an external power station. Weight distribution The power unit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dynamic Braking
Dynamic braking is the use of an electric traction motor as a generator when slowing a vehicle such as an electric or diesel-electric locomotive. It is termed " rheostatic" if the generated electrical power is dissipated as heat in brake grid resistors, and " regenerative" if the power is returned to the supply line. Dynamic braking reduces wear on friction-based braking components, and regeneration lowers net energy consumption. Dynamic braking may also be used on railcars with multiple units, light rail vehicles, electric trams, trolleybuses, and electric and hybrid electric automobiles. Principle of operation Converting electrical energy to the mechanical energy of a rotating shaft (electric motor) is the inverse of converting the mechanical energy of a rotating shaft to electrical energy (electric generator). Both are accomplished through the interactions of armature windings with a (relatively) moving external magnetic field, with the armature connected to an electr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Long Hood
The long hood of a hood unit-style diesel locomotive is, as the name implies, the longer of the two hoods (narrower sections of the locomotive body in front and behind of the cab) on a locomotive, particularly American-type freight locomotives. Equipment The long hood normally contains the diesel engine ( prime mover), the main generator or alternator, the locomotive's cooling radiators, the dynamic brake resistor grids if fitted, and most of the locomotive's auxiliary equipment. Head-end power equipment, if fitted, is normally in the long hood; steam generators for heating older passenger cars may be either in the long or short hoods. Operating direction Normally, the long hood is the rear of the locomotive. For early hood unit models, this was not the case; railroads preferred to run with the long hood at the front and the cab at the rear (referred to as operating long hood forward or LHF). It is a common misconception that locomotives were run LHF to provide greater pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Revolutions Per Minute
Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionless unit equal to 1, which it refers to as a revolution, but does not define the revolution as a unit. It defines a unit of rotational frequency equal to s−1. The superseded standard ISO 80000-3:2006 did however state with reference to the unit name 'one', symbol '1', that "The special name revolution, symbol r, for this unit is widely used in specifications on rotating machines." The International System of Units (SI) does not recognize rpm as a unit, and defines the unit of frequency, Hz, as equal to s−1. :\begin 1~&\text &&=& 60~&\text \\ \frac~&\text &&=& 1~&\text \end A corresponding but distinct quantity for describing rotation is angular velocity, for which the SI unit is the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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