An EMD SD38AC is a 6-axle
diesel-electric locomotive
A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is conveyed to the driving wheels ...
built by
General Motors Electro-Motive Division
Progress Rail Locomotives, doing business as Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD), is an American manufacturer of diesel-electric locomotives, locomotive products and diesel engines for the rail industry. The company is owned by Caterpillar through its su ...
between June and October 1971. This model is an
SD38 with an AR10
alternating current
Alternating current (AC) is an electric current which periodically reverses direction and changes its magnitude continuously with time in contrast to direct current (DC) which flows only in one direction. Alternating current is the form in whic ...
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.Gor ...
instead of the SD38's normal
direct current
Direct current (DC) is one-directional flow of electric charge. An electrochemical cell is a prime example of DC power. Direct current may flow through a conductor such as a wire, but can also flow through semiconductors, insulators, or eve ...
generator. It produces from a 16-
cylinder
A cylinder (from ) has traditionally been a three-dimensional solid, one of the most basic of curvilinear geometric shapes. In elementary geometry, it is considered a prism with a circle as its base.
A cylinder may also be defined as an infin ...
EMD 645E roots blown prime mover. It came equipped with or without dynamic brakes. This locomotive shares a common frame with the
SD38,
SD39,
SD40 SD40 may refer to:
* Canon PowerShot SD40, a digital camera
* EMD SD40
The EMD SD40 is an American 6-axle diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division between January 1966 and August 1972. 1,268 locomotives were buil ...
and
SD45
The SD45 is a six-axle diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division between 1965 and 1971. It has an EMD 645E3 twenty-cylinder engine generating on the same frame as the SD38, SD39, SD40, and SDP40. As of 2022, mos ...
. The SD38AC was a transition between the
SD38 and its successor, the
SD38-2. 15 examples of this model were built; 6 for
B&LE, 8 for
DMIR and one for
BC Hydro
The British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority, operating as BC Hydro, is a Canadian electric utility in the province of British Columbia. It is the main electricity distributor, serving more than 4 million customers in most areas, with the exce ...
.
Original owners
References
*
* Sarberenyi, Robert.
EMD SD38, SD38AC, and SDP38 Original Owners'. Retrieved on August 27, 2006
External links
* Sarberenyi, Robert.
'
SD38AC
C-C locomotives
Diesel-electric locomotives of the United States
Railway locomotives introduced in 1971
Freight locomotives
Standard gauge locomotives of the United States
Standard gauge locomotives of Canada
{{diesel-loco-stub