An EMD GP50 is a 4-axle diesel-electric locomotive 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 ...

(EMD). It is powered by 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 645F3B diesel engine, which can produce between . 278 examples of this locomotive were built by EMD between 1980 and 1985. BN 3110-3162 were all delivered with five cab seats, the final five of these having the cab lengthened vs. the standard EMD cab. The GP50 retains the same overall length of as the

GP38 The EMD GP38 is a four-axle diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division between January 1966 and December 1971. The locomotive's prime mover was an EMD 645 16-cylinder engine that generated . The company built 70 ...

, GP39, and GP40 series locomotives. In 2015–2016 the Norfolk Southern Railway rebuilt 28 of their GP50s into the low-emission GP33ECO. And in early 2016, Norfolk Southern rebuilt one GP50 into their first GP59ECO. These units, most of which utilized GP59 cores, have similar specifications as the earlier GP33ECO program but have been built without public funding contributing to their construction.

History

EMD delivered the first GP50s to Chicago Northwestern in the summer of 1980. Much of the GP50's new technology was tested and developed with the experimental GP40X. Changes to the 645F3B engine compared to older versions, include a stronger crankcase, new turbocharger, new plate crab for clamping the power assemblies to the crankshaft, a camshaft of increased hardness, one-half-inch-diameter plunger injectors, laser-hardened cylinder liners, rocking piston pins, and a slower idle speed. A new traction motor, the D87, has a continuous rating of 1170 amps, compared to 1150 amps for its predecessor, the D77, with new interpole and main field coils that use 16% more copper, the number of turns increased from 14 to 17 to improve commutation at high currents, longer brush life, and sturdier gearing with increased surface hardness. The new motors are connected in permanent parallel to a new AR15

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 ...

rated at 4,680 amps. The GP50 was the first production locomotive to feature EMD's

Super Series The Super Series were exhibition games between Soviet teams and NHL teams that took place on the NHL opponents' home ice in North America from 1976 to 1991. The Soviet teams were usually club teams from the Soviet hockey league. The exception ...

wheelslip control system, first seen on the GP40X. Super Series employs a

Doppler radar A Doppler radar is a specialized radar that uses the Doppler effect to produce velocity data about objects at a distance. It does this by bouncing a microwave signal off a desired target and analyzing how the object's motion has altered the fr ...

unit mounted under the front coupler pocket to measure the locomotive's speed and adjusts the power to each axle to provide maximum adhesion while eliminating wheelslip. This system provided an increase in adhesion of at least 33% compared to conventional locomotives. Other changes compared to the GP40-2 include an underframe with a lighter, deeper sill that reduced the frame's weight and a new exhaust system and "Q-type" cooling fans to meet January 1980 Federal noise regulations.

Original Owners

References

External links

* Sarberenyi, Robert.
EMD GP39X, GP49, and GP50 Original Owners
' GP50 B-B locomotives Diesel-electric locomotives of the United States Railway locomotives introduced in 1980 Freight locomotives Standard gauge locomotives of the United States Diesel-electric locomotives of Jamaica Standard gauge locomotives of Jamaica {{diesel-loco-stub