8 weeks / 100K miles / 550 hours WOT

Shaners · August 13, 2003

As alot of you know I work for GE Transportation Division, and I build diesel engines for Locomotives.

We gave Union Pacific Railroad 3 of our new 2005 Evolution engines this June to test for us. HP is 4400 hp, and the engine is a V-12 design. It is a totally new engine for us and it reduces emissions by 40% while increasing economy by 3%.

Like the headline reads, these engines have been running for 2 months now and just passed the 100,000 mile mark, with over 550 Hours @ Wide-Open-Throttle. The engines are running extremely well and are undergoing severe testing for altitude and tunnels in the Pacific NorthWest. This is after making several high-speed runs from Chicago to Seattle.

Wingnut · August 13, 2003

Maybe you guys could talk to the General about power and longevity.

greyghost03 · August 13, 2003

CMNTMXR81 · August 13, 2003

This is last weeks news. I believe I read it on GE's website about 2 months ago.

I was gonna say the same thing Wingnut did. And WOT on these things is only around 3,000rpm. I thought GE was having problems with their 4 stroke diesels and were trying to get proprietary information on EMD's cast block 4 strokes because they were infinitely more reliable. EMD had me sign my life away and then did a thorough background check before permitting me into the engine assembly area. They had several of their 4 strokes in back on engine dynos that had been running for quite some time.

8wks, 100k miles & 550 hours at WOT throttle is still in break in for a locomotive. Equivalent to about the first 5,000 miles on your car

k1500chevy97 · August 13, 2003

Are they painted that same color ?

The past month or so I have seen some weird white/blue/green ones running on UP lines instead of the regular dark yellow ones

Also seen one with the same scheme on a BNSF line here through town did bnsf also take some of those ?

Shaners · August 14, 2003

This is last weeks news. I believe I read it on GE's website about 2 months ago.

I was gonna say the same thing Wingnut did. And WOT on these things is only around 3,000rpm. I thought GE was having problems with their 4 stroke diesels and were trying to get proprietary information on EMD's cast block 4 strokes because they were infinitely more reliable.

GE was having some problems with their AC 6000 (6000HP) engine that was released about 6-7 years ago (V-16). GE has never built anything except a 4-stroke diesel engine.

We have been running this new Evolution Series on the test track in Erie PA for quite some time. In fact when a segment on it for "Mega Machines" was done, there was snow on the ground. It was touted as the cleanest, most powerful, and most fuel efficient Locomotive on the market. We released these three test engines to Union Pacific on June 5. We have 30 more going to BNSF in the 4th quarter of this year.

Although EMD does have a 2005 Tier II Emissions engine running, they have not offered it to the railroads as of yet for a test mule.

On our older V-16 FDL4400HP 4-stroke engines WOT is 1050 RPM. I would assume that this new V-12 is about the same, but I can ask the test cell guys if anyone cares...

k1500chevy97 · August 14, 2003

hmmm maybe some different smaller companies

I recall seeing engines with almost the same color scheme as in that pic but without the GE logo on the front

Oh well just give me one of those dash locos ne day

Rotorwrench · August 14, 2003

I don't know a d**n thing about rail road engines, but I do know a good bit about turbine helicopter engines. I work on Turbomeca, Pratt & Whitney, GE and Rolls Royce engines. GE is the only brand of engine that I have never had to make an unscheduled engine change with. CT7 engines kick ass.

Shaners · August 14, 2003

I don't know a d**n thing about rail road engines, but I do know a good bit about turbine helicopter engines. I work on Turbomeca, Pratt & Whitney, GE and Rolls Royce engines. GE is the only brand of engine that I have never had to make an unscheduled engine change with. CT7 engines kick ass.

Well now I know where your screen name comes from... LOL!!!

CMNTMXR81 · August 14, 2003

Shaners, I beleive the EMD Teir II emissions engine is an abbreviated version of their current 16V265H engine. Actually I just went to GMEMD.com and looked it up under the SD90MAC and that 6,000hp motor already meets Tier II emissions.

As to torque that wingnut mentioned, actually that has nothing to do with the diesel other than it being able to supply sufficient A/C to the traction motors. All the torque (drawbar force) is generated by the 6 electric motors hung from the trucks and is solely dependant on tractive effort that the machine is able to get. GE and GM's can generate the same amount of drawbar force dependant on it's traction (I.E. adhesion) rate to the rails.

I live right along (and ride) the Geneva Spur of the UP mainline (the busiest line in the world) and I have yet to see any GE power units painted with the GE logo. Just a ton of UP with the shield and wings on front (which I think is badaSS BTW).

Ahhh, I love the smell of freshly burnt locomotive diesel in the morning.

R Dogg 56 · August 14, 2003

HP is 4400 hp, and the engine is a V-12 design.

I wonder if that'll fit in the bed of the dually.

Shaners · August 14, 2003

I live right along (and ride) the Geneva Spur of the UP mainline (the busiest line in the world) and I have yet to see any GE power units painted with the GE logo. Just a ton of UP with the shield and wings on front (which I think is badaSS BTW).

I believe the 3 Teir II engines that UP is running are in fact painted UP Colors. I used to know the cab numbers, but I don't recall what they are right now.

There are actually 5 Tier II GE engines on the rails right now, three are at UP and the other two may have the special paint.

The 30 BN engines have already started production... We will probably run them at 1-2 engines a week for the remainder of the year.

The GE engines are built and tested here in Grove City, and then they are loaded on a special truck and then taken to Erie where they are installed in the Locomotive about 90 miles from here..

CMNTMXR81 · August 14, 2003

R Dogg, both GE and GM EMD make 6,000+ hp engines too.

But the most powerful ever run in a mainline freight locomotive was made by GM EMD. It was the DD40X specially built for Union Pacific to celebrate their centennial anniversary in 1976. The locomotive was nicknamed "The Centennial" because of it. It was two GM locomotive combined into one unit with 4 DC traction motors on each of it's two trucks and had 6,600hp.

Only around 30 of them were made. I forget the UP numbering off my head, but if you go to UPRR.com and look at their power roster they list all their rolling stock.

Shaners, I'd be interested in those numbers to keep my eyes a looking for them.