Most significant diesel electric locomotive of all time..


rodney mcgiveron

rodney mcgiveron

Member
G'day all...Despite me living on the other side of the planet..I am fascinated by the American Rail System ...My question...What do fellow forum members think is the most significant locomotive to model since the transition from steam era .It's a pretty open ended question I know...but it'd be interesting to see what modellers prefer and whether the manufacturers acommodate the needs..I'll start the ball rolling and say that the EMD GP38 and the EMD SD 40-2 s would be right up there with the freight haulage in the halcyon days of the early 60s to the early to mid 1980s and also ALCO and GE became big players in a very competitive market.
I think more 1:1 Scale SD40s were built , than any other locomotive in history or is that incorrect...
 
The most significant would have to be the early steam killers. The FT, FA, E, and PA models.
ALCo was the #2 diesel builder, but was not as reliable as EMC and later EMD. The U25 was significant, as it killed ALCo as a diesel locomotive builder.
The GP 38 series was probably the most reliable, with all its under-rated and over-built components.
The SD40 series was probably the most ubiquitous as far as being everywhere.
The ALCo RS1 was significant in being the first-ever road switcher.
Everything can be considered significant, even if it is only as an example of how not to do something.
 
I'd have to guess the EMD SW-1, and FT series, along with the Also RS-1's. These were the loco's that powered the transition from steam.
 
G'day all ...Thanks for the great input so far..I forgot about the F series locos...Isn't it funny how you forget something so obvious because without those very early diesels , the later GPs and SDs etc were born from them...I love any SD locomotive...I have several SD40s..and now the later SD70s etc..as I do also have a few Dash 8s and 9s and ES44s modelling General Electric..Want an SD60 at some stage too...I digress....Re modelling though ...do you think that the manufacturers as a whole depict some of these well known and significant locomotives properly ?...I recently had a look at an Athearn Genesis model review on You Tube of a Union Pacific 4014 Big Boy and compared it to the Rivarossi model of same loco he had...and the attention to detail was noted...Same thing with An Athearn and MTH SD70 ACE model review...that in most areas the Athearn was a clear winner..but the MTH was not a bad depiction by any means...Of the more well known and iconic locomotives I'd say different model makers head a certain direction for tooling etc..and will do a better job of the locos at the core of their business..Eg.From my own experience, available in Australia anyway, not sure about the USA, Intermountain and Broadway Ltd seem to prefer doing GE locos better..while Athearn and Kato do great EMD ones..and Bachmann are more the older generation locos etc..And as for limited runs of a particular prime mover , the more significant ones are hard to come by as time goes on...Cheers Rod..
 
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I have to agree with the others. The most significant diesel-electric locomotive was the EMD FT. It proved the diesels could pull freight. Passengers and switching is nothing compared to moving the freight.

2nd most significant I'm going to put as the EMC E1 units. They proved these toys like the Zephyr were for real and could be manufactured instead of each one being a 1 off project.

3rd I'll go with the Alco RS-1. A single diesel model can be used for switching, road freight, locals, and passenger.

4th I put the SD40-2 and GP40-2 because it is the -2 part that is significant. Performance and fuel economy can be improved with electronics.

5th I'll go with the first GE AC. 100 years too late as Tesla had designed an AC powered locomotive in the 1900's, but there it is - finally. Frequency control rather than voltage control for both better traction, fuel economy, and control.
 
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Now for a different direction on the theme. I think the most significant MODEL railroad locomotive is the 1984 Atlas HO RS-3. It raised the bar on what performance could be obtained in that small of a loco. Low power, good pulling, smooth, and quite running. And most significantly it proved that Model Railroaders were willing to pay for those characteristics. My first RS-3 was $44! That was big bucks back then. Twice the price of the prior Atlas and Athearn available at the time.
 
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rodney mcgiveron said:
.do you think that the manufacturers as a whole depict some of these well known and significant locomotives properly ?
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As far as good representations of the models they produce. Yes, today's are fantastic. I am guessing the old timers of the 1950s and 1960s would not believe what one can buy off the shelf today. On the other hand a good representation of the significant locomotives. No. Manufacturers are going to produce what they can sell. That is why there are more Big Boys percentage wise per modeler than there ever were Big Boy's percentage wise of the locos on the railroad. Many of the less common locos are modeled more frequently than the work a day locos. Thinking also of the Pennsy T1, NYC Dreyfs Hudsons, Santa Fe Blue Bird (only 1 prototype), ....

Same with paint schemes. Look at the heritage models. Only 1 of each prototype but 100s on model railroads. Some people will have only the exception and none of the rule.
 
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Hey Rodney!

Great question!

I will pitch in my 2 cents. I would vote for the EMD GP7. Although is was not the first road switcher it was very popular. EMD had to open a second production plant just to keep up with demand. It was EMDs first Hood design and that made it cheaper to build and maintain. Although I am not positive but it may have been the first to use a weldment frame design that is still in use in todays locomotives. Finally after almost 70 years since its introduction there are many still in service. The canton Railroad only a few miles from my home has 2 of them. CTN 1307 and CTN 1364

2008%2006%2022%20Canton%20RR%201364%20028.jpg
 
Nice photo

G'day all , Thanks Louis for posting the great photo.....Very tidy locos for oldies ..If we could all look so good.....Thanks for the great responses... The significance of these locos , post steam is profound....To be honest if not for rail services both freight and passenger ..the USA and indeed my country , Australia , the tyranny of vast distances would not have been made possible so soon... The steam era paved the way , irreplaceable in the scheme of things but the efficiency and relative simplicity of linking prime movers together with a minimum of personnel via diesel electrics was the catalyst of the much faster delivery of services as time went on.. The romance of a big old steamer will always hold a special place for those old enough to recall and I hope with great modelling the and real loco restorations these old beauties will be remembered fondly and in the same way the most important versions of the diesel electrics will be recalled in the same way. We may differ in opinion a bit on which loco was the MOST significant but all of those mentioned so far have had at least a degree of significance for different reasons and I hope the manufacturers .keep listening and keep helping us recall these iron horses for perpetuity...Cheers Rod...
Bruette said:
Hey Rodney!

Great question!

I will pitch in my 2 cents. I would vote for the EMD GP7. Although is was not the first road switcher it was very popular. EMD had to open a second production plant just to keep up with demand. It was EMDs first Hood design and that made it cheaper to build and maintain. Although I am not positive but it may have been the first to use a weldment frame design that is still in use in todays locomotives. Finally after almost 70 years since its introduction there are many still in service. The canton Railroad only a few miles from my home has 2 of them. CTN 1307 and CTN 1364

2008%2006%2022%20Canton%20RR%201364%20028.jpg
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As for welded frame design, I think EMD's SW and NW came well before the GP7.
Back when they were first introduced, the SW was 600 hp with a welded frame, the SC was 600 hp with a cast frame. The NW was 900 hp.
 
The most significant diesel electric of all time is always the most recent one I acquired :)

But really, I would pick the SD9. It was totally reliable and long lasting and it put to rest forever the question of diesel's ability to work the toughest assignments.
 
I would have to agree that the EMC/EMD GP-7's were definitely significant. So were the FT and E's, insofar as they paved the way for the heavy haulers. But, I would have to give the nod for the MOST significant diesel-electric's was the Burlington Route's Pioneer (#9900) Zephyr. Why, when the train was an articulated, relatively low-powered train? Because it was the first practicable use of a diesel motor, coupled to an electric generator, used to turn traction motors (Union Pacific's M10000 used a distillate engine) for highspeed service. In addition, it was the first use of stainless steel for the carbodies, and shot-welding (spot resistance welding) of stainless steel.
 
Bruette said:
Thank you Terry! I thought this would be an interesting informative thread!
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For those who don't know, the "F" in "FT" originally stood for the 1400hp of each unit. The "E" of E units stood for 1800hp. Very shortly, EMC realized that type of designation wasn't going to last too long, though it was brought back briefly with EMD in the late 1950s with the GP18, GP20, and SD18/24 models. That got squashed when GE came out with the U25, meaning EMD's GP22 got rebranded posthaste to GP30, just so it looked like more.
 
I don't think that the GP-7 was that significant of a locomotive, as it was built after the RS-1 had shown how versatile that style of locomotive really was. It was built to try to recapture the loss EMD was facing from Alco, as at the time all they made were F units. The F-units just could not really be run alone backward with any ease due to visibility.
 
Well I still think the SD9 had all the attributes nailed down in one package. Nothing prior to that could make that claim - at least in the money-making realm of freight hauling.
 
Terry thank you for the additional information, I did not know that! I am sill a pup when it comes to trains, but I like barking with the big dogs!


Doctor I will defer to your opinion of the GP7 because of your experience and knowledge of the railroads far exceeds mine and the fact that I may be biased because of my affection for EMD GP locomotives. What diesel locomotive would you say is the most significant?


Rodney this is a great thread!
 
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