The GE Diesel Electric Motor

On the following video we have a GE diesel electric train on a stall. On a standard train of 80 cars or more the weight can be over 10,000 tons, or over 20,000,000 pounds.The train has diesel engines which drives large generators. The electricity generated drives traction motors at the wheels.

With my limited knowledge of electronics if I were to design traction motors I can imagine the black smoke rolling and the smell of burnt electrical brushes before those wheels tool their first rotation!



I am a railfanner too by the way

 

I believe the first diesel electric locomotives were designed by the Swiss as early as 1914. That was quite an invention for her time! Today they have an intermodal Ship to Train to Truck design that uses 6,000 hp locomotives which takes a lot of truck traffic off the road!

 

Amtrak on the way!

[/QUOTE]

 

I also put together a video of a NS engine pulling tons of coal up the mountain from West Virginia..You can see sand being put on the tracks as he labors up the mountain!..