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The ALCO boxcabs were diesel-electric switcher locomotives, otherwise known as AGEIR boxcabs as a contraction of the names of the builders. Produced by a partnership of three companies, ALCO (American Locomotive Company) built the chassis and running gear, General Electric the generator, motors and controls, and Ingersoll Rand the diesel engine. The principle of operation was the same as modern locomotives, the diesel engine driving a main generator of 600 volts DC with four traction motors, one per axle.
There were three models, the 60-Ton with a six-cylinder four-stroke in-line engine of 300 hp (220 kW) of which twenty were produced, a 66-Ton of which six were produced, and the 100-Ton with two of the same engines of which seven were produced. A total of 33 units were produced between 1925 and 1928.
ALCO dropped out of the arrangement in 1928, acquired their own diesel engine manufacturer in McIntosh & Seymour and went on to start its own line of diesel switchers. [1] The first ALCO boxcab switcher was outshopped in January 1931 and after a brief demonstration tour was sold to Jay Street Connecting. The ALCO Boxcab and two end cab switchers built in early 1931 used the McIntosh & Seymour 330 engine. This early development of end cab switchers led ALCO to build the HH series based on the McIntosh & Seymour 531 engine and using GE electrical components by mid-1931.
The five surviving examples of these earliest boxcabs can be found at the B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore, MD (CNJ #1000 - the first), the National Museum of Transportation, St. Louis, MO (B&O #1/195/8000), the North Alabama Railroad Museum in Huntsville, Alabama (Union Carbide #3/11), the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, IL (DL&W #3001/IR #91), and the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, MI (IR #90).
The earliest boxcabs were often termed "oil-electrics" to avoid the use of the German name "Diesel", unpopular after World War I.[ citation needed ] [2]
The American Locomotive Company was an American manufacturer that operated from 1901 to 1969, initially specializing in the production of locomotives but later diversifying and fabricating at various times diesel generators, automobiles, steel, tanks, munitions, oil-production equipment, as well as heat exchangers for nuclear power plants.
A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the power source 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. The most common are diesel-electric locomotives and diesel-hydraulic.
Montreal Locomotive Works (MLW) was a Canadian railway locomotive manufacturer that existed under several names from 1883 to 1985, producing both steam and diesel locomotives. For many years it was a subsidiary of the American Locomotive Company. MLW's headquarters and manufacturing facilities were in Montreal, Quebec.
The GE U25B is General Electric's first independent entry into the United States domestic road switcher diesel-electric locomotive railroad market for heavy production road locomotives since 1936. From 1940 through 1953, GE participated in a design, production, and marketing consortium (Alco-GE) for diesel-electric locomotives with the American Locomotive Company. In 1956 the GE Universal Series of diesel locomotives was founded for the export market. The U25B was the first attempt at the domestic market since its termination of the consortium agreement with Alco.
The EMD GP30 is a 2,250 hp (1,680 kW) four-axle diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division of La Grange, Illinois between July 1961 and November 1963. A total of 948 units were built for railroads in the United States and Canada, including 40 cabless B units for the Union Pacific Railroad.
The ALCO HH series was an early set of diesel switcher locomotives built by the American Locomotive Company (ALCO) of Schenectady, New York between 1931 and 1940, when they were replaced by the S series: the 660 hp (490 kW) S-1 and 1,000 hp (750 kW) S-2. They were ALCO's first diesel switchers to enter true series production, and among the first land vehicles anywhere to use the revolutionary diesel-electric power transmission.
Electro-Motive Diesel is a brand of diesel-electric locomotives, locomotive products and diesel engines for the rail industry. Formerly a division of General Motors, EMD has been owned by Progress Rail since 2010. Electro-Motive Diesel traces its roots to the Electro-Motive Engineering Corporation, founded in 1922 and purchased by General Motors in 1930. After purchase by GM, the company was known as GM's Electro-Motive Division. In 2005, GM sold EMD to Greenbriar Equity Group and Berkshire Partners, and in 2010, EMD was sold to Progress Rail, a subsidiary of the American heavy equipment manufacturer Caterpillar. Upon the 2005 sale, the company was renamed to Electro-Motive Diesel.
The GE 44-ton switcher is a four-axle diesel-electric locomotive built by General Electric between 1940 and 1956. It was designed for industrial and light switching duties, often replacing steam locomotives that had previously been assigned these chores.
Before diesel engines had been developed for locomotive power in the 1920s and 1930s, many companies chose to use the gasoline engine for rail motive power. The first GE Locomotive was a series of four-axle (B-B) boxcab gasoline–electric machines closely related to the "doodlebugs", self-propelled passenger cars built in the early Twentieth Century.
A boxcab, in railroad terminology, is a term for an electric locomotive in which the machinery and crew areas were enclosed in a box-like superstructure. Deriving from "boxcar", the term mainly occurs in North America. The term has rarely been applied to diesel locomotives. It was also applied in Australia to Victorian Railways' "E" class second series electric locomotives.
The ALCO RSD-1 was a diesel-electric locomotive built by the American Locomotive Company (ALCO). This model was a road switcher type rated at 1,000 horsepower (750 kW) and rode on three-axle trucks, having a C-C wheel arrangement. It was often used in much the same manner as its four-axle counterpart, the ALCO RS-1, though the six-motor design allowed better tractive effort at lower speeds, as well as a lower weight-per-axle. It was developed to meet the need to supply the Soviet Union over the Trans-Iranian Railway starting in mid 1943. On the other hand, due to the traction generator and appurtenant control apparatus being sized for four axles and yet having two additional powered axles, it had poorer performance at higher speeds.
The GE 45-ton switcher is a 4-axle diesel locomotive built by General Electric between 1940 and 1956.
The Union Pacific GTELs were a series of gas turbine-electric locomotives built by Alco-GE and General Electric between 1952-1961 and operated by Union Pacific from 1952 to 1970.
The ALCO 300 was an early diesel-electric switcher locomotive built by the American Locomotive Company (ALCO) of Schenectady, New York between 1931 and 1938.
The GE boxcabs, sometimes also GE IR boxcabs, were diesel-electric switcher locomotives succeeding the ALCO boxcabs. The locomotives were built by General Electric and Ingersoll Rand without ALCO. Production lasted from 1928 to 1930. These boxcabs were often termed oil-electrics to avoid the use of the German name Diesel, unpopular after World War I.
The GE three-power boxcabs were early electro-diesel hybrid switcher locomotives. These boxcabs were termed oil battery electrics to avoid the use of the German name Diesel, unpopular after World War I.
Maine Central Railroad began operating diesel locomotives in 1935, and had retired all steam locomotives by 1954. That time interval was a joint operating period with the Boston and Maine Railroad (B&M). This article describes diesel locomotives owned by Maine Central through the period of joint operation and later independent operation prior to Guilford Rail System control in 1981.
The Great Northern Z-1 was a class of ten electric locomotives built for the Great Northern Railway They were used to work the route through the second Cascade Tunnel. They were built between 1926–1928 by Baldwin Locomotive Works, with Westinghouse electrics, and stayed in service until dieselisation in 1956. Each was of 1,830 horsepower (1,360 kW) with a 1-D-1 wheel arrangement, although they were always used in coupled pairs.