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 AAR wheel arrangement system is a method of classifying locomotive wheel arrangements that was developed by the Association of American Railroads. Essentially a simplification of the European UIC classification, it is widely used in North America to describe diesel and electric locomotives. It is not used for steam locomotives, which use the Whyte notation instead.
In North American railroad terminology, a cab unit is a railroad locomotive with its own cab and controls.
A road switcher locomotive is a type of railroad locomotive designed to both haul railcars in mainline service and shunt them in railroad yards. Both type and term are North American in origin, although similar types have been used elsewhere.
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.
Steeplecab is railroad terminology for a style or design of electric locomotive; the term is rarely if ever used for other forms of power. The name originated in North America and has been used in Britain as well.
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 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.
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 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.
R-Motor was the class designation given by the New York Central one prototype and a later fleet of 42 ALCO-GE built electric freight locomotives for use in the New York Electrified Zone. In conjunction with the P Motors, the Rs marked the second generation of electric locomotives built for the New York Central. Also like the P Motors they used advanced nose suspended traction motors and the R-2s were some of the first North American locomotives to make use of the C-C wheel arrangement, which later became the standard for diesel electric road freight.
A B unit, in railroad terminology, is a locomotive unit which does not have a control cab or crew compartment, and must therefore be operated in tandem with another coupled locomotive with a cab. The terms booster unit and cabless are also used. The concept is largely confined to North America and post-Soviet countries. Elsewhere, locomotives without driving cabs are rare.
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.
Under the British and Imperial classification scheme of locomotive axle arrangements 1Co+Co1 is a classification code for a locomotive wheel arrangement of two eight-wheeled bogies with an articulated inter-bogie connection, each with three axles powered by a separate traction motor per axle and with the fourth non-powered axle in an integral leading pony truck to reduce the axle load. The similar 1Co-Co1 classification is in the same axle configuration, but without the inter-bogie connection.
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.
The María-Elena - Tocopilla line was the last operating nitrate railway in Chile, and the last operating section of a railway system that moved caliche ore to processing plants and nitrate to the port of Tocopilla. It was a magnet for rail fans before closing in August 2015 after severe rainfall damaged the tracks to the extent that the owner decided it was beyond economic repair.
