Best EMD Locomotive

The SD-9. The BNSF 6126 is my favorite ex- GN 599. They were all long hood forward. The GN ordered the 598 and 599 with dyno's specificly for the OC&E because of the 2.0% grade. They took turns with the SP operating it until 1975 when Weyerhaeuser bought the whole thing. All of the other GN SD-9's and SD-7's didnt have dynos and alot of folks dont know of the 598 and 599. I didnt think you could break em loose with 1750 horsepower but the 6126 made a believer out of me. They are both laid up good order. Under remarks for the 6126 it says ''unit is not fuel efficient''. I guess with a build date of 5-58 it is an efficient unit nonetheless.

Conrail Engineer..............

There are a few GP15-1's runnin out of Lancaster, Pa. on the local branch's. Here is a GP15-1 at Greenfield just east of Lancaster on the New Holland secondary with a Jordan Speader....................





hev

I just found out that NS sent the Jordan Spreader to KY to be scrapped.............what a shame...........

hev

Gp-38-2, Gp-40-2 and the SD-40-2, hands down!

Behold, the "mutant geep";



12-567c, D-15B, D-19's x 6. Narrow gauge power!!!

Woot!Woot!

gotta be the distinctive FL-9 in any version or the GP9 torpedo tube version.

well i got to go old school and go with emd's "ugly duck" of the bl-2, some find her ugly i find her nice (realy looks good in the bar's tri color paint only one painted that way)

hi,
My real love is an export version G-16(16-567C engine without turbo)for ex
Yugoslav Railways(now in this small area of former Yugoslavia we have 6 companies).We call that machines"Kennedy".
In active service since 1960/61 in Serbia,and they still work.Not all,only 20-25,but they do jobe wery well.

[GP15-1:
Built 1976-1982
310 built
12-645E supercharged
1500 HP
D32 generator

GP15AC:
Built 1982
30 built
12-645E supercharged
1500 HP
AR10 alternator
Only sold to MP


GP15-1's and AC's are not supercharged. They are roots blower/non turbocharged units.

They are also the most useless 4 axles EMD ever built. They wouldnt pull a greased string out of a sick cats ass.
Larry

Larry, I could be wrong but supercharged implies a Roots blower, not turbocharging. It is in effect a supercharger needed for scavenging.

AFAIK, you need the roots blower on any EMD 2 stroke. The turbo units, the turbo feeds the blower's inlet. I could be wrong, but that's what I've always read, and I know GM's smaller engines were that way.

The GP-15 might have sucked, but the MP-15ACs lasted a long time in LIRR service and worked about as well as the GP-38-2s did. Neither were particularly fast - for all the jokes about GE units in passenger service, the LIRR's EMDs seemed to spend all their time in Run 8 between stations. At least the old stuff managed to function, something that can't be said of the DE/DM fleet, which also is likely the most useless unit EMD ever made - the LIRR almost always doubles them if the train's longer than 5 cars, they're that hopeless.

The Roots Blowers are powered mechanically from the Engine. A Turbo is also powered from the Engine until Exhaust gasses are hot enough and have enough velocity to drive the Turbo impeller at a sufficient RPM for it to free wheel, compressing air and forcing it to the aftercoolers and then into the Airbox. The Turbo impeller usually free spins at Notch 6.

The GP-15 was a real interesting beast.

Looking at it from an Electrician's point of view, I think the EMD Dash 2 Series of Locomotives was the best units ever built. My reason for saying this is you could understand the prints and the modules have the test points to troubleshoot from. You could go back to the start station and look at the Governor Quad and the Load Regulator in notch 8 and pretty much determine if it is a mechanical or electrical problem. Another reason I like the Dash 2 line is the units have Motorized "RV" and "MB" switches to turn the switch gear instead of depending on each coil and interlock to make on the older style Reverser's and Braking Switches. You can also calibrate them in a timley manner. As far the computer units, I don't care if it is a GE or EMD, as long as the computer is shooting straight with you, those units are not too bad to troubleshoot, but when the computer is out in left field somewhere you better pack your lunch. I will take a Dash 2 any day.

Thats a hard one
For Switchers, I'll say, SW1, Sw1200/SW9
For Geeps, Gp9, Gp30, GP38

SW1 is my alltime FAVe though