Its too bad EMD won't build (or at least I doubt they would) a basic, not too many bells/whistles GP38-3 or -4 or whatever. A new from the ground up loco, with a standard cab, stardard AAR control stand, but more modern engine management system, etc. It would be the same shape/design as a GP38, but instead have a non-turbocharged 710 in there, that would put out probably close to 2700 HP or so (are there any non turbo'ed 710's? if so, how much HP do they put out?)
There would be very minimial design costs, they already have the plans from the GP38. Its a timeless design, that crews like, and railroads seem to be desiring if they keep rebuilding their GP units and either de-turboing '40's or rebuilding straight 38's from their own road or others that were once forlorn for the scrap heap.
I think it would be a tremendous success, as it would be an all new unit, with several rebuild cycles ahead of it. The BL20 wasn't a big hit IMO, because it still used "recycled" parts, which would not last as long as new - there are more chances of a failure with a part that is rebuilt than new - a crack in the frame/case/block that wasn't detected, etc. but an all new loco with more power, and being more fuel efficent wiht modern systems would make it more desirable.
I think the gen sets are not going to be the miracle worker that some people/groups/railroads/builders are hoping they will be. If you had a Chrysler 300 SRT with the 6.1L HEMI, dragracing against 300 with 3 4 cylinder 2.0L engines, shoehorned in there, which do you think is gonna win? The 4's can put out the HP, and probably much more HP, but the 6.1 puts out much more torque, which is what gets the car moving then the HP takes over. Its sort of the same with a gen set - 3 small diesel engines compared to one large diesel. Maintence wise, 3 times the things to go wrong, even if they can be swapped out easily, the little engines will be running harder to put out the HP, than the V16 would be, even in Notch 8. And anyone who works on the RR will know, the RR's aren't good at maintence, and instead of fixing OOS gen set engines, they will start to take running ones out of other units, until there is a stack of engine skids sitting there. And then they will be rewired to only work with 2 engines, or 1 engine, because "if it rolls, use it"
On the RR, "believe nothing you hear and only half of what you see"
John, aka "JTGSHU" passed away on August 26, 2013. We honor his memory and his devotion to railroading at railroad.net.
