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  • GE FDL lives on -- 10 new AC44i locos for ALL (Brazil)

  • Discussion of General Electric locomotive technology. Current official information can be found here: www.getransportation.com.
Discussion of General Electric locomotive technology. Current official information can be found here: www.getransportation.com.

Moderators: MEC407, AMTK84

 #744888  by MEC407
 
The GEVO-12 may be the current craze, but GE's FDL-16 engine is still being built, and its latest customer is América Latina Logística S.A. (ALL) of Brazil. ALL has ordered 10 AC44i locomotives.

The locomotives will be assembled at the GE South America plant in Contagem, Brazil, but the FDL engines will be built in Grove City, Pennsylvania.

Read more at:

http://www.railwayage.com/breaking-news ... s-all.html

and

http://www.goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/art ... 9312039841
 #745228  by Allen Hazen
 
GEVO is required by U.S. air quality laws (and so standard on locomotives for Mexico and Canada which might sometimes operate cross-border), but GE continues to use the FDL on export units: I think most if not all of the recent units for Australia have been FDL-powered. ...
(Though, if you want 6000 hp... Another Brazilian operator has received ES58 locomtives with GEVO-16 engines!)
--
Given the number of C44-9 (and similar) units built at Erie for export to South America, it's interesting that this order is to be assembled in Brazil. It's not as if the Erie plant was too busy to handle the extra work, but maybe Brazilians need jobs too.
--
Thanks for posting this, MEC407: you do a lot toward making this forum THE place to go for GE locomotive news! Much appreciated.
 #745233  by MEC407
 
You are most welcome! And thank you for the wealth of knowledge you bring to the forum.

Off-topic, but related to what you wrote about export units: have you seen these Australian Evolution Series locos? I think they're quite nice looking: http://www.railpictures.net/images/d1/6 ... 216386.jpg
 #745575  by Allen Hazen
 
No, I hadn't seen them. (Not many people will: they are for an iron ore railway in a fairly desert region in the north of Western Australia, well away from major population centers. And -- even if this trackage was not isolated from the rest of the national railway network -- would be too heavy to operate on most Australian lines.)

One obvious bit of Australianization: the two-rail handrails. I don't know the details -- whether this is actually required by law or not -- but I have a sense that employee safety requirements (and employee comfort requirements) are stricter in Australia than in the U.S. (Historically Australia has had a stronger labor movement, and one of the two main political parties is "Labour," which has had links to the union movement.)

There's a less obvious one just visible in the photo: look at the rear end of the second unit, just visible behind the lead unit in your photo. Because of high temperatures in the Kimberley region, these units were built with extra radiator capacity (I think on an AC60 length frame), and there are extra radiator air inlets on the rear.

Thanks for the very nice picture (taken-- I assume from the overhead wire-- at GE's Erie test track?)!
 #745714  by MEC407
 
According to the photo data and caption (which can be found at http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=236082 ), the locos were indeed at the test track in Erie.

I also found another photo of the same type of units, for the same customer and in the same location, but in a slightly different paint scheme:

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=235923
 #1193114  by MEC407
 
The FDL-16 continues to be a popular power plant for Brazilian railroads. Here's a big batch of brand new Dash 9s headed for Brazil, photo by Joe Goodrich: http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=439257" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
 #1193128  by Allen Hazen
 
We know why ALL ***can*** buy FDL-engined GE locomotives: Brazil doesn't have as strict air pollution laws as the U.S.
But do we have any information as to why they ***do*** buy Dash-9 instead of ES locomotives?
---Uniformity with existing locomotive fleet?
---GE charges less for a Dash-9 than for an ES?
---There is some actual superiority of the FDL over the GEVO?
---Sheer unthinking bloodyminded conservatism?
(As an outside observer, I tend to think there are decisions made by the managements of U.S. railroads that are best explained by #4!)
 #1193145  by MEC407
 
It would warm my little V8 heart if it was #3 :wink: but I suspect it's some combination of #1 and #2, with perhaps a smidge of #4.