I currently don’t have access to my Trains issues.
What is involved with building a locomotive,start to finish?
I’ve heard or read that the main frame is made up of 2 ‘H’ beams laid on their sides.If so,what size are these beams and how far apart are they?What makes up the bolster for the frame to sit on the trucks?
Are there different frame sizes(main beams)for say GP9’s,SD9’s,SD40-2’s,and SD70’s?
Thanks.Have a good one.
Bill B
go to the GE transportation websight and take the virtual factory tour…they show you how they build locomotives from start to finish…
csx engineer
It’s always interesting to see this process, basically they start with the frame and start adding components. I have seen footage from Conrail with diesel engines stacked upon what appears to be huge shelves and ready for the taking. It’s good that they know what they are doing.
I wonder how GE built the Genesis, and even earlier cab bodies like EMD’s E and F-units . Were the cabbodies fully assembled before they were mounted onto the chaises?
Those GE Amtrak passenger engines bodies were built off-shore(IIRC) and GE added the rest. The EMD covered wagons needed the shell(at least the framing) to support the engine. There are a lot of photos of F’s on the assembly floor with no side panels, but with just the cab/roof & the prime mover inside. I have pictures of F’s in dead lines with no side panels waiting their fate.
Jim
The EMD E and F unit carbody is a structurally integral box, not a separate structural frame and sheet-metal non-structural carbody as is the typical hood-type unit. The E and F unit carbody is built up of weldments, using subassemblies. The “floor” is one subassembly, as is each side wall, the blind end, the nose, etc. Before major components were added the carbody is complete except for sheet metal, doors, hatch covers, etc. Major components are lowered vertically through the roof hatches, bolted in place and aligned, before the carbody sheet metal and hatches are applied.
RWM
There is an episode of Modern Marvels (History Channel) on railroads that has a segment on how modern Diesel Electric Locomotives are made, including some of the design of the prime mover.
The name of the episode was “Freight Trains”.
The History Channel store has that episode for sale as part of a 3 DVD for $30 deal.
Good show but there is not much for specifications.
A couple of years ago I saw a number of TOFC cars on the IC in Homewood Illinois heading north that each had a completed frame on board including bump posts. It was very surprising how big they were. They don’t look nearly that big under a locomotive. I assume these cars were headed to EMD in McCook but they could have been headed to Erie, Pa also.
Very enlightening show. The frame bed got flipped a number of times to attach various features in the easiest most efficient way possible. Manufacturing techniques and repair techniques are certainly different!