I’ve never actually seen a switch engine doing anything in real life.
Are switchers built anymore? Or are less powerful “mainline” locomotives just turned into switchers as they approach retirement?
Saw two giant 6-axle UP diesels doing some switching the other day. It was a sight! Very cool, but it got me thinking about this.
See: http://www.railpower.com/
GE has not offered a switcher since the '60’s in the USA, and EMD hasn’t offered one since the '80’s.
N&W (now NS) use a 3000 hp six axle road switch with one or two six axle slugs - 18 axles.
UP converted many SD40-2, removed the turbos creating SD38-2, into switchers.
Check out this link. It seems to be stirring a bit of interest among railroads. I also think that Morrison Knudsen tried to market a switcher way back in the 90’s.
Both the CSX and NS has switchers on their rosters…[:D]
http://www.trainweb.org/csxphotos/html/nojava.html
www.nslocos.com
You know, I’ve never actually realized that no one has released a true switching locomotive in that long.
~[8]~ TrainFreak409 ~[8]~
Sadly that is because the railroads decided they could us older road locomotives for yard work…I am surprise that several of the major railroads still have them…After all a older GP38 can do the work of a much older SW1500.
Although it’s maybe slightly a bummer to have less variety of locomotives for our model railroads as we move into the future, in real-world terms, that is recycling at it’s finest!!!
I’m becoming more and more certain that I’ll need to pick a definate prototype date for my model railroad for reasons such as this - the real world just changes too much!
EMD & MPI jointly offer 1500 hp and 2000 hp switch engines. UP & BNSF have just ordered/leased some for evaluation…
Jim
The Iowa Interstate RR only has ONE switcher on it’s current roster - a SW1200.
Who needs them if you have lots of geeps about ???
A GP7 has 1500 HP - more than the SW1200 (1200 HP) and the same as a MP15DC.
EMD offers a switcher called the GP20D - not to be confused with the locomotive of 45 years ago…
Here’s the link: http://www.gmemd.com/en/locomotive/switcher/gp20d/
georgev
The IHB has a lot of switchers.
Late add: Whoops - I missed the Railpower links in a couple posts above. Mea Culpa.
You guys have missed the most significant change in locomotive technology recently - the Green Goat. Take a Geep (usually a -7 or -9) frame and trucks, and build a new switcher on top of it.
This one has been seen in Tacoma, WA recently:
http://www.railpower.com/usarmy.html
UP supposedly has 30 or so on order, KCS and BNSF are getting them too.
http://www.railpower.com/products_hl_gallery.html
Geep units (GP were just that, general purpose, they could handle a variety of jobs.
About like the old Shay to handle everything.
A “Switcher” design would likely have a smaller engine, use less fuel than the full sized version, so it would be a better economy, why some switchers had no-engine slugs with powered trucks, no speed but it could pull!!
Any railroad has to consider how their engines do what.
There is a steel mill in Arkansas where I pick up steel once in awile and they have a contraption that they use to shuttle cars around the plant with. Now this may not qualify as a switch engine, but I’ll attempt to discribe it. First it appears as a manucfactured engine, not a home built. It looks like a large tractor with rubber wheels and the railroad wheels are mounted under it at a 90 degree angle so you can drive it over the tracks lower the rail wheels onto the track and travel sideways down the track. I’ve seen it pull-push 8-10 loaded coil cars. I would say it qualifies as a switcch engine but would not be seen leaving the plant only to pick up or return cars to a siding of the railroad serving the mill.Just something I thought would be of interest to you, Ken
Eriediamond,
Sounds like a Trackmobile of some sort.
I know of a place near Bay city, Texas that rebuilds older switchers and I think LTEX also does the same!
Other than the early days of diesel, there really weren’t that many purpose-built switchers in the first place. Plenty of steam switchers started life as mainline engines, then they got old and had their pilots replaced with a coupler and found use as a yard goat. Many of those old puffers met their death when the first generation of diesel switchers came out, since diesel-electrics weren’t as powerful as the biggest steam they found acceptance as yard goats first.
So, I imagine that once the current generation of old Geeps finally throws in the towel, we’ll see a generation of new hybrid switch engines along the lines of the Green Goat to take their place.
A good thing about old switchers is they can be overhauled so they last a long time.I work at a large grain elevator and we use a NW2 built in 1947 and a pair of GE 35 Ton models made in the 1950’s.Yes,they are fun to operate.AFAIK another of our elevators still uses a Baldwin DS 4-4-1000. We used to use Trackmobiles but they were to small.
Here is a question: for the Railpower Green Goats, I wonder how much noise they make? I’m betting they sound a lot like a simple generator set - a constant, relatively quiet drone.
Be awfully boring (but very easy) to make a sound chip for!
A trackmobile is prolly an economic sell to whomever to quickly shunt a few cars around then store it away easily.
The railroads surely evaluate their power needs and adjust accordingly.
I’m sure there would always be the need for a smaller switcher styled loco.