This is my first post to this forum. I am not sure I am in the right place but…
There is a lot of talk about First Generation/Second Generation/Third Generation Diesels. Can someone point out somewhere on the internet where I can find specifics. Exactly what diesels are first or second or third.
Thanks
This probably isn’t exactly what your looking for but it will get you started.
Brent
The history of diesel locomotives was dominated by EMD for much of the time until recently when GE has become the #1 supplier. EMD worked with the principal replace three engines with two and it worked for nearly forty years. Three 1500 hp F units were replaced with two 2250 hp units. Three of them were replaced with two 3000 hp units, etc. So we have the formative shake out years (generation 1) where standardization took place. We have the improved era with electroinc controls and pressurized car bodies starting with about the GP30 and the GE U boats (generation 2) and we have the current generation three with AC traction motors and very sophistiacted computerized controls, better fuel economy, and the abiolity to get amounts of horsepower to the rails The Kalmbach Diesel Spotters Guide is as good a place as any to start studying diesels. Good identifying features, who had them, how many were built and when and lots of information.
A general but usefull rule of thumb is that first generation diesels were designed to be purchased to replace steam engines. Second generation engines were designed to replace first generations diesels. (For example in the early sixties many railroads started trading in their EMD FT’s from the early forties for newer engines like the EMD GP-30.)