Built in the Lorain Ford Plant-
Don’t get your hopes too high. The back pages of the Diesel Spotter’s Guide have any number of builders who built a handful of locomotives then closed up shop.
Including Morrison Knudsen who had big money and bowed out
Dang! And here I was hoping Lima Locomotive Works was coming back with some updated steam superpower!
Didn’t that end up at Caterpillar? If so, it’s hardly gone.
Morrison-Knudsen spun off its locomotive division as Motive Power Industries, which is now a subsidiary of Wabtec and is quite active.
Here’s an interesting discussion on RyPN, including some commentary from Jack, concerning the proof-of-concept locomotive for LeanandGreen (LOCX 1005) back in 2011.
http://www.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=31605&hilit=washington+cog
And here is a link to the Ohio Locomotive “official” Facebook page. (There appear to have been no updates posted after the middle of April 2016…)
How hokey can you be, the head boy out there in bib overalls that have never seen a speck of dirt, worn by a man who has likely never seen a speck of dirt?
Well he could have gone to Nordstrom and bought some ‘pre dirted’ jeans for a exhorbitant price.
So you’re telling me that I can make big bucks by convincing people to get into mud fights and selling the jeans they wear?
I’ve noticed a lot of rebuild contracts have been awarded to MPI, in addition to the good amount of MPXpress passenger locomotives out there; they also built Amtrak’s newest switchers! Not quite a third big manufacturer, but they’re clearly doing pretty well for themselves.
What was that company in Pascagoula (I think that is where it was), Mississippi, that built one locomotive?
A little bit bigger company than you’re probably thinking: Ingalls Shipbuilding, no?
You’re right, Ingalls Shipbuilding built one locomotive which eventually was sold to GM&O. I would surmise that Ingalls was looking for uses for what became excess manufacturing capacity after V-J day.
Thanks, Paul; the name was behind a closed door in my mind. Ingalls still is in business, and apparently is thriving, as it is hiring.
That engine always had an extremely odd appearance to me.
Ingalls also built covered hopper cars in the late 1970s or early 1980s. seems they do this kind of thing when the Navy and Coast Guard contracts slow down.
Any company which hopes to go head-to-head with GE and EMD is not likely to be successful. A company which has some expertise in new technology that the big companies don’t have, or which has identified a niche market, might be in with a chance.
The big boys are not immune to being ousted from the market. Think of the fate of the once mighty Baldwin Locomotive Works when diesel power came along. Big companies can become dangerously complacent about potential competitors - Baldwins in the 1930s dismissed the potential of diesel locomotives out of hand and so neglected R & D into the new motive power until it was too late.
Companies involved in military and naval manufacturing represent one potential source of new entrants in the rail market since a lot of money is spent on defense R & D and some of the spin-offs of this could be relevant to rail use. One example is high-performance diesel engines. In 1955 a 3300 hp locomotive weighing just 105 long tons was built in Britain for high-speed passenger trains. Twenty-two of this class of loco were built and were the backbone of Inter-City services from London to Scotland for many years. The locomotive used two 1650 hp Napier Deltic engines which had been developed for use in naval patrol boats.
Then there was or is MK Rail-
MK Rail[edit]See also: Wabtec Corporation and MotivePower
Morrison-Knudsen ballast hopper with CIC markings on the CRANDIC at Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Morrison-Knudsen established a separate rail division, MK Rail, in 1972.[15] MK built the Caltrans California Cars (1994–96) as well as other rail passenger cars and light rail.[16] It also built locomotives, originally under its own name and later under subsidiary MK Rail from 1994 to
“Look out G.E”?
How so? The company in the video is a remanufacturer of older locomotives, as such they have a number of competitors in the market.
They are not offering new build locomotives so any GE/Progress comparisons are absurd…