Courtesy of our very own Ed Blysard. It’s from Korea’s national railroad. Any further questions can be directed to Ed. So off we go! What is it?:
P.S. Sorry that took so long, Ed. Been hectic at work. I Photochopped the shot to tame the highlights a bit, and tried to bring out a little more detail in the shadows. Hope you don’t mind.
Re-engined GE UD-18?
Ed: Coming in or going back out?
In-bound, along with 3 SW12s from the same railroad.
That photo is “fresh off the docks”
I have no clue what it is, couldnt get close enough to see the builder plate, and it went out same shift on the UP.
My guess was an Alco product…
Chris, dont mind one bit, looks a lot better then the original!
…I rode on Korea’s National RR but not behind an engine like that…It’s fuel was coal.
I’ll go along with ALCO, but it looks like it paid a visit to DeWitt, too, with that big hump on its back…
If it is a UD18 it has had major modification from when it was built. The only 10 UD18’s built by GE went to National Railways of Mexico in 1956. Even the steps on the ends were converted to ladders. My guess would be a GE product built under license overseas that we have never seen before.
It is an Alco DL-532, built with a 900HP Alco inline 6-251, rebuilt with (presumably) an EMD 8-645 of 1000HP (or maybe an 8-567C of 875 HP if they lost interest in the Alco even earlier). The single EMD stack suggests an 8 cylinder (even though I admit I was wrong with that aspect of the G-8!)
So it is technically a DL-532m where the m means modified.
There were similar DL532s built for Greece, but the DL531, which was similar but with six (narrow gauge = GE761) motors was much more successful in sales going to Peru, Pakistan, Australia and Brazil. A bigger unit with an air to air intercooled 6-251 of 1200HP (same technology as the GEVO), the six axle DL-535 sold to India in huge numbers, to Argentina and Peru (again).
I’ve privately briefed Ed on these already.
Good to see the rebuild, though.
M636C
The nose and the rad intake look like the photo M636C sent me, except for the humpback…
So, the roof mod is the result of an EMD prime mover being installed?
Yes, the equivalent of the hump on the De Witt conversions of the RS3, as Tree 68 indicated. The original, having an upright inline six cylinder, had a roof hatch which allowed power assemblies straight out through the top. Putting in the EMD V-8 meant that room was required in the corners at the top to pull the power assemblies out. It appears to have “gull wing” hatches to allow for the power assembly extraction. Also, the EMD muffler was on top of the engine, while the Alco exhausts ran down the side of the engine to the turbocharger at the back end, and then straight up.So more height was needed for the EMD engine.
I wonder if anyone in South America will buy it?
M636C
Probably. US EMD re-engining of ALCO’s had either a taller EMD hood or a “humback”.