The Metrolink commuter rail system in the Los Angeles area recently posted pics on their Facebok page of their new EMD F125 loco in production at the Indiana plant.
They will be the first railroad to use the new EMD Tier IV passenger loco by late 2015/early 2016.
Here they are:
Interesting, thanks for posting. Notably, this seems to lack an isolated cab, and the bolt-on fibreglass nose that the F59PHI had. The bodies are not EMD-built. They are shipped from Spain, so probably Vossloh?
With that shade of paint, the body looks like injection molded plastic.
I heard they will come DCC-ready, and equipped with sound.
The cab lines aren’t that different from the cabs that MPI has been using on its suburban locomotives for several years now.
These locos look very similar to the DE/DM 30’s built for MTA-LIRR back in the late '90’s. The canted windshield reflects the desire to reduce the angle of incidence for whatever 'UFO’s that may be directed at the locomotive during operations.
In the past, both EMD and GE obtained substantial design input from offshore in the design of ‘clean sheet of paper’ passenger locomotive carbodies, e.g., Siemens and Krupp respectively.
As an aside, Vossloh is in the process of re-organzing, with the railroad vehicle business being placed up for sale.
Since EMD, Vossloh, GE, MPI, and Brookville are all clients of Vergara Sudios that’s probably why they all look alike.
Alright, friend, take this banter over to the MR page [;)]
Seriously, folks, this does look like something coming out of a resin-cast process.
UPDATE! Metrolink recently posted this on their Facebook page:
Behold, the EMD F125.
look a better looking LIRR DE/DM ?? but why is it under selling by 3 to 1 ??
It will be interesting to see what it looks like with the front panel on at a more traditional 3/4 angle. Looks good, however, those crash beams at the front are brutal. Get used to that massive radiator intake section at the rear of modern passenger locomotives.
Next step is to see how well it runs…
For anyone who missed it, Vossloh’s rail division is now part of Stadler Rail.
Lovely. Now work the bugs out of the 1010 engine and then figure a way of wedging one into that carbody.
Why ?
Is the 1010 better than the C175 (other than it doesn’t use urea to meet T4) ?
At least the C175 is ‘rail proven’ (we’ve got some of the V16 version running in the UK, on passenger work) and probably lighter and smaller - virtues for a passenger locomotive.
This video will give you and idea of what the V16 C175 sounds like -
In my vocation Caterpiller is known as a “disposable diesel” or simply Scaterpiller. Runs until it blows up, unbolt it and lift, knock out as many dings as possible, lower in a new new one and bolt up, start up and begin the cycle again.
“Is the 1010 better than the C175?” Without ever seeing a 1010 in person the answer is ‘yes.’ Why? Because Caterpillar is guilty until proven innocent.
I would add on a personal note my view that the longevity of American passenger locomotives is in part attributed to the medium speed engines under the hood. Keeping it under 1000 rpm just seems to last longer.
Back in the 2000’s, Siemens proposed an ‘upgrade’ for the relatively new LIRR DE/DM30’s-replacing the 12-710 with a high speed engine of German manufacture.
CPM500
Had not heard of that one. Wonder what Siemens had in mind?
Almost certainly the MTU 4000 in 16 or 20 cylinder versions…
M636C
MTU would be the obvious candidate - well proven in passenger rail use.
The main problem with the 12-710 seems to be high fuel consumption (compared to a good four-stroke diesel) in the sort of duty-cycle that short/medium distance passenger services create. It’s one of the main reasons that a UK passenger operator recently switched from EMD 12-710 powered locomotives to CAT C175 powered ones (the Class 68 locos in the video I posted earlier).
Owlsroost you must be a MTU salesman. If so you know that MTU stands for Multiple Trouble Unit.
Nope - electronics engineer [:)]
The UK has 170 HST power cars fitted with MTU 16V4000 R41R engines (replacing the original Paxman Valenta engines about 10 years ago), all intensively used in front-rank service every day. As far as I know there haven’t been any significant problems with them. We’ve also got quite a lot of DMU cars fitted with automotive-derived MTU underfloor engines - when first introduced they had some problems after being in service for a while, but these were sorted out and there are probably around 600 ‘MTU powered’ DMU cars running around the UK system. That said, I get the impression that if you want a fairly ‘bomb proof’ DMU powertrain then Cummins (engine) plus Voith (hydraulic transmission) is probably the best, well proven comination - we’ve got a lot of those in the UK too, up to 750hp per car.