Diesel Locomotive Tow Vehicle

[DAB21]

Did you know diesel locomotives only indirectly run on diesel power? The locomotive diesel engine (the pistons look like 5 gal buckets) powers a generator which in turn drives the wheels. Now hold that thought for a minute. The latest energy conservation ad by the railroad says they move one ton of freight on one gallon of fuel a distance of 423 miles! I�m thinking why don�t we model our big vehicles on this proven design? Using their model a three ton Sequoia or Tundra with similar, albeit smaller generator and a 13 HP Kubota diesel, should run 141 miles on one gallon of fuel! I could be happy with that. Sure it wouldn�t make a great varoom-varoom sound, but we generally don�t heal-n-toe these vehicles anyway! Just think of all the Tahoes, Suburbans, Executioners, and full-size pickup trucks on the road today. I think Lyle, Charles, and maybe even Darryl even have F-250s! Where are all the engineers on this? Sitting on their patents? I know this is out there somewhere. Come on people! I just want to run to BHM and back more than twice without having to re-fill. I could put the Cobra CD in the player �.

[hsrgt3]

Mr Branch,

I was recently on the Amtrak trying to explain this to a passenger and he just refused to believe that a Locomotive was driven by electric motors and that the diesel engines powered the generators that ran the motors.

As you know its all about the green. But I do believe that is changing in a dramatic and expedited way now that the public is actually demanding alternatives.

God bless you and yours.

Angelo.

[Cholewa]

because it regenerative braking doesn't work as good when you only have 4 brakes.. When you weigh 100tons plus and are a few hundred feet long, you've got a lot of surface area to make lots of insurance. To stop a train from 30mph to 0, it takes a lot more energy but dissipates a lot more than it would to stop a 2 ton suv.

that and cars wouldn't be fast and thats all people care about.