What could have been.
While talking to Dan tonight about the new "Railrunner" MP36's
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=121723
I joked about how the GO ones should be Cat 3608 powered and have the MK cab.
What if MK/MPI/Boise/Wabtec had kept the high horsepower program, the 3608 Inline engine is around 4000HP and certainty fits within locomotive size requirements, Being a large displacement 8 cyl engine, fuel use should be better then most V16's and it should also be easily able to meet emissions requirements, Also being a inline verse vee design should help in the maintainability and long term reliability of the engine.
I figure the computer/electrical/traction system would be something similar to what Boise stuck in the MK5000C's after rebuilding them for Utah Railway (before they got bastadized into SD50's) which is a mixture of the Q-tron and MK-LOC componets.
Trucks could remain the same as they are now, the modified Bloomburg design, but instead of using aftermarket EMD motors, use the larger and rugged GE752AG based MK1000 motor. Which would probily be more suited to the stress of commuter service then the EMD D87/88 ripoff would be.
Back the the 3608, the implications that could have had on EMD and GE's Tier 2 products could have been rather staggering too. "We used 8 where others used 12 or needed 16"
Oh well, hindsight is 20/20
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=121723
I joked about how the GO ones should be Cat 3608 powered and have the MK cab.
What if MK/MPI/Boise/Wabtec had kept the high horsepower program, the 3608 Inline engine is around 4000HP and certainty fits within locomotive size requirements, Being a large displacement 8 cyl engine, fuel use should be better then most V16's and it should also be easily able to meet emissions requirements, Also being a inline verse vee design should help in the maintainability and long term reliability of the engine.
I figure the computer/electrical/traction system would be something similar to what Boise stuck in the MK5000C's after rebuilding them for Utah Railway (before they got bastadized into SD50's) which is a mixture of the Q-tron and MK-LOC componets.
Trucks could remain the same as they are now, the modified Bloomburg design, but instead of using aftermarket EMD motors, use the larger and rugged GE752AG based MK1000 motor. Which would probily be more suited to the stress of commuter service then the EMD D87/88 ripoff would be.
Back the the 3608, the implications that could have had on EMD and GE's Tier 2 products could have been rather staggering too. "We used 8 where others used 12 or needed 16"
Oh well, hindsight is 20/20
posted by Chesapeake at 22:36
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