| Posted by Dan I. on November 24, 2021 | |
During my career as a long distance truck driver now retired, I hauled quite of number of these traction motors including prime movers (as pictured to the right of the photo) to quite a number different railroads including Union Pacific. I'm no professional engineer by any means, but I do not see how those traction motors on a locomotive can pull or push all that weight of a train. Even the weight of the prime mover itself is a very heavy load especially when you have two of them on a flatbed trailer. My old 237-HP Mack knew it too with pure black diesel smoke belching out the exhaust pipe especially when starting out in first gear and when pulling hills and mountains. The prime movers themselves are very large diesel engines. I really never knew what company built them. Anybody out there in railfan-land know? All I know they were dropped off at the trucking company I worked to finish the delivery. Same holds true with the traction motors. Anybody know?
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To Mr. Dan I,
The electrical force applied to the traction motors you see here is very powerful, one of the basic powers of our universe along with gravity and nuclear and probably others that I don't know of, I'm not a engineer or physicist either, ( aircraft structures mechanic). That allows these motors to apply immense power and torque. General Electric was one manufacturer of these motors and there are probably others. The diesel engines on the majority of locomotives made in the recent past were manufactured by either EMD (Electro-Motive Division) of General Motors, now a part of Progressive Rail, which is in it self a part of Caterpillar Corporation. Or, General Electric, which is now owed by a corporation named Wabtec. If you look these up on the web, you will probably find a wealth of info on this topic.
You mention you drove a Mack. What series was it? A B model or R model or maybe some other? I've always been interested in the Mack trucks line.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and all others!
Gregory
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