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pioneers in experimentation with Diesel-elec- tric locomotives for railroad service. was a 1,000-hp. machine built in the year 1925. It was the result of extensive research and experimentation looking toward sim- plicity and reliability, and was the largest Diesel-electric which had been attempted in the United States up to that time. The prime mover was a solid-injection, two- cycle engine of the Knudson type, of peculiar construction and very light weight. It was a 12-cylinder, inverted "V" engine with twin crankshafts geared to a central shaft on which was mounted the electric generator. The electrical equipment was of Westing- house manufacture with electro-pneumatic and magnetic controlling mechanism arranged for double-end operation. The locomotive, bearing Baldwin con- struction number 58,501, weighed 275,500 pounds and was carried on two six-wheeled trucks having traction motors applied to four of the six axles. The weight on driving wheels was 180,000 pounds and the starting tractive force 52,200 pounds. Extensive tests in the yard of the Baldwin plant and on the tracks of adjacent railroads, added data which proved of value in the build- ing of subsequent locomotives. 61,000, was completed in the spring of 1929. This was a 1,000-hp. locomotive of the 0-4-4-0 |
wheel arrangement with two articulated trucks. It was designed for switching service, and for a maximum speed of 25 m.p.h. The total weight of 270,000 pounds was available for adhesion, as all four pairs of wheels were drivers. The truck frames were of cast-steel bar type construction with steel crossties, similar to the frames used in steam locomotive practice. Couplers and draft gears were carried on the outer end of each truck and the inner ends were jointed together by means of buffers and a drawbar, thus forming an articulated joint. With this arrangement the shocks of switch- ing were taken entirely by the truck frames and drawbar, relieving the cab and its under- frame of these strains. The cab underframe was a steel casting, 44 feet in length, upon which were mounted the steel cab and the power plant. An operators compartment was provided at each end of the cab, separated from the engine compartment but having access to it by means of a door. The necessary water and oil radiators with their fans were mounted in the top part of the cab structure. The power plant of number 61,000 con- sisted of a Krupp, four-cycle, six-cylinder, solid-injection Diesel engine coupled to a Westinghouse railway type generator. Four Westinghouse electric motors, one on each axle, transmitted power to the driving wheels. Extensive tests were conducted with this lo- comotive on some six major railroads, and in heavy open-pit mining service. Trains rang- ing from 2,000 to 4,500 tons were handled in severe switching service. by Baldwin for stock. Some years earlier, |
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