Politics and General Electric Locomotives:

General Electric is the parent company of NBC, and a clear supporter of Mr Barack Obama during his campaign, with a $499,130.00 donation -- half a million dollars.

In return, according to numerous sources (CNSNews.com as well):

(CNSNews.com) - The Obama administration gave corporate giant General Electric—the parent company of NBC--$24.9 million in grants from the $787-billion economic “stimulus” law President Barack Obama signed in February 2009, according to records posted by the administration at Recovery.gov.

At first blush, one might suspect this was done in order to, in its best light, help GE create jobs and extend its manufacturing prowess.

The truth is much more disillusioning:

Despite getting $24.9 million from U.S. taxpayers, GE decreased its U.S.-based employees by 18,000 in 2009, according to the company’s 2009 annual report.

Despite receiving governmental -- actually, taxpayer -- dollars, GE chose to lay off or fire employees.

Though:

According to Standard & Poor's, GE took in $156 billion in revenue in 2009.

Yet:

GE was the primary recipient of 14 stimulus grants, a spokeswoman for Recovery.gov confirmed to CNSNews.com. These 14 grants provided GE with $24.9 million in tax dollars. On four additional stimulus grants, the primary recipient of the federal money hired GE as a contractor. Recovery.gov is the administration’s website that tracks stimulus expenditures.

At the end of 2008, GE employed 152,000 U.S. workers, according to its 2009 annual report. But at the end of 2009, according to the report, it employed only 134,000 U.S. workers, a decline of 18,000 workers.

The Energy Department provided GE with 9 stimulus grants, the Department of Health and Human Services provided the company with 3, and the Justice Department and the Commerce Department each gave the company 1 stimulus grant.

Finally:

In addition to the $24.9 million it received in stimulus grants, GE was also awarded $5 million in federal contracts under the economic stimulus law. These contracts were payment for services provided by the company.

As you likely already know, there are only two major American locomotive builders. One is GE, and the other is EMD.

EMD was the number one seller of diesel-electric locomotives until 1989, when GE then became the largest builder of locomotives in the United States.

EMD was purchased from General Motors in 2005 by the Greenbriar Equity Group LLC and Berkshire Partners LLC. They decided to retain the initials EMD -- for purposes of familiarity -- which then stood for Electro Motive Diesel. My brother could have purchased this entire company for its "secret" selling price of $200 million in 2005.

This, you must note, was prior to GM being floated by the US government and becoming Government Motors.

EMD was recently sold to Caterpillar's Progress Rail Services unit for $820 million dollars.

GM received stimulus dollars. EMD clearly did not.

An "even" playing field for our major locomotive builders, ladies and gentlemen?

I submit: not.

MP154

At Eyeball Level: The New & The Old

Now that I've discovered how to upload my quirky Flip Slide videos to YouTube, I'd care to display another if I might:



In this video, UP 7640 East charges up The Hill from Roseville towards Donner Pass, directly under Interstate 80, at about the 3,500-foot level.

UP 7640 is a GE C45ACCTE manufactured between 2007 and 2008, boasting 4,400 hp. UP currently possesses 325 of these units.

Second in line is an older Southern Pacific GE unit, #6221, still wearing its faded SP paint with red nose.

UP 6221 is a C44AC with 4,390 hp, purchased in 1995 by the Southern Pacific. It is one of 167 GE units that UP has, once owned by SP. These GE units were the last locomotives ever purchased, as a matter of fact, by the Southern Pacific. Most still have their SP paint with red cab numbers over rectangles of armour-yellow paint.

Finally, UP 7089 runs in rear DPU status -- 7089 being one of only two GE C44AC locomotives purchased in 1997, with 4,390 hp.

At this point, you are eye-level with the engineer and about five feet from 8,000 horsepower as it passes by at 25 mph.

I can't think of another spot -- unless you're in the cab -- where you can get as close to a moving set of locomotives running at track speed.

____________________________________________

NOTE: Union Pacific's steam locomotive #844, its Alco 4-8-4 FEF-3 locomotive, is currently on a Pacific Northwest Tour:

Omaha, Neb., September 02, 2010 – Bound for the rugged western U.S., a land of endless possibility that the railroad united with the east in 1869, Union Pacific Railroad's historic steam locomotive, No. 844, will travel more than 2,300 miles from its base in Wyoming on a 15-day, three-state tour to the Pacific Northwest to celebrate Union Pacific's role in the building of the western United States.

The "Portland Rose Heritage Tour" will begin September 8 when No. 844 departs Cheyenne, Wyo. The locomotive will make several overnight stops in cities in the region with an extended four-night layover in No. 844's first-ever appearance at the Pendleton Round-Up in Pendleton, Ore. The historic consist will stop in each of the following cities before arriving back in Cheyenne September 23:

• Laramie, Rawlins, Rock Springs and Green River, Wyo.;
• Montpelier, Pocatello, Shoshone, Boise and Nampa, Idaho;
• Huntington, La Grande, Hinkle, The Dalles, Portland and Pendleton, Ore.

If you live in the above areas, heads-up: live steam approacheth!

Thanks for stopping by and reading!

MP154

P.S.
Another video of the UP7640/6221 combination is coming, in which I document yet another train meet -- grain train vs double-stack.

MP 154 Revelation: I Can Post Videos

I likely belabor the obvious when writing this, but I am far from competent in the land of technology. If it weren't for the fact that Blogger makes blog creation almost painfully easy -- even I have created a few -- this and some other small points in the Blogosphere would not exist.

That written, I learned how to create small videos and then, the past day, learned how to upload them to YouTube. Surely that is a remarkably easy feat for yourself but a massive step ahead for the CCBIs (Computer-Challenged Blithering Idiots) like myself.

I am not new to shooting video; I've had a Sony DCR-VX2000 since 2002 and possess many hours of trackside video in MiniDV. That camera has taught me much about tilting, panning, framing, white balance, and possession of a proper tripod with fluid head. Now, with all that footage, I need an editing system and a computer with the horsepower to pull it off.

The breakthrough for me came with my purchase of the Flip Slide. This is an HD-compatible videocam about the size of an elongated pack of cigarettes. Its convenience is also its greatest drawback. In my sixth decade of life I don't "hold" quite like I used to when I was freelancing in my early 20s. It's damned tough for me to keep the Flip still, particularly when shooting where there is nothing on which I can lean.

One final bit about the Flip Slide: I don't yet have an HD TV at home, so I played the various Flip videos on an HD unit at work; I was absolutely stunned by the resolution, clarity and color saturation. Unfortunately, it also emphasized the point that my videos resemble those of the guy that shot Cloverfield.

My first video uploaded to YouTube, up to bat:



The video was taken during the making of this post. I am standing next to UP 5652, a GE C44ACCTE locomotive, as its 4,390-hp engine idles.

There is, I must admit, nothing like standing next to a four-stroke diesel locomotive engine, even as it idles. You can literally feel your lungs vibrate. Every few moments there is a throttle blip which helps to keep the engine clear. The first hiss you hear is the air tank (for the braking system) venting to keep from overpressurization. The second, shorter hiss is the air dryer venting.

For those who may not know, air dryers are installed on all GE and EMD locomotives. Any time you compress air (required for a locomotive's braking system as well as those of the trailing train cars), you get condensation. Air dryers remove all condensation before air is introduced into any air lines on the locomotive or the brake pipes of an adjoining train. Absent completely dry air in the pipes, the lines, fittings and connectors would start to rust. Air dryers then vent this condensation, under pressure, to the outside atmosphere.

When playing the video, turn up your speakers. If you can adjust bass, do so. You might then begin to approximate what it is that I heard during the recording.

Enjoy. More videos to come. Please let me know your thoughts and opinions.

MP154

EMD Purchased By Caterpillar

There were, at one time, quite a number of locomotive builders in America, when both steam and diesel power was extant.

American steam builders included Alco (American Locomotive Company), Baldwin, Lima and, to a small degree, HK/Porter and Brooks. Once steam declined, two major diesel-electric builders remained standing: GE (General Electric) and EMD (Electro Motive Division of GM, General Motors).

EMD was the number one seller of diesel-electric locomotives until 1989, when GE then became the largest builder of locomotives in the United States. The reasons for this are sufficiently voluminous and detailed as to warrant an entirely separate post one day.

EMD was purchased from GM in 2005 by the Greenbriar Equity Group LLC and Berkshire Partners LLC. They decided to retain the initials EMD -- for purposes of familiarity -- which now stood for Electro Motive Diesel.

EMD was recently sold to Caterpillar's Progress Rail Services unit. The deal was finalized this month, in August. From The Journal of Commerce:

The purchase was for $820 million in cash, Caterpillar said, plus a “net working capital adjustment subject to post-closing finalization” that it estimates at about $108 million.

In a deal Caterpillar first announced on June 1, it purchased EMD from private equity fund owners Berkshire Partners and Greenbriar Equity Group, which had bought it in 2005 from General Motors.

Berkshire Partners is not related to Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, which owns BNSF Railway.

Caterpillar Vice Chairman and CEO Doug Oberhelman said “the acquisition of EMD is a natural fit, as it supports our enterprise strategy to aggressively grow our Energy Power Systems business, and the rail industry is an important component.”

The company says EMD can also further boost Progress Rail, which is already a major supplier of rail and transit products and services including locomotive repairs and upgrades, railcar replacement and remanufacturing, track work, rail welding, signaling and maintenance of way equipment.

EMD and GE Transportation supply North American freight railroads with their powerful line-haul locomotives along with a number of smaller-powered yard units.

Neither has been selling many new locomotives on this continent in recent years after the freight recession led railroads to lay up hundreds of units from their fleets, but a major governmental push to inter-city passenger rail in the U.S. and overseas is offering new market opportunities for many rail equipment suppliers.

Though EMD hasn't built its SD90MAC-H in years and, in fact, most of the H-engined 6,300-hp units have been scrapped (more on this in a later post), it is rumored that Caterpillar wanted to acquire all the rights and blueprints to the base 265H-engine itself.


It is interesting to note that Caterpillar did in fact provide prime movers for diesel-electric locomotives at one time, when the Morrison Knudson MK5000C locomotive was introduced in 1994. The MK5000C was powered by the 3612 V-12 Caterpillar block. Each cylinder of this engine displaced a massive 1,121 cubic inches.

A total of six MK5000C locomotives were produced. They had 5,300-gallon tanks and a maximum geared speed of 70 mph. The Cat 3612 engines, however, had problems which resulted in Southern Pacific and Union Pacific returning their demonstrator locomotives back to MK. Issues were with the main bearings and with the Kato alternators.


However, it is in direct response to the MK5000C locomotive that GE produced its AC6000CW and EMD responded with, first, the 20-cylinder SD80MAC at 5,000 hp and then the SD90MAC-H.

The Utah Railway purchased all six units but ended up yanking the Kato alternators and Cat engines, replacing them with EMD alternators and prime movers.

With the purchase of EMD, Caterpillar is deep into the locomotive game and may use EMD's diesel engine expertise to upgrade their own engine skills.

It's time for EMD to become a strong and competent locomotive manufacturer once again.

MP154

Inside a GE C44ACCTE Locomotive

I swore that I would never reveal information and circumstances surrounding my acquisition into various locomotive cabs I have encountered in my journeys.

With that in mind, I happened to have been invited into a DPU cab, within the past few months, after the train stalled in the mountains on the Roseville Subdivision.

As opposed to EMD locomotives, GE units have exhaust stacks (above) that extend above the roof of the engine room, one clear method of differentiation between manufacturers.

An overall view of the same engine room -- with clear signs of an engine room fire. For whatever reason, GE engines have had more engine room fires than EMD units. Also, GE units from the mid-to-late 90s ran rich and, upon throttle-up, would occasionally belch fire from their stacks. Was it a two-stroke v four-stroke issue? Some theorized it was an initial software problem.

Detail of the engine room fire. Note blistering, dripping, subsumation of colors from high heat. Engine repaired. Not so much the engine room doors.

Interior, GE 5652, view from the engineer's seat. Computer bank on left (two monitors were "dead" because of DPU status), with desktop controls on right. In trailing units or DPUs, reverser levers are removed.

Closer view, DPU. GE unit ahead. Through Milepost 148. Train is moving and not yet completely stalled. Conductor came to check DPUs for their status. UP 7095, shall we say, is not doing very well at this point.

A desktop control stand, with computers frozen because of DPU status. Reverser removed. Top left square controls are for lead axle sanding. ON left, OFF right. Lower square blue buttons are for that unit's manual sanding. ON top, OFF bottom. Yellow square is the bell button. Horn is a yellow button below that. Conductor has his own square yellow horn control, lower right below desk. Missing control is reverser; forward for same, back for reverse. Black round handle is the throttle.

Reverser removed; throttle in idle. Train in full release. There are 8 "notches" for the throttle. To increase the throttle, it is pulled towards engineer. From idle (current position), there are also 8 notches (pushed away from engineer) for dynamic braking. Red (up) and black (down) handles on the right control braking. Brakes are applied by pushing away from engineer; brakes are released by pulling towards engineer. Train brakes are on left; independent locomotive brakes are on the right.

View out engineer-side door, looking to rear. There is no door on the conductor's side on any American freight engine comfort cabs. Earlier non-M cab EMD SD-40/50/60 locomotives, and early GEs, had main entry door on conductor (left) side.

Conductor side of cab, with speedometer (left) and red Emergency Brake handle (right). Up is applied, down is released. Also includes convenient desktop surface. Horn button on lower right. Refrigerator behind Conductor and to the rear of seat. Seat closest to camera is for third occupant. May be for trainee or rider or unanticipated third. Locomotive camera can be see on metal stalk to upper right of photograph. Cameras are now in every cab of every locomotive in America and are on when locomotive is active.

Looking over the downhill track from the Conductor's left seat.

Engineer's position. Seats in locomotives are heavy vinyl and "industrial strength." Rear access cab door to right. This unit, UP 5652, is one of 141 General Electric C44ACCTE units with 4,390 hp manufactured in 2004. You can clearly see that, in just six years, this unit has seen some heavy use resulting in a grimy interior smattered with grime and more grime. Even when moving, the cab was remarkably quiet. In idle, the engine could be felt more than heard.

This is my first attempted posting with a video from my new Flip SlideHD cam. Even with a faster connection from my wife's internet access, I couldn't post more than a few seconds from this camera. I caught many excellent videos from my cab visit which, apparently, I can't upload directly to Blogger.

Please let me know if you can see this video. Blogger indicates it has completely loaded; I'm not quite so convinced.

MP154

Steam Inside The Cab:

UP 3985, the Challenger:

MP154

Westbound Double Stack Through Colfax

Whilst, any more, double-stack traffic over Donner is not quite the stunning rage it was since November of 2009 -- there were two unique aspects of this train worthy of documentation.

To begin, these were the very first photos taken with my new Nikon Coolpix P100. Therefore, antsy to use the camera, I rushed to photograph the first train I found. And this was it. [More about this and other cameras I utilize in a later post.]

Second, I noticed one of the trailing DPUs was occupied. Look at photo # 7, the close-up of UP 7894, and you can see someone sitting in the conductor's position. I have, to this point, never seen an occupied helper/pusher/DPU set in close to ten years. [Click on each photo to enlarge.]

It's also interesting to note that this train had only one unit on point. UP 8421, an EMD SD70ACe with 4,300 hp, powered by Electro Motive Diesel's 16-710G3C-T2 engine. That engine designation indicates 16-cylinders, with each cylinder displacing 710 cubic inches.

Finally, as you can see, there were two DPUs at the end, UP 7894 (GE ES44AC) and UP 6053 (GE C44ACCTE).

Coming soon: notes about cameras, digital photography and shooting philosophies.

MP154