by Pneudyne
Something I overlooked when this thread was active was that in the early-mid 1950s, Baldwin had done some work on diesel-hydraulic locomotives. An ASME paper presented by J.S. Newton of Baldwin was summarized in the 1954 May issue of Diesel Railway Traction (DRT). This addressed some of the efficiency and utilization issues discussed above.
Here is the DRT article:
Amongst Newton’s desiderata for main-line diesel-hydraulic locomotives for operation North America were:
#8: Multiple operation with locomotives having electric transmissions is desirable.
#9: The drive should permit braking equal to the dynamic brake of the diesel-electric drive where braking power is usually greater than pulling power.
#9 was feasible and was included in the SP/DRGW prototype specifications.
#8 was not included, and here I suspect there was major resistance from the makers of hydraulic transmissions who had decided it was infeasible and perhaps also just did not like the idea. DRGW and SP proved them wrong.
Cheers,
Here is the DRT article:
Amongst Newton’s desiderata for main-line diesel-hydraulic locomotives for operation North America were:
#8: Multiple operation with locomotives having electric transmissions is desirable.
#9: The drive should permit braking equal to the dynamic brake of the diesel-electric drive where braking power is usually greater than pulling power.
#9 was feasible and was included in the SP/DRGW prototype specifications.
#8 was not included, and here I suspect there was major resistance from the makers of hydraulic transmissions who had decided it was infeasible and perhaps also just did not like the idea. DRGW and SP proved them wrong.
Cheers,