MP36 insights

After some recent trainwatching at Canal crossing and Roosevelt bridge, I've noticed the MP36 is not only louder, but much deeper - the bass vibration coming from an MP vibrated my car and also the bridge I was standing on. F40's dont do that. Also, anybody notice how the control desk dashboard is all white? I would think that makes for unbelievable glare when operating an MP.

Side note: F40M 190 was smoking like a shot-up RS11 today.

The MP36 desktops themselves are actually black as seen in this pic. The noise level on the MP36's is nothing new as they sometimes set off touchy car alarms when leaving a station, which doesn't bother me at all. The noise is one of the reasons I love the MP36's.

How can u love something like that?

I really don't have an answer, I just do.

Now, I don't like MP36s, but I will stick up for the fact that they sound cool. Look, I have a simple answer, if you don't like how loud they are, wear earplugs, or just don't be around the engines. I'm sick of seeing you guys complain about the MP36s. Get over it. They're here and they're stayin. (Wow, did I just say that?)

Any engine running in notch 3 will sound like that. They have a deep bassey throaty sound to them. From an operational standpoint, it's better than any F40 (just the sound level).

to me they sound like a freight engine with a mile long train going up a steep hill. I used to be able to tell when a metra was coming threw town just by the sound, but i can't tell the difference with these new engines

I'm not sure any engine in Run3 sounds like that - I've been doing comparisons at the same place - Roosevelt bridge and Canal crossing, so I would figure the F40's and MP's are both in the same acceleration mode. The MP is much different. And yes, I agree, the MP is here to stay. I'm trying to start intelligent dicussion so we don't turn into the LIRR forum, which just complains about the DM30's they have.

An interesting topic - compare our MP complaints against the LIRR forum's DM30 complaints - you'd think they're the same locomotive...

I guess were lucky that all we can complain about is how they sound. On the lirr forum all they do is talk about how bad the dm30 operate

"I've been doing comparisons at the same place - Roosevelt bridge and Canal crossing, so I would figure the F40's and MP's are both in the same acceleration mode."

Be careful because you might be comparing apples to oranges by doing that. An F40 in HEP is nothing like an MP36 obviously. And you won't find that base sound when either is in notch 5 or higher (what I mean by notch is the throttle position on the control stand to make the locomotive go, there are 8 possible.) Most of the EMD engines in the 645 and 710 line whether they are freight or passenger will make that base sound in the notch 3 and 4 area.

Tadman wrote:An interesting topic - compare our MP complaints against the LIRR forum's DM30 complaints - you'd think they're the same locomotive...

At least on this forum, there are people like myself and MetraRI that actually like the MP36's, and there are a few positive posts here about them, so there is a little love. Not trying to stray too much OT, but man, there is absolutely NO love for the DM30's over at the LIRR board. I think everbody hates them there...

But back to the MP36's... I know there were a few sidelined about five months ago during the winter for various reasons which caused F40C's 611 & 614 to pinch hit for awhile. Anybody know if there have been anymore MP's sidelined since then, or have they all been more or less operational?

As far as I know, no major MP36 problems have occurred since the F40C's ventured out in January. 407, which was on MILW, recently came to RI. So either something went to MILW to take 407's place, or MILW no longer needed the extra power.

102 was the only F40 I saw on RI today. I might have seen 103 or 104 at 47th Street, but 409 caught my attention.

Ok, lets see when we get snow and see whats going to save the mps.Thats right 611 and 614 once again.

When you have an 40PH in HEP, it is equal to an SD40-2 in run 8. When you have an MP36 in HEP it is equal to any modern EMD engine in notch 3...Yes, the MP36's can really make a heck of a lot of noise in run 8, but it is really not that much different from an F40PH...I mean yes there are small sound differences which are to be expected, but if you listened to an MP36 in run 7 or 8 you'd hear the similarities. I've noticed that the MP36's go up to a higher RPM when in run 8, no getting around that one...So yes in that respect they are louder in full throttle then any F40PH...But when an MP36 is in HEP one day and you hear an F40PH in HEP the next I'm confident that you'd realize some key differences. We've gotta realize the difference between base and overall engine loudness. The base does vibrate a heck of a lot more then an F40PH does, but put that aside and you pretty much have an EMD in runn 3...Which would you rather walk passed: An F40PHH in full RPM run 8 or a quieter MP36 with some base? Your choice.

If I recall, an MP is basically a 50-series EMD made by MotivePower - and again, if I recall, the 50-series boosted redline over the 40-series by about 500 rpm, and this was the major 50-series problem - a new redline caused new harmonic vibrations, and the bolts on the locomotive rattled to bits - fact or fiction for the MP? Also, could the much lower basso profundo sound coming from the MP be a result of this different operating range? I would guess not because a higher RPM results in higher pitch from the engine.