Aah, nothing but 6600 units of raw horsepower, consuming miles of track as it singlehandedly pulls a string of 9 passenger cars, including a heavy dome lounger. This is light work for a DDA40X. Like some of the cars made around the time this locomotive was built (1969-1971), it has lots of muscle. These 236-ton monsters were (and 1 still is) the "muscle cars" of the rails.
She sure is a mean machine and she does move mighty fast union Pacific 6936 but I do enjoy the show and I would want to see it again and again thank you
Unbelievable!!! The last of the Mohicans!!! Although the stories are different this reminds me of once great tribes. Its very petty that now all they are history. For its 38 years this unit is in pretty much good shape. From 2:24 it was accelerating most of the time! I wish I could see alive that monster piece of engineering. Great video!
Fantastic...I can listen to those Turbo EMDs for hours and hours !! My opinion they are the best sounding Diesel Engine ever. BTW: I'm a fan of the Pacing Videos
@MrZkr123 i think the D-D drivetrain (two 4-axle wheelsets) that they have was causing excessive track wear and flange wear, so were getting through wheels faster than the locomotives using C-C driveline set ups (C-C being two 3-axle wheelsets)
Now, I can see that theory being true. It was the same for most or all steam locomotives with rigid wheelbases. GG1 locomotives had that trouble, despite having a frame articulated in the center, and a swivel guide truck in the front. In addition to wearing out wheel flanges and railroad track prematurely, mainframes tended to crack, particularly in the winter when the metal got brittle in the cold. All these tended to fight curves. The C-C heavy freight setup (three-axle trucks) and the B-B passenger, light freight, and switcher setup (two-axle trucks) are the ones most commonly used today because their tracking qualities are more forgiving.
You mean what's so special about this engine? It is "the most powerful single-unit diesel locomotive type ever built. It is also the longest single-unit diesel locomotive ever built.[1]" Source wikipedia
I agree with clay 4916, theres many great locos out there, but if I had to pick the top for both steam and diesel, the UP Big Boy and the DD40X would be hard to knock out of first place. Each was 16 wheel drive, I think the big boy was around six thous. horsepower or so, and far as I know the DD40 was at least 6,600 hp - Im not informed on the 7000 hp version, but why not, add a couple more turbos and there ya are-!lol Ive seen the Big Boy and have tapes of it running- man what a beast-!!!
I've always enjoyed the sound of the EMD's. I dont mind running AC4400's but if I had a choice I would take a EMD any time. They work on command (we alway's say with the GE's you ask them) and are great to run.
@jadog31 It's not an M5 or a K5LA, it is a K3. The factory horn that is usually installed is a RS5T or S5T. the Western Pacific Historical Museum puts their M5 on when it's out in Portola.
UP should have Restored it to it's original power that the "First" DDA40X was, 7,000HP! I don't know why they didn't since this is the only one in operation.
@Xantec this would have probably been a very good candidate for a radial truck, even a 4 axle one. But I can't see how the wheel and track wear could have been much worse than the steam days, the drivers on those had a much longer wheel base and they were solid.
The Nathan K3 horn is not bad, but a 5 chimer is more befitting of a giant like this. Those turbocharges also sound sweet when the engineer throttles up.
@414pwz - ever since the Big Boy, Union Pacific was all about building big locos rather than double heading. With diesels, where multiple-unit does not mean extra crew, I guess they just couldn't break the habit.
They welded (figuratively) two SD40s together to produce this gem. Unfortunately it cannot navigate corners well and tore up the tracks in the mountains. You would be seeing any more 8 axle locomotives soon.
An amazing thing happened at around the time these centennials were being built: Locotrol. Instead of having all your power being at the front, you can station locomotives anywhere within the train. I've seen (as has everyone else waiting at a railroad crossing for a super long train to pass) trains with split consists--three in front, two in the middle, and at least one bringing up the rear. You can have blocks of over 170,000 horsepower being controlled by just one lead locomotive.
I do not know how well a Deltic accelerates, but this locomotive is NOT geared for 70 MPH and NEVER was, but is geared for 90 MPH. With ease (though there would be no reason to), it could be geared for 103 or 110 MPH like the Amtrak F40PHs were. I have run the locomotive, and it will outperform two Amtrak F40PHs (and two Amtrak P42DC GEs) on a similarly-sized train with regard to raw, sizzling acceleration. It's a bit rough-riding, but it is one hell of s speedster-even better than the UP E9s.
why don't they put them back into service on the stack trains they seem fast and its a light freight for them to pull nothing heavy even though they are they most powerful engines in the world
