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| Re: my father is a GG1 fan ( prr 30s to 55' ) (583143) | |||
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Re: my father is a GG1 fan ( prr 30s to 55' ) |
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Posted by WillD on Sat Mar 8 16:31:29 2008, in response to Re: my father is a GG1 fan ( prr 30s to 55' ), posted by JournalSquare-K-Car on Sat Mar 8 15:23:35 2008. the AEM7s were built by EMD.Sure, from an ASEA design using components from Sweden, Austria and Budd carbodies. Despite their assembly in LaGrange they are a European design, based on the Swedish Rc4 locomotive, which enjoyed widespread export sales success. Not to mention AEM-7s are far lighter, which puts less stress on trucks and rails. I won't argue that their light weight is an improvement over the GG-1s to an extent. He can be taught! That said, they are puppied, and many were remanufactured ten years ago, 20 years after the first started to arrive. They didn't go through anything like the GG-1s did. The GG1s were rebuilt what, 15 years after they arrived and were taken out by a snowstorm? Welded rails have been around for a while now, and the NEC has had it for probably 25 years. Try 10 to 15 years tops. I was out here in 1996 and remember seeing bolted rail on parts of the NEC. Also, you may be confusing the ALP-44s with the AEM-7s. They're functionally the same locomotive. Had Amtrak ordered a "AEM7" in the late 1980s after the 950s came in they would have recieved an ALP44-like locomotive. The Rc5, '6, and '7 all use the same basic design as the ALP44, and they're descended from the Rc4, just like the AEM7. The big difference between the two was that because the ALP44 used no federal funding it could be assembled completely in Sweden from components made in Austria and Sweden. The AEM7, because it was an Amtrak locomotive being purchased with federal funds, had to have 51% of the work done here, hence EMD and Budd doing the assembly and carbody work. Other than that the only difference is the 100mph limit Amtrak placed on the ALP44s, which mostly exists because NJT just doesn't care to have it removed. |
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