Train of the Week

The C38AChe, designated as the NJ2 by the Chinese National Railways , is a diesel-electric locomotive built by General Electric in Erie, PA for the Qinghai-Tibet Railway . It is designed to maintain power in a high altitude environment where there is a lack of oxygen, which is vital for combustion to occur in an internal combustion engine. The C38AChe has a full car body design with cab on only one end (European and Asian locomotives most often have 2 cabs on either end). The prime mover of the C38AChe a 16 cylinder 7FDL also found in the Dash 9 and Genesis locomotives. However, unlike the domestic GE locomotives, the C38AChe is equipped with 3 axle trucks manufactured by the United Group of Australia instead of GE’s own trucks. The locomotive produces 4,400 hp at sea-level and 3,620 hp at 16,600 ft. above sea-level. It has a maximum starting tractive effort of 120,000 lbf and a top speed of 75 mph.

The new AE Series (to distinguish from the original AE Series from 1972) is an express EMU operated by the Keisei Electric Railway of Greater Tokyo Area (pop. 34.6 million). It is the designated equipment for the new Skyliner Service on the newly opened 32-mile Narita Sky Access Line in July 2010. The Skyliner offers travellers a third choice in railway connection between Central Tokyo and Narita International Airport aside from the existing Keisei Cityliner on the local line and JR Narita Express . Unlike the JR lines, the Narita Sky Access Line uses the standard 4 ft 8.5 in instead of the 3.5 ft gauge. The exterior of the new AE Series is designed by Japanese fashion designer Kansai Yamamoto; the musical horn (not uncommon for Japanese express trains) and announcement chime were done by famous Japanese keyboardist Minoru Mikaiya. Six of the eight cars, all equipped with bolsterless bogies, in a AE Series consist are powered by twenty-four 235 hp three-phase AC traction mot...

The TGV postal are specially built push-pull high-speed trains for La Poste of France between 1978 and 1986 by GEC-Alsthom . They are based on the first generation production TGV-PSE and have mechanically identical power cars. Like the other Alstom high-speed trains, the TGV postal are articulated trains with Jacobs bogies between non-powered carriages. The total power output of the trainset is 6,800 kW (9,100 hp) and it is scheduled to travel at a maximum speed of 270 km/h (168 mph). Five half-sets (2 full trainsets of 2 power cars with 8 carriages and a spare half-set) were originally built with two more half-sets converted from TGV-PSE No. 38. Currently the TGV postal run 6 round trips a day.

The AC6000CW is a diesel electric locomotive built by GE Transportation in the 1990s to compete with Electro Motive in the 6,000 horsepower range. The locomotive is essentially an elongated AC4400CW (to 76 ft.) to accommodate a larger radiator in order to cool its 6,250 hp (4,660 kW) engine. The visibly larger radiator of the AC6000CW To achieve 6,250 hp, the existing 7FDL engine was deemed insufficient and a new one had to be built. This resulted in the form of the 7HDL, co-developed by GE and German firm Deutz Power Systems . However, similar to the story of the EMD 265 engine for the SD90MAC , the 7HDL was not ready to be delivered with the AC6000 and the 4,390 hp 7FDL was fitted to the units (UP designated them AC4460CW) with the option of swapping in the 7HDL once the engine was ready. Today AC6000CW and AC4460CW happily coexist although some 6000s are being converted to 4460s. GE is also performing engine upgrade on some AC6000CWs with the 6,000 hp 16 cylinder Evoluti...