My new job!

[thecanadianrail]

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[MontanaRails]

Looks like its one of 4 made, and the only one still in operation in the US.

Kinda cool.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GMD_GMDH-1

Make a neat addition to TS2012.

[thecanadianrail]

and the only one still in operation in the US.

actualy its operating in northern alberta, canada.

[MontanaRails]

Whoops....I mean...North America!

[Csxgp38-2]

That thing screams '50s, before I even googled it I knew it was from then. :P The odd design with the "fenders" like on 50's cars, looks very "futuristic" Nice rare locomotive, didn't know such a thing existed as a GMDH-1. What does AMOCO KAYBOB mean on the number boards? Does it have no real number? What do yall call it at work then, just "the switcher?"

[mapitts]

well i can tell you this, i am about 6'10" and standing beside it the running boards are over my head! it's got twin 12 cylinder turbocharged engines, only has train and loco brakes, is fully diesel and uses gears, and someone left their drink can on top of the instrument pannel lol !

Twin 12V-71T 2 cycle Detroit w/ hydraulic transmission. The only chain drive GM produced locomotives that I know of are the 22 GA8's made of Mexico. No wonder it is in such good shape. It is kept inside! That is one of those "once in a lifetime" railfan finds. Excellent!!! Great shots as well.

[Kali]

That thing screams '50s, before I even googled it I knew it was from then. :P The odd design with the "fenders" like on 50's cars, looks very "futuristic" Nice rare locomotive, didn't know such a thing existed as a GMDH-1. What does AMOCO KAYBOB mean on the number boards? Does it have no real number? What do yall call it at work then, just "the switcher?"

AMOCO used to own it - the wikipedia page has it still owned by them.

[thecanadianrail]

was owned by amco befor enersul took over operations (which i work for), and kaybob is the plant......plant KA....guess what the k stands for? we just never got around to fixing the boards to current ownership.

this little thing "hauls butt", it can pull 1 whole string of loaded sulfur cars around the yard! (CN has a hard time with 3 good locos [usualy 3 dash9's or an sd40 in there somewhere] taking it out, the train consists of 4 strings eaquling about 100 cars on average depending if we get any sulfur tank cars in at the same time.)

[mapitts]

Remember that at a slow speed, tractive effort is what is moving it, not horsepower. To move 100 loaded cars at 5 MPH or less, 30,000 pounds of T. E. will do it on flat ground. Keeping it moving at 50 MPH is where the horsepower comes into play. As speed increases, tractive effort decreases.

[Chacal]

That's a beautiful thing. I hope someone models it.
Hurry up and take thousands of detailed pictures before it gets scrapped.
I'm puzzled by the placement of headlights vs number boards. The hood shape screams for car-like side-by-side headlights instead of number boards!

[thecanadianrail]

oh don't worry, this beauty won't get scrapped untill the engines blow up, or it becomes unreparable......right now its in almost perfict shape!

[Kali]

I have seen rough plans for one somewhere; that wouldn't help with the cab though ( hint :P ). I'd imagine what would stop it eventually is metal fatigue or lack of spares, but it's not like it lives a particularily hard life. Maybe the internals of the transmission, eventually; lots of heat cycles.

[mapitts]

I have seen rough plans for one somewhere; that wouldn't help with the cab though ( hint :P ). I'd imagine what would stop it eventually is metal fatigue or lack of spares, but it's not like it lives a particularily hard life. Maybe the internals of the transmission, eventually; lots of heat cycles.

Just as simple as a hydraulic pump coupled somehow to each engine feeding 2 hydraulic motors, 1 on each axle. Parts are everywhere for that kind of stuff. Fire would be about the only way to total it, unless I owned it. Then a meteor or something would fall on it.

[thecanadianrail]

but it's not like it lives a particularily hard life.

well actualy........sulfur is quite hard on exposed metal rusting it at 10x normal rusting speed, but we keep it well painted so there isn't too much rust.

[Csxgp38-2]

Sounds like you work for a nice company. Nice to trains, anyways.