Railworks America

A new entry into the hybrid locomotive works is the EMD Joule.
Story here from Railway Age: https://www.railwayage.com/mechanical/l ... emd-joule/
Trains Magazine: https://www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews ... comotives/

I wonder what the charging time is on this beast. We successfully used electric fork lifts for years at my old work but at the end of the day due to down time for charging and the cost of battery replacement we ended up with propane powered fork lifts as a better lower cost solution.

buzz456 wrote:I wonder what the charging time is on this beast. We successfully used electric fork lifts for years at my old work but at the end of the day due to down time for charging and the cost of battery replacement we ended up with propane powered fork lifts as a better lower cost solution.

Hybridization battery technology today is way beyond what most of us take for granted. What is being developed is even better. It is a combination of not only battery design but the associated software to manage. Us old duffs, really do not have the grasp of today's hybrid technology. I retired as a General Motors master mechanic and repaired electric vehicles, but the advancements in the technology in the last few years have been amazing. It's human nature that the older we get the more we want to hang on to things we are familiar with and resist change. But it is coming and high balling into the present.

As a retired (sort of) engineer (not the railroad kind) I like all of the facts. Facts are a stubborn thing not just what feels good or even looks good. I spent my entire career embracing technology advances but only when they made sense. My chief engineer and I always joked that our efforts were one step beyond the leading edge. However looking at some of these lithium mines, the disposal issues, and last but not least where the electricity comes from begs many questions at least to my mind.

buzz456 wrote:As a retired (sort of) engineer (not the railroad kind) I like all of the facts. Facts are a stubborn thing not just what feels good or even looks good. I spent my entire career embracing technology advances but only when they made sense. My chief engineer and I always joked that our efforts were one step beyond the leading edge. However looking at some of these lithium mines, the disposal issues, and last but not least where the electricity comes from begs many questions at least to my mind.

The ecological issues of the materials for batteries is of big concern. A lot of the raw materials come from countries with less than stellar environmental safeguards. Also the decommissioning of batteries and recycling is another issue. Who pays the cost? Will it be like some electronics, a surcharge added to the purchase price for when it is ultimately recycled? A lot of this stuff is already being sent off shore for disposal/recycle. It seems that it is a "we'll figure it out when we get there" attitude or most likely, "shush, don't say anything or it will harm the narrative". It hasn't been in the forefront of any discussions on EV/Hybrid discussions.
As a side note; Some discussion that wind, and solar will not be enough for all this countries needs and this is sparking the need for nuclear power (not entirely green).

The one for Pacific Harbor Line looks like it's built to European, if not UK, loading gauge; and 20 tons per axle, which again sounds more Euro/UK (it doesn't say what kind of tons, and otherwise seems to use metric units).

Does PHL have lighter track and smaller loading gauge than most of the US?

A good thing about locomotives, compared to cars, is that you don't mind if batteries are heavy, actually you NEED weight.