On Saturday 30 August 2003 21:19, Paul Johnson wrote: > On Sat, Aug 30, 2003 at 01:44:43AM +0200, Arnt Karlsen wrote: > > ..2 reason diesel-electric locomotives are popular; they are > > about as clean as your average power utility, and they dont > > put heavy loads on the power grids. > > Nope, and nope. Diesel electrics are popular because they give the > most bang for the buck. Vastly more efficient than gasoline engines > and mechanical transmissions (it's 2003, why can't I get a diesel > electric car?, with fewer moving parts than the steam engines it > replaced. This makes them dirt cheap and bloody reliable.
Not quite so. When diesels were introduced they cost several times as much as a steam loco of equivalent power. They have far more moving parts, though smaller, and the 'electric' part of the installation gave trouble for many years. Maybe they've found more reliability now. They require far more sophisticated servicing than a steam loco. Where they score is in far greater 'availability'. Minimal wasted time on start-up or 'disposal'. Plus the ability to run them in multi-unit. This, and the saving of labour in day-to-day preparation, is what appeals to the bean counters. In heavy-traffic areas, of course, electrics give much more bang provided the traffic justifies the bucks for eletrification. Also for high speed trains. cr -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
