How do you know what type a diesel loco is?

I here people say, "I saw this odd consist being pulled by a SD80-MAC" or "This Dash8 was stopped on the crossing" How do they know? What guides are they? I can barely tell if an engine is a GE or a GM!Thanks!
METRAUP

Chicago-Geneva Metra Line

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

RE: How do you know what type a diesel loco is?, SVTS, May-02-03, 06:29 PM, (1) RE: How do you know what type a diesel loco is?, deejay1020, May-02-03, 06:58 PM, (2) RE: How do you know what type a diesel loco is?, FireDragonLightning, May-02-03, 09:42 PM, (3) RE: How do you know what type a diesel loco is?, deejay1020, May-03-03, 05:52 PM, (9) RE: How do you know what type a diesel loco is?, jlucero4, May-03-03, 05:31 PM, (8) RE: How do you know what type a diesel loco is?, geekman, May-02-03, 10:38 PM, (4) RE: How do you know what type a diesel loco is?, IcyFire, May-02-03, 11:16 PM, (5) RE: How do you know what type a diesel loco is?, Swissie, May-03-03, 02:53 PM, (6) RE: How do you know what type a diesel loco is?, JohnNetzlof, May-03-03, 03:08 PM, (7) RE: How do you know what type a diesel loco is?, heffed, May-04-03, 01:12 PM, (12) RE: How do you know what type a diesel loco is?, ssw, May-03-03, 06:39 PM, (10) RE: How do you know what type a diesel loco is?, Swissie, May-04-03, 12:55 PM, (11)

Conferences | Topics | Previous Topic | Next Topic

All you have to do is look in the files section here....each engine has a unique look to it, although the SD 60/70/80's are near similar. I've learned most of my locomotives by my downloads, as hard as that may be to beleive, you can learn a lot by following that train in view #2.

Chris Bogley
chrisb@tailsnrails.com
Ft. Huachuca AZ

www.msnusers.com/Tehachapi

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

Myself, I've been interested in railroads so long it comes naturally when I look at a locomotive. The number of hood access doors, the radiator grills, cooling grills on AC locomotives above the front truck, the number of exhaust stacks and fans on the roof, each locomotive has a particular look to it that distinguishes it from others. You just have to know what to look for. I used to have a problem telling the difference between the many different variations of GE locomotives (EMDs never gave me trouble). So, I purchased the book Field Guide to Modern Diesel Locomotives which will tell you EVERYTHING you want to know about any of the modern diesels out there today. It even tells you what to look for to identify the locomotives. After that, I haven't had a problem identifying the various GEs when they roll by. It's a great source of information. I recommend it highly. You can pick it up at most book stores, or just go to Pentrex or something and pick it up online.
Regards,
Dan Zollner - 3DTrains
http://www.3dtrains.com

Pro Series Geeps

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

So It will tell me the difference between a GP9 and a GP 38?
Then i'll need to buy it lol...does it have ALL modern locos in it, even SD90MACS?Jay http://www.freewebs.com/peterbiltsrule "Bring in the workers and bring in the rails, We got to lay down the track and tear up the trails"

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

The particular book I mentioned won't tell you the difference between a GP9 and a GP38. It doesn't include either in it's contents. It DOES have the GP38-2 included, which is considered a modern diesel. The GP9 and GP38 are considered to be first and second generation diesels and, therefore, aren't included in the book. And it does have every modern diesel locomotive indluded in it, like the SD90MAC and the C60AC. It also has the variants of those models as well. It's a great resource. I haven't found a better one yet, but some of the others listed below in this thread come close. This book just has a bit more information per type than the others do, including noticeable characteristics and a fairly complete background on each type of loco. Well worth the money spent.
Regards,
Dan Zollner - 3DTrains
http://www.3dtrains.com

Pro Series Geeps

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

I'll second the reccomendation for that field guide by Greg McDonnell. It is an excellent resource. Before I got the book, I had no idea there were any external differences between an AC4400 and a Dash 9. www.railroadbookstore.com is an excellent resource to find this and many other railroad books.Jordan

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

David,May I suggest a couple things?
#1. Go to both GE's (www.getransportation.com)and GM's (www.gmemd.com) websites and prowl around there. They have lots of information that might help you learn the various types of locomotives.#2. Search the web using Google or something similar. I just now did a search on "SD70MAC" on Google and got 3070 hits, mostly picture gallerys. #3. Check out a book titled "Modern Locomotives; High-Horsepower Diesels" by Brian Soloman. It costs about $25 from Amazon and it's an excellent reference for identifying modern diesels.#4. Ask on this site. The majority of the guys (and ladies) here will bend over backwards to help you if you're serious.Be patient. I was as confused as you at first - and still sometimes misidentify a locomotive. But I'm getting better.Take care -

Larry Steiner
Grand Rapids, Michigan
(This is CSX Country up here, folks.)

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

Rosters are your friend
http://www.railfanusa.com/rosters/

Shawn shawnssk@yahoo.com
Screen Shot Forum Mod
TKW & YLW Repainter

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

LAST EDITED ON May-03-03 AT 02:54 PM (EDT)

Hi Metraup,another thing or two not mentioned yet, provided you get close enough to the engine:- Some (if not many) RR stencil the exact type designation somewhere onto the loco's body, often near the cab or the trucks, from what few US diesels I have seen 1:1 with my own eyes.- Watch for a manufacturer's plate telling you more about the engine - I can't say too much for what is customary with US manufacturers, but our's over here on the Eastern side of the Atlantic pond are often including a lot of helpful additional info on the plate (often found near the entrance to the cab's, or the engine's number on the side), such as year of built, exact type designation, serial number etc. etc.- Ask the engineer if he's around - with a bit of luck, that has him tell you some of the engine's history, pecularities etc. I always enjoy this type of chat if I can find an engineer who has a few minutes of his time to share...Hope that helps, tooLukas a.k.a Swissie
(Edited for the usual typo)

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

>Hi Metraup,
>
>another thing or two not mentioned yet, provided you get
>close enough to the engine:
>
>- Some (if not many) RR stencil the exact type designation
>somewhere onto the loco's body, often near the cab or the
>trucks, from what few US diesels I have seen 1:1 with my own
>eyes. Yes, the G&W 51 has "GP-38" stncile dunder the strips on the side-sills.
>- Watch for a manufacturer's plate telling you more about
>the engine - I can't say too much for what is customary with
>US manufacturers, but our's over here on the Eastern side of
>the Atlantic pond are often including a lot of helpful
>additional info on the plate (often found near the entrance
>to the cab's, or the engine's number on the side), such as
>year of built, exact type designation, serial number etc.
>etc. I dunno, usually it jsut says "EMD LOCOMOTIOVE HP: 3000 WHEEL ARANGMENT: 0-4-4-0
>- Ask the engineer if he's around - with a bit of luck, that
>has him tell you some of the engine's history, pecularities
>etc. I always enjoy this type of chat if I can find an
>engineer who has a few minutes of his time to share... Usually the reasponse will be "DUHHHHh......they have differn't kinds? Heck, I allus only saw the front half, on acounta thats what they teached us in trainin'-school..."

-------------
Dispatcher on April 18th, 2003 on the NEC. First multiplayer operation of the NEC. History is made.

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

>>- Ask the engineer if he's around - with a bit of luck, that
>>has him tell you some of the engine's history, pecularities
>>etc. I always enjoy this type of chat if I can find an
>>engineer who has a few minutes of his time to share...
>
>Usually the reasponse will be "DUHHHHh......they have
>differn't kinds? Heck, I allus only saw the front half, on
>acounta thats what they teached us in trainin'-school..." I hope that was supposed to be a joke.I have yet to meet an engineer who didn't know what he was driving.-Jeff

Union Pacific is my drug.

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

The stencil isn't all that reliable, Swissie- I've seen a picture of a Cotton Belt GP40-2 that was patched UP, and stenciled SD40T-2! So, we have a SSW GP40-2 masquerading as a UP SD40T-2

Bradley Linda
Waco, Texas

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

LAST EDITED ON May-04-03 AT 12:58 PM (EDT)

Well, if they don't know how to tell them apart in the shops anymore, things are turning pretty rotten with the RRs...Edit on the side: Before MSTS and the forum, being a foreign visitor I felt pretty lost when I spotted some diesels on a US vacation. The stenciling came in handy to help me identify a good number of engines I took a slide of when I had a chance. But until I started d/l stuff and having a look at the different models for the sim, I was clueless with a number of pictures in my database that just read "four axle diesel" or so for the type. Thanks to MSTS and the many free add-ons available over here, I could identify most if not all those GP9's, U-Boats and SW1500s...Lukas a.k.a Swissie

Alert | IP

[ Home | MSTS Forum | MSTS FAQ | File Library ] Copyright © 2002 by Nels Anderson. All Rights Reserved.