Sep 21: Illinois Railway Museum - 2

ПутешественникAmtrak No. 945 is one of 65 11,000 volt AEM-7 passenger locomotives built under licence from Swedish company ASEA in 1982 by EMD in LaGrange, IL. These double-ended units, with thyristor rectifier control and fabricated 2-axle bogies, were designed for a maximum speed of 125 mph, which they attained in service on the Northeast Corridor between Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Washington DC, thus ushering in the high-speed era that continues on the NE Corridor today with the Acela trains. No. 945 was retired in 2018 and acquired by IRM, where it is preserved as a static display. Railfans, in their inimitable juvenile fashion, felt obliged to give the fleet a nickname and chose “meatballs” because although they were constructed in the United States, they were designed in Sweden – hence the allusion to Swedish meatballs. The AEM-7s directly replaced the 1942-era Pennsylvania Railroad GG-1 locomotives. Although much smaller and lighter, the AEM-7s were faster and more powerful than the WWII-vintage GG-1.

ПутешественникAnyone remember my description of the Union Pacific Big Boy? This photo shows how a casting attached to the underside of the boiler (top) matches with and bears upon a lubricated pad (lower) on a strategic part of the front engine frame. This is how the front engine frame can swivel on curvature while the boiler, which doesn't swivel, remains supported. This is not a Big Boy locomotive.

ПутешественникThose of us who are familiar with the GM-EMD family of 2-stroke locomotive diesel engines will have heard of this prime mover, the Winton 201A engine, developed in Cleveland, OH, by the Winton Engine Co. and Electro-Motive Corporation (EMC), which was later merged into GM to become their Electro-Motive Division. This two-stroke diesel engine, featured uniflow scavenging, unit injectors, and a Roots blower, and served as the foundation for the later EMD 567 series of engines used in many early diesel locomotives.