# diesel locos



## wvgca (Jan 21, 2013)

question ... when did diesel loco become 'common' .. not first introduced but first normally used ..??
thanks [for personal knowledge only]


----------



## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

I would say the mid to late 1940’s and early 1950’s.....there is no magic date.....

The last regularly scheduled steam service was May, 1960 on CN and Sept. 1959 on CP......


----------



## MichaelE (Mar 7, 2018)

Regular diesel revenue use was in service in Germany in 1935 with the V140 locomotive. Heavy series production though did not begin until after the war.

Steam was retired from regular service in Germany in 1977.

Steam is still used on museum trains, and brokered out to private cargo railroads when museum locomotives need to 'stretch their legs or when other motive power is not available.

There are a lot of steam locomotives still operating in Germany all the way up the the heavy Br.44, Br.52, and Br.50 models.


----------



## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

Here's the answers to all of your diesel locomotive questions.









Diesel locomotive - Wikipedia







en.wikipedia.org





The surprise is that GE had experimental models in 1917

Don


----------



## wvgca (Jan 21, 2013)

first started in 1917 ?? Thats earlier than i figured ....


----------



## mesenteria (Oct 29, 2015)

Electric came before diesel because New York City and others prohibited steam from entering the city. The passenger trains had to be handed off at a certain point. Diesels were being experimented with earlier, but not so much in locomotives at the time. For one thing, they couldn't produce the same horsepower that a 'modern' boiler could with the advent of superheat and syphons. As diesels became more powerful, and could be teamed up with no extra crews, that put the nail in the coffin of steam.

According to wikipedia, the earliest in-service diesels date to 1925, but they were developed considerably earlier as a concept. Earliest internal combustion engine in a diesel dated to about a decade after the Civil War. Earliest in-use electrics were from 1895 on a stretch of the main line of the B&O.


----------



## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

wvgca said:


> first started in 1917 ?? Thats earlier than i figured ....


But definitely not “common”, like your original question stated.....

EMD’s FT demonstrator units toured the country in 1939, and were the first real diesel eye-opener for the railways.....the first FT’s built for a specific customer (ATSF) were built in 1940.....those diesels that came before that were not “common”.....in fact, all the other traditional locomotive builders were not allowed to build deisels during WWII, but EMD was allowed to build them for the Navy war effort.....

So, I would go as fat to say that diesel locomotives did not become “common” until after the war.....


----------



## Murv2 (Nov 5, 2017)

Early diesels:
B&O number 1: Built 1925, used in New York City for at least 50 years.
B&O number 50: Built 1935, used by the B&O until 1937 then the Chicago and Alton and GM&O until the 70's.
Also, over 200 E units were built before the war intervened in 1942.


----------



## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

Uh, actually, the war started in 1939, at least for most of us....the US got into it in 1941......but of course you should already know this.....


----------



## wvgca (Jan 21, 2013)

i was just wondering if i should update the era of my layout ... i could use the same rolling stock, as its a backwoods logging / mining setup .. but i would replace the shays, climaxes, etc with smaller utility four axle diesels, or even boxcabs [i do have one] .. the era would change from 1890 to roughly 1940 or so, but with no electrification of the layout elements at all [hopefully]


----------



## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

Well, no one should tell you what you should do, but you would be within a believable proper timeline to do so.....


----------



## Murv2 (Nov 5, 2017)

Old_Hobo said:


> Uh, actually, the war started in 1939, at least for most of us....the US got into it in 1941......but of course you should already know this.....


I expect the restrictions placed on us diesel manufacturing didn’t take place until the us actually joined the war.


----------



## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

You are likely right.....I was talking about my country, for which the war started in 1939, and our locomotive shops started almost immediately began building tanks and artillery guns instead of locomotives....


----------



## Jscullans (Jul 8, 2019)

From what I understand the atsf ran diesels in the 30s but they weren’t common till after the war. By the mid to late 50s steam was about done with the Santa Fe other than on branch lines from what I’ve read


----------



## Yoppeh7J-UPmp954 (Nov 23, 2014)

The restrictions by the war department during WW2 slowed the devolvement and sales of diesels until the war was over, The materials to make diesels was in short supply. You can look at Union Pacific roster here Union Pacific Motive Power Timeline, Part 2
*1945*
(1,535 total steam on 1 January 1945)
(88 total diesel on 1 January 1945) 
*1950*
(1,018 total steam on 1 January 1950)
(526 total diesel/GTEL on 1 January 1950) 
*1959*
(132 total steam on 1 January 1959)
(1,210 total diesel/GTEL on 1 January 1959) 

*Last of Union Pacific steam:* The last operation of steam locomotives in revenue freight service was in July 17 1959 with Big Boy 4015 and it was the first Big Boy scraped.. The railroad entered 1960 with 86 steam locomotives still on roster; 31 were retired during 1960, 25 during 1961, and 22 during 1962, leaving eight steam locomotives in 1963. Between 1963 and 1988, the five remaining 4-8-8-4 Big Boy locomotives were retired and donated for preservation, and in 1996, 4-6-0 1243 was donated for preservation, leaving 4-8-4 844 and 4-6-6-4 3985 in regular excursion service.


----------



## wvgca (Jan 21, 2013)

not sure if i want to 'update' my era to diesel ... there is something about all those steam linkage rods moving on old shay, heislers, and climaxes that leaves me a bit hesitant ..
of course i could upgrage to little for axle critters and boxcabs , already have a few of those ...it would [i think] just take a bit of an upgrade in motive power to send my layout fifty years ahead ..we don't need no stinkin' lights!


----------



## Stumpy (Mar 19, 2013)

This outfit makes some boxcab shells for the Bachmann GE 44 ton chassis. Only problem is right now Bachman GE 44 tonners are going for stupid prices.

Apogee Loco Works - ebay


----------



## wvgca (Jan 21, 2013)

Stumpy said:


> This outfit makes some boxcab shells for the Bachmann GE 44 ton chassis. Only problem is right now Bachman GE 44 tonners are going for stupid prices.
> 
> Apogee Loco Works - ebay


i'm good for boxcabs, still got a few of these ..


----------



## Jscullans (Jul 8, 2019)

I always thought the mdc box cabs were neat


----------



## wvgca (Jan 21, 2013)

just have to add DCC and lights to it yet .. i used to know which end was forward ??? maybe a new hose for the weight, lol


----------



## Jscullans (Jul 8, 2019)

What decoder would you choose with an open framed motor like that? Or would you swap the motor?


----------

