# Types of modern locomotives help.



## Ethan1526 (Feb 8, 2016)

I am a new model railroader. Modeling in Ho scale and on a budget. I would like a list of MODERN locomotives, so I will know what to buy. If you can please put them in to categories, (like switchers heavy freight and passenger). Thanks in advance for your help. 😀


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## tkruger (Jan 18, 2009)

When you say modern what do you mean? What is used currently by rail roads? The latest an greatest? or just the modern era? I ask because locomotive tend to get used for many years. Often their original task becomes something different in a new era. One example I know of is a grain elevator. Currently they use a BNSF GP9m for switching cars. Earlier in its life it was a road engine hauling freight cars. I believe this loco was built in the late 50s and is still in use today. Some passenger locomotives are converted to Cabbages, Cars with a locomotive cab that holds baggage where the engine used to be. The controls run the locomotive that is elsewhere in the train.


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## Ethan1526 (Feb 8, 2016)

*Thanks for your help*



tkruger said:


> When you say modern what do you mean? What is used currently by rail roads? The latest an greatest? or just the modern era? I ask because locomotive tend to get used for many years. Often their original task becomes something different in a new era. One example I know of is a grain elevator. Currently they use a BNSF GP9m for switching cars. Earlier in its life it was a road engine hauling freight cars. I believe this loco was built in the late 50s and is still in use today. Some passenger locomotives are converted to Cabbages, Cars with a locomotive cab that holds baggage where the engine used to be. The controls run the locomotive that is elsewhere in the train.


I mean overall modern with any locomotives still in use, I've seen old Santa Fe gp 40s in use so most emd engines I assume likely can be used, like you said I will have to stick to 4 axels, but what radius will I need to get 6 axel diesel locomotives in use? Eventually I would like to use all latest and greatest thank you so much for your help. I'm sorry if these questions were more than you expected, I need to get on my feet before building a new layout.


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## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

Here is a general description of the various diesel locomotives used
by North American railroads. Very general classifications include:

Road Engines, and these are further divided into Freight or Passenger,
and sometimes used for both. The passenger versions included
a boiler for car heating. Often use 6 wheel truck designs.
They are usually consisted with others for more pulling power.

Road Switchers. A smaller usually 4 wheel truck diesel used where switching to spurs along
a line or in small towns but also have the power to head a local freight.

Switchers. Smaller yet, 4 wheel trucks, generally used around yards to shuttle cars
and also handle local industry spur traffic.

Here is a more complete discussion of diesel locomotives.

http://www.american-rails.com/diesel-locomotives.html

Don


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

Really, there is no substitute for getting out and doing some research. As you can see from the previous responses, what you're looking for is a little too subjective for anyone to give you a definitive answer.

I'll give you a little nudge in the right direction:

The two major manufacturers of diesel locomotives today are General Electric (GE) and Caterpillar's Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD) division. Depending on where you draw the line for "modern", there may be others.

Look up "List of EMD Locomotives" or "List of GE Locomotives" in Wikipedia. These are a very good summary.

Researching individual railroads will give you a summary of their current motive power fleets, some of which are not very "modern".

Or, you can do it the other way around: research the individual HO models available and decide whether the build year(s) makes it "modern" enough for your standards.

I'm not sure what you mean by "can be used". It's your layout, you use whatever you want to. If you're going to limit yourself to what is actually done on the prototype, that puts some boundaries on it.

A good rule of thumb is to make sure you're using curves which have a radius a minimum of 2.5x the length of the equipment you want to run. So if you have a model that is 9" (65 scale feet) long, you should have a minimum of 22" curves. I would also not try a 6 axle locomotive on anything tighter than that, no matter what. Broader curves are always better. Even if the locomotive will corner by itself, it won't always do so while pulling cars, and the overhang on the tight curve may cause clearance issues with trackside details or adjacent tracks.


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## Cycleops (Dec 6, 2014)

Another way would be to go to this site: http://railpictures.net/ you can input whatever railroad, loco (or leave blank) and year and it will come up with pics giving type of loco, location and date.


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## cv_acr (Oct 28, 2011)

CTValleyRR said:


> Really, there is no substitute for getting out and doing some research. As you can see from the previous responses, what you're looking for is a little too subjective for anyone to give you a definitive answer.


Kinda what he said.

Note for example, that many of the old purpose-built switchers are long retired, and the manufacturers don't really build them anymore, as the railroads often just use older power that's been replaced in other services by newer stuff.

And things really depend a lot on what particular railroad(s) you might be interested in. But there is a lot of stuff still out there.


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## Magic (Jan 28, 2014)

Here is a good place to start, All of the locomotives built by EMD.
It list the build dates and other info plus you can see pictures of the unit.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...otives&usg=AFQjCNGa5dNSgzqwp5lOr6cV8KIiJ1Ue6g

This list all the GE locomotives. Same info.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...otives&usg=AFQjCNGWPV2rkqPJeMLc6d8sZTM5B1XxUg

Most locomotives have a life of 25 or more years so you can get an idea of what is running for any time period.
Wheel arrangement is like so B-B Two axles per truck, C-C three axles per truck and really big stuff D-D four axles per truck. 

Magic


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## scenicsRme (Aug 19, 2020)

You can also look at the road names on the engines you like. In the modern era, Pretty much there are only two major railroads: Amtrak for passenger service and CSX for freight. Then there is Union Pacific, Canadian Pacific, and BNSF for primarily feeder freight. Any locomotive painted in any of those liveries is likely a modern era diesel. There are other names, but you'll have to research to find the era. just google the engine model, wikipedia will give a good synopsis of the era and roads that used that model. Research is 1/2 of what model railroading is all about.


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## scenicsRme (Aug 19, 2020)

Oh, and it's YOUR railroad, you can run anything you like. There is no right or wrong choices.


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## cv_acr (Oct 28, 2011)

scenicsRme said:


> Pretty much there are only two major railroads: Amtrak for passenger service and CSX for freight.


That's a joke.

It depends where you're located. 

CSX, Norfolk Southern, Union Pacific, BNSF, and Kansas City Southern are all large railroads operating over large areas. Canadian National and Canadian Pacific are the two primaries in Canada and CN operates through the central US all the way to Louisiana. 

Chicago-St. Louis is pretty much the dividing line, with UP and BNSF to the west, and CSX and NS to the east.


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## cv_acr (Oct 28, 2011)

Also Union Pacific and Canadian Pacific both date back to the 1880s.

CSX was a 1980s merger creation, and Norfolk Southern and BNSF are 1990s.


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## scenicsRme (Aug 19, 2020)

I was trying to make a generalization that was easy for the guy to get started. I know some of those lines names have been used for a long time, but most diesels he finds in those road names will be post merger modern era. I deliberately left out NYC for that reason. He's has plenty of time to become a purist rivet counter as he progresses thru the research and learns more.


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## cv_acr (Oct 28, 2011)

The guy's also had four and a half years to research his question and doesn't appear to have been active on this forum in three years. You resurrected an old thread from the dead.


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## scenicsRme (Aug 19, 2020)

Oops! Sorry for resurecting an old post. I'll be more careful to look at the dates first next time. I followed the link from the recommended reading list, I didn't realize they were ancient.


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## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

No harm in looking at old posts.....we even learn something from them, like there is still more than 2 railroads in North America.....


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