GE 44/45 Ton Loco/Yampa Bob

[lirrman]

Yampa Bob:  Did you ever receive your GE loco.  How did it pull.  If you recall mine had difficulty pulling 2 lighted Spectrum heavyweights.
LIRRMAN

[richG]

People might be interested in the 44 ton and 45 ton comaprison.



Rich

[Yampa Bob]

Hi Lirrman
Yes, I received the loco about 2 weeks ago.  Before my wife took it away from me and hid it until Christmas, I did some pulling tests. I posted the results but you must have missed it.  Here is a paste of my original post.



"Received the 44 Ton today, it ran very smoothly on DCC. I ran it about 20 laps for a quick break in, it was whisper quiet even at crawl speed.

Here's the test results, hope you're sitting down. I used 3 different gauges, all correlated exactly.

Weight---  5 ounces, same as my unweighted 70 tonner.
Drawbar force--- 1.75 ounces...equates to 18 easy rolling cars.

Since it's not fully broken in, I only hooked up 10 cars.  Accelerated quickly, ran 10 laps for speed test.  Average top speed 70 mph.

Once broken in, I am confident it will pull 20 cars with ease."



I just ran the test again, same results. By adding a temporary 1/2 ounce weight, the force increased to 2.0 ounces, which would pull 20 easy rolling cars.  I only had 15 cars on the line at the time, it pulled them with no problem at a good speed.

Rich, My 44 looks exactly like the one on the right in the picture, except it is black with yellow stripes, with "Flying Grande" lettering. The chassis will be perfect for some of my powered car projects.

[pdlethbridge]

As I look at the photo, I wonder why the 44 tonner is so much bigger than the 45 tonner? Are they both true to scale?

[lirrman]

Yampa Bob
Thanks for your reply.  My little 44 tonner is light and the passenger cars have wipers on the wheels for the lights so they may be the equivalent of 10 40' freight cars. The passenger wheels are not that free-wheeling.  Thanks
LIRRMAN

[Yampa Bob]

Even so, your 44 should be able to easily pull the cars. My freight cars are all 40', average weight 4 to 4.5 ounces, but they all have a required pulling force of only .08 to .1 ounce.

I recently posted a thread about home made pull force gauges, the thread is down at this time.  For those who prefer "store bought" here is a link to an inexpensive gauge.  The 250 gram (8.75 ounces) is suitable for most HO engines and cars.

http://www.delta-education.com/productdetail.aspx?Collection=Y&prodID=1973&menuID=

[lirrman]

Hmmmmm.  Some time ago I bought a Walthers Dynamometer car with the little graph inside.  It looks nice on the shelf.  I'll see if will earn its keep and let you know.  Going out.  Happy New Year!!
LIRRMAN

[Yampa Bob]

Here are pictures from my previous thread.  They are virtually friction-less and very accurate.  Construction and calibration details available on request.

[Frisco]

As I look at the photo, I wonder why the 44 tonner is so much bigger than the 45 tonner? Are they both true to scale?

Yes they are both true to scale. The 44 tonner is so much bigger because it was made for branchline work where the 45 tonner was for switching.

[richG]

A top view.


The 44 ton allowed railroads to operate the loco without a fireman since it was under 90,000 lbs.

Little bit of history from a Google search.

http://www.vnerr.com/divs/BisonRail/Work_Order/ge44ton/ge44ton.html

Rich

[pdlethbridge]

I'd still like to know how a lighter loco is so much bigger than the heavier one?

[richG]

This is from the link I recently mentioned.
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Although many people think of the GE 44-ton as an industrial engine, it was actually designed for common-carrier service. The 1937 diesel agreement ruled that any engine weighing over 90,000 lbs required a fireman. The 44-tonner weighed in at 88,000 lbs, just under the limit. Industrial roads had no such restrictions and could run as big as a locomotive as they wished without a fireman.
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The 45 ton came first with as much weight as could be effectively put on the chassis , with available power, and still have the loco able to operate in close quarters such as large mills and industrial use. The max speed for a 45 ton was 20mph. First were equipped with side rods and later versions used chain drive.

The 44 ton, there were different goals and methods to increase power and keep the weight under 90,000lbs.  The max speed is about 40 mph so they could do freight service also.

For more info, search Google. There is a lot of info available.

Rich

[lirrman]

The Dynamometer car's spring must be really tight.  The 44 tonner didn't move the gauge at all.  I held the car while the loco pulled but the gauge didn't budge.  I did the same with a much heavier road diesel and it moved the gauge about one notch.  Not very scientific just for comparison purposes.

[RAM]

The 44 tonner was also used on mixed train service on the santa fe and other roads.