I work in a building next to a rail yard the trains move slow to fast , I have noticed that when a GE goes by the they are vibrations to the ground when an EMD goes by their isn't. These locomotives can be old or new it doesn;t matter . Can all this vibration be felt inside the cab?
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Yes.
Is it one of those good things GE brings to life? Is the vibrations a GE thing?
Difference between a 4-cycle engine (the GE) and a 2-cycle engine (the EMD).
Jerry,
Each type has its own set of vibrations. The vibrations will also vary between different engines of the same type. Older EMD's would have a bad engine vibration in #2 notch. New EMD's have the same bad vibration in #4 notch. Former Conrail units have always vibrated and rode rougher than true NS units, even before the merger. And as Rich said, throw in the 4 stroke vs 2 stroke can of worms and there you have it. Just the nature of the beasts.
On GE units built with the desk-style control stand in the 1990's, the control stand often had a lot of vibration, with soon caused annoying rattling noises. As a result, you can find everything from rags, cardboard, even fusees, stuffed between the edge of the control stand and the cab wall. GE worked on the problem, and the ones built from the late 1990's and later were much better in that respect.
I mentioned the use of fusses, which was obviously done by some who are not deep thinkers. On BNSF, the inevitable happened -- one of the fusees down between the cab wall and the desk control stand caught fire and did considerable damage to the locomotive.
Yes.
This question (about shortcomings of GE locomotives) was a birthday gift to you.
Older EMD's would have a bad engine vibration in #2 notch.
Thanks, Big jim, I almost forgot about that! Some of our old GP10's on the Ohio Central would vibrate your teeth loose in Notch 2. Pretty smooth in all the other notches, though.
Yeah, makes me wonder what EMD did to the harmonic balancing of the engine that makes the new SD70's have that awful vibration in #4?
The worst were those 10cyl jobs. You could actually see the handrails with waves of vibrations going down them like they were flopping in the breeze even though you were sitting still. "Still" is a relative term. While there was no ground speed, your fillings were rattling out of your teeth!
Don't worry, just enjoy them... those "good vibrations".
GE motors, the FDL 7's and GEVO's, rock the rails, quite nicely. There's a reason why they dominate the domestic scene.
Rick
I've found the throttle notch #5 is the worst on the UP SD70M's and SD70ACe's. Figures that is where we're supposed to be at 50 mph or faster for fuel conservation.
Greg
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