Was this ever used by Amtrak?

[user 6862]

Just curious. Heard and saw this in Luxor, Egypt today, sounded and looked like a US engine, but was it? If it is from the US, when was it used to and from please.

More detail in the Egypt travelogue when I get that far.

 

[Dutchrailnut]

GE export model
Egyptian Railways Export ES40ACi from GE.

 

[user 6862]

Many thanks.

Does that mean the basics of the construction may be commonly used motor(s) and other mechanical components with home market engines? Would the components be used alongside possible different body or gauge etc?

The reason being is that proportions wise it looks similar to regular large US engines when seen yesterday, and when I first heard it the previous evening it was completely out of sight. It sounded identical to engines I have heard many times in the US and more than that it was the same horn and bell used with exactly the same frequencies.

Sorry if the technical terms aren't correct but you get my drift, I was expecting to see an Amtrak liveried train when it became visible.

 

[ehbowen]

GE (of the USA) has been the largest North American manufacturer of Diesel locomotives since shortly after the sheikhs reset the gas pumps in the 1980s; their four-stroke prime movers were inherently more fuel-efficient than the two-stroke engines which major competitor EMD (GM) had relied on since the 1930s.

They also have (or at least had) a booming export business...although the story goes that a few years back China offered to buy ten locomotives from them...on the condition that they also included a complete set of engineering blueprints. For the purposes of maintenance and upkeep, don'cha know. GE told them to pound sand...

Edit To Add: So, to more directly answer your question, the prime mover in that Egyptian locomotive was probably identical, within a design generation or two, to the Diesels used in Amtrak's P42s.

 

[jis]

And yet China did buy 300 locomotives from GE in 2008-2010, most of which were actually manufactured under license at the Quishan Locomotive Works in China They were the GE59ACi known in China as the HXN5 Class, and they have the GE GEVO 16 engine with an output of 6250HP.

The Egyptian ES40ACi uses the GEVO V12 prime mover. Amtrak GE P42 Genesis use the GE 7FDL16 prime mover.

Incidentally Egypt has recently ordered a bunch of ES30ACi too.

It is not unusual for GE to enter into license manufacturing agreements. A recent example is their deal with Indian Railways, to supply 1000 ES43ACmi IR Class WDG-4G (prime mover GEVO 12), 100 manufactured in the US, and the balance manufactured at a new plant in India, majority owned by GE at Marhowra in Bihar State. The local majority GE owned subsidiary also has the maintenance contract on these for 13 years.

 

[west point]

China plays the long game. GE plays the short game. Unfortunately is all about short term profit gains of the stock market. Now GE is just a shell of what it used to be.

 

[ehbowen]

Yep, my story was from many moons ago...early '90s, I think. Not surprised that recent management would trade their birthright for a mess of pottage...

 

[jis]

China plays the long game. GE plays the short game. Unfortunately is all about short term profit gains of the stock market. Now GE is just a shell of what it used to be.

But that has more to do with the GE Financial Division debacles. It did not really involve their rail division in any major way.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

Now now, Jishnu, never let the facts get in the way of a good narrative.

 

[jis]

Incidentally, China also did get a license for manufacture of derivative locomotives from the HXN5. Using that they have built over 1000 units of mainly three variants, including one capable of operating at 110mph equipped with gauge changing trucks so that they can operate both in China and Russia/Mongolia. The latter modification has not much to do with any original GE technology.

Incidentally this arrangement is very similar to the one that for example, MLW entered with Indian Railways regarding manufacture under license of ALCO C derivatives in India, where thousands of those still live and labor on, making India probably one of the last major stomping grounds of ALCO derivatives. As mentioned earlier, there are similar agreements in place now both with EMD and GE for license manufacture of diesel locomotive in India, this time even using a joint venture partially owned by the parent US companies. China has a similar arrangement with EMD too.

It is possible that this subthread is worthy of becoming a thread on its own right, since it has drifted quite a bit from the original subject of the thread.