Talk to a RailFan - you will learn a LOT about Trains.

A Walk past the MOST POWERFUL Diesel Loco EVER built, EMD DDAX40 then owned by Union Pacific Railroad and numbered #6930.
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In this Video, I walked past this Giant, at normal speed and it took 30 seconds to cross it with the Mobile Video on hand. The DDA40X is 98 ft (30 m) long.
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Brief...
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of loco:
This loco of the class of DDA40X was Made by General Motors EMD division, is a 6,600 hp (4.92 MW) D-D diesel-electric locomotive.
The DDA40X uses two diesel engines (each 3,300 hp (2.46 MW)) and is the most powerful single-unit diesel locomotive ever built in the whole world.
It is nicknamed "Centennial" and "Big Jack". 'X' in the code stands for eXperimental.
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Forty seven units were built between June 1969 and September 1971, except the first one delivered in April in time to participate in the celebrations of the centennial anniversary of the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad driving the "Gold Spike Limited" and arriving in Salt Lake City, Utah, on the morning of May 10, 1969. The units were numbered from 6900 to 6946, with 6936 still in service.
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By 1974, averaging 22,000 miles a month, most DDA40X units had run over 1,000,000 miles and needed more maintenance.[3] Union Pacific began retiring its DD40Xs in 1984 due to rising maintenance costs, with all retired by the end of 1986. However #6936 is still in service with UP, though mostly in excursion service.
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Loco #6936 is the sole example of the "Centennial" type that is still in operation, and thus is the largest operational diesel-electric locomotive in the world. It is occasionally used on both excursion trains and in revenue freight service.
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Owners of the content:
Video & Pic 1: Captured by myself (Sudarshan) inside the loco display shed at Illinois Railway Museum on 5th Oct 2014.
Pic2: Only for reference purposes downloaded from click here and edited, where as the actual owner of the photograph is Bill Grenchik, who captured it on 2 SEP 2008 at the same location outside the shed.
Note:----> Much of the above published information is copied and collated from Wikipedia...

By the look and feel of it, we can call the GE's 101 as Beasts. In pictures is 3rd Gen GTEL, UP-x18 kept at Illinois Railway Museum which I captured over the weekend. The 3rd pic resembles Gulliver & Lilliput. :). The Lilliput trying to gain control over Gulliver.
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These were Gas Turbine Electric Locomotives (GTEL) which were made and released to market by GE from 1948, and sold in ALCO-GE Partnership in their early days, though consumed more fuel, they used less expensive Bunker C heavy Fuel Oil, instead of Diesel....
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But due to the nature of the oil, more modifications were required in the engineering of this engines to propel the turbines, which included a heating system to heat the oil to 93C, Change of oil to Modified No.6 Heavy fuel oil, Changes to air intake systems of the turbine, etc.
GTELs have three generations.
These guys were mostly used for long haul freight trains in USA.
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Union Pacific(UP) operated the largest fleat of GTELs. During their peak, UP used GTELs to haul 10% of their freight traffic.
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UP started retiring them in 1969 due to the increasing maintenance costs and finally retired the 3rd Gen GTELs numbered X18 & X40 in early 1970.
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Stats:
Maximum speed 65 mph (105 km/h) (according to GE tests).
Power output 4,500 hp (3,400 kW) 1st. & 2nd. Generation
8,500 hp (6,300 kW) 3rd. Generation
The world's first fastest TGV's prototype was based on Turbine Technology only

Illinois Railway Museum - Vol 1.
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Today 5th Oct, 2014 I visited Illinois Railway Museum, here in US. Some of the pics are here for you all. Will post some more soon.
Its Me infront of various American Locomotives (Diesel, Steam, Electric, Diesel-Electric & Gas turbine-electric locomotives....
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From the last... is the biggest Diesel Loco I have ever seen, in terms of Height & length. It spans the length of two Indian Alcos...I will publish a video of the loco soon.
#museum, #railmuseum, #usa, #american, #steam, #steamloco, #illinoisrailwaymuseum, #zephyr #DDAX40 #GTEL #unionpacific #chicago