Road switcher

An ALCO RS-1, generally regarded as the first successful road switcher model.

A road switcher is a type of railroad locomotive used for delivering or picking up railcars outside of a railroad yard. Since the road switcher must work some distance away from a yard, it must be able to operate at road speeds, it must also have high-visibility while it is switching, and it must have the ability to run in both directions. Additionally, a road switcher must have the power rating and cooling capacity of a traditional road engine, and a road switcher must have road trucks, not switcher trucks.

Overview

For the reasons given above, road switchers are generally hood units. The set-back cab of a hood unit provides more safety in the event of a collision at speed than most switcher designs, and the rear visibility is much better than that of a cab unit. Due to their ability to both run at road speeds for long distances and to switch cars, road switchers are often used for yard duties. Some road switchers were provided with twin control stands, so that the units could operate conventionally (locomotive engineer and conductor/switchman facing the direction of travel) in either "long hood forward" or "short hood forward" directions. These twin control stands have fallen into disuse as, today, almost all operations are "short hood forward". For obvious reasons, the short hood is labeled "F" (meaning "front").

Examples

Alco's RS-1 was the first successful example of the type, and virtually all modern hood units are laid out in a similar fashion (long hood for all propulsion equipment, short hood for crew accommodations including a toilet).

Fairbanks Morse entered the road switcher field in 1947 with the H-20-44.

EMD was the last to enter the field and failed to capture much of the market with their first road switcher the BL2.^[1]

The RS-3 was the best known of the Alco RS road switchers and was produced in more numbers than the RS-1 and RS-2 designs combined.

Although Alco produced the first known road switcher, EMD's GP7 was probably the most successful model from this early period road switchers.

Horsepower

Although it is always controversial to generalize about "generations" of road switchers, these ubiquitous beasts of burden may be divided into: Generation 1, 1,999 horsepower (1,491 kW) or lower, net for traction; Generation 2, 2,000 horsepower (1,500 kW) to 2,999 horsepower (2,236 kW), net for traction; Generation 3, 3,000 horsepower (2,200 kW) to 3,999 horsepower (2,982 kW), net for traction;^[2] and Generation 4, 4,000 horsepower (3,000 kW) or higher, net for traction. Although at one point 6,000 horsepower (4,500 kW), net for traction, units were made, these quickly fell into disuse, and most have been scrapped by North American railroads. The most common new units made today are 4,300 horsepower (3,200 kW) to 4,400 horsepower (3,300 kW), net for traction.^[3]

Transmission

Within the Americas, road switchers are almost always diesel-electric, with the "transmission" system being either direct current (standard performance units) or alternating current (high performance units).

United Kingdom

The term "road switcher" is not used in the UK and few locomotives of this type have been built. One exception was the British Rail Class 14.

Germany

The term "road switcher" is not used in Germany either, but there are some types of heavy shunters suited for those tasks and used for them, like the DB Class V 90 and the Voith Gravita.

Belgium

Belgian state railways NMBS/SNCB operate 170 German built engines in their class 77, both for shunting and for main railroad haulage.

Poland

PKP class SM42 is a Polish 74-ton diesel locomotive used for shunting, light main railroad cargo haulage, and passenger service (version SP42 and SU42). 1822 units were built, used mostly by Polish carriers but some were exported abroad.

References

1. ↑ BL, meaning "branch line"
2. ↑ Identification of this generation, as well as others, is occasionally blurred by the introduction of supplementary models; For example, EMD's Generation 3 40 Series models initially included the 3,000 horsepower (2,200 kW) GP40 and SD40 and 3,600 horsepower (2,700 kW) SD45, however this series was later supplemented by the 2,000 horsepower (1,500 kW) GP38 and SD38 and the 2,300 horsepower (1,700 kW) GP39 and SD39, all of which were constructed using the same major components, and the 38 Series eventually became one of EMD's best sellers; Indeed, many of these early units were later upgraded to incorporate Dash 2 subsystems, for improved functionality and reliability; the later 50 Series (3,500 horsepower (2,600 kW)) logically belongs to this generation while the still later 60 Series (3,800 horsepower (2,800 kW)) logically belongs to Generation 4.
3. ↑ Generation 1 and 2 units incorporated conventional (discrete) locomotive controls; Generation 3 units generally incorporated modular (plug-in) locomotive controls; Generation 4 units generally incorporated microprocessor-based locomotive controls.