Brookville BL20GH
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Metro North BL20GH #115 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Brookville BL20GH is a diesel-electric locomotive built by the Brookville Equipment Corporation. The locomotive is designed for both freight and passenger service. Brookville built 12 in 2008 for the Metro-North Railroad. The Staten Island Railway operates four nearly identical BL20G locomotives, built by Brookville in December 2008, in work service.[3][4]
Design
[edit]The BL20GH is a low emissions locomotive.[citation needed] Originally equipped with a V12 MTU-Detroit Diesel 12V4000 engine rated at 2,250 horsepower (1,680 kW), rebuilt units now feature a Cummins QSK50 prime mover rated at 2,130 horsepower (1,590 kW). It has a separate Caterpillar engine for head end power, allowing the locomotive to be used in passenger service for branch line shuttle trains.[5] The Metro-North locomotives are equipped with Automatic train control (ATC).[2]
History
[edit]Brookville built a single demonstrator for the Connecticut Department of Transportation (CDOT); CDOT and the Metro-North combined to order eleven more in 2008, for a total of twelve locomotives.[6] CDOT owns six of the locomotives, which it originally painted in its "McGinnis" paint scheme, named after former New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad president Patrick B. McGinnis. This scheme consisted of a black nose, with a white stripe and an orange rear, with white New-Haven lettering overlapping the orange rear. The first public run of the BL20GH occurred on June 9, 2008.[1]
These locomotives are used in branch service on the Metro-North Railroad, including the Danbury Branch and Waterbury Branch.[7] They are used on shuttle trains operating on routes where there is no third rail (such as the Upper Harlem Line, between Southeast and Wassaic stations.) They lack third-rail shoes and thus rarely operate into Grand Central Terminal.[citation needed]
The BL20GH locomotives began a rebuild program by MotivePower in 2019.[8] The rebuilt units, designated as BL20GHM, are equipped with Cummins QSK50 prime movers, which are compliant with Tier 3 of the Environmental Protection Agency's standards for locomotive emissions.[8] All units owned by ConnDOT were repainted into a paint scheme similar to the ones used on its CT Rail services.[citation needed]
Variants
[edit]A nearly identical locomotive, known as the BL20G, operates on the Staten Island Railway.[3] Four were built by Brookville Corporation in December 2008.[4] Numbered 776–779, these locomotives lack the head-end power generator and the associated ventilation grates of the BL20GH, and thus they are only used in work train service unless performing a rescue of their R44 EMU's.[citation needed]
References
[edit]- ^ a b Solomon, Brian (2011). Modern Diesel Power. Minneapolis, MN: Voyageur Press. p. 166. ISBN 978-0-76-033943-5.
- ^ a b Metro-North Railroad (June 21, 2010). "EMPLOYEE TIMETABLE: Timetable No. 4" (PDF). p. 83. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 February 2015. Retrieved 31 January 2015.
- ^ a b "Metro North Railroad & Staten Island Railway Locomotives".
- ^ a b "Brookville Equipment Corporation".
- ^ Solomon, Brian (2012). North American Locomotives: A Railroad-by-Railroad Photohistory. Minneapolis, MN: Voyageur Press. p. 167. ISBN 9780760343708. OCLC 781679692.
- ^ "Brookville Equipment builds road diesel for Connecticut DOT". Trains. February 4, 2008. Retrieved 30 January 2015. (subscription required)
- ^ "Connecticut Department of Transportation & Metro-North Railroad Showcase New M-8 Rail Car Interior". Connecticut Department of Transportation. May 21, 2008. Archived from the original on October 10, 2013. Retrieved 30 January 2015.
- ^ a b "MPI work now fully relocated to Wabtec plant in Erie". Trains. June 3, 2020. Retrieved 2022-05-05.