Railroad Trains for the Soul: Southern Pacific DASH 9-44CW Walk Around
I've just found another familiarization video featuring General Electric's DASH 9-44CW diesel locomotive for the Southern Pacific Railroad. Made in 1994, this 30-minute video was in a similar format to the Amtrak P42DC GENESIS Overview because you can hear the same narrator voice and view the same building where the locomotive crawls out. You'll experience some of the major components incorporated on the 4,400-horsepower GE DASH 9, including the safety wide nose with comfort cab, Hi-Ad (high-adhesion) trucks, electronic fuel injection, split cooling, and onboard microprocessor controls.
Inside the cab are the engineer's desktop control console with analog gauges and the Diagnostic Information Display (also known as the DID panel). Originally built on the GE DASH 8 locomotives, the DID panel is located on the back wall, below the circuit breakers and above the engine control switch. While the SP DASH 9 features this computer screen, which essentially has blue/green text only, most other DASH 9's have the more elaborately graphical interface called Integrated Function Displays (or IFD screens) built on the desktop console. On the Amtrak P42 video I shared last spring, that namesake locomotive includes the IFD's that are standard on all examples of the GENESIS series, and that made a significant contrast to the DID screens.
By the end of the DASH 9 video, you'll learn how a locomotive starts up. Many older diesel locomotives have to be cranked up manually by an engine startup station located in the engine compartment. The same thing is true for the SP DASH 9 as well as the Amtrak P42. Before startup, a typical procedure includes closing the battery knife switch, turning on the required circuit breakers, and turning the engine control switch to the START position. On subsequent locomotives, the diesel engine can be automatically started by a simple push button conveniently inside the cab instead of the engine compartment.
Whether you're growing up to be a railroad engineer or you're just having fun in your spare time, you'll appreciate the power and reliability that caused the DASH 9-44CW to be one of the most popular GE locomotives in the 1990's. It's also fabulous to see a training video promoting a locomotive in a "fallen flag" paint scheme, which is the Southern Pacific, in this case. This is a terrific video that railroad fans won't want to miss!
Southern Pacific DASH 9-44CW Walk Around