SP Hydraulics
Author: SteveO
Date: 01-13-2007 - 09:12
The German hydraulics were Krauss-Maffei, or KM, built. They had nothing to do with rotary plows. KM did not build anything else for the US market.
The Diesel Hydraulic units on SP were as follows.
My 1968 - 1969 Southern Pacific Motive Power Annual shows that the Espee bought three carbody style KM hydraulic locos, 15 road switcher KM's, and three domestically built, Alco diesel hydraulics. They also bought from DRGW, the three carbody units that road had bought. They had a total of 24 hydraulic units. The Alco hydraulics were very large and looked like typical, though large, US power. The KM's all had slanted cabs, even the road switcher style, presumably because of tight clearances in germany where they were built.
A side note, most crews did not like the large drive shaft that ran right under their feet on all of the hydraulic locos.