Brookville ships out BL05 locomotive
Written by Douglas John BowenBrookville, Pa.-based Brookville Equipment Corp. said Monday, March 9, 2015 it "shipped an all-new highly-customized 88-ton diesel-hydraulic yard switching locomotive to the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard & Intermediate Maintenance Facility (PSNS&IMF) in Bremerton, Wash."
The BL05 locomotive, which began its journey to the facility on March 2, 2015, “will operate at speeds of up to 10 mph while performing heavy freight car haulage applications at the naval facility,” Brookville said. The locomotive was still en route to its final destination as of Monday, March 9, a Brookville spokesman told Railway Age.
Procured for the United States Navy through the U.S. Department of Transportation Volpe National Transportation Systems Center and designed and manufactured by Brookville’s engineers and craftsmen, the yard switcher features a 500-horsepower EPA Tier-3 Cummins engine, four-speed transmission, torque convertor, and planetary final drive, providing up to 40,000 pounds of starting tractive effort.
“The switcher’s unique drive system is similar to diesel equipment that Brookville designs and produces for underground mining applications – but on a much larger scale,” said Brookville Director of Sales Chris Rhoades. “Diesel-hydraulic drive systems are well suited for low speed applications. Brookville’ss extensive familiarity with manufacturing diesel-hydraulic locomotives and knowledge base in engineering this type of power arrangement provides cost-effective and dependable transportation solutions for customers.”
The BL05 yard switcher features a wide center cab design for easy multi-directional operation, is equipped with standard air brakes for rail applications, car brakes, and includes sliding couplers powered by on-board electric motors for negotiating curves of less than 80 feet while operating on standard rail gauge.
The diesel-hydraulic yard switcher features a unique custom truck design, which includes a heavy steel frame, which encases the drive shafts, transfer cases, braking system, and chevron suspension.
