So far it's probably my favorite favorite diesel engine

Interesting that even with their first real effort into turbo charging the GP20's apparently were so reliable that almost 40% of them are still being used today. Seems that EMD really did their homework before jumping into turbocharging. Also interestingly is that Detroit Diesel, basically EMD's little brother in regards to diesel engines, followed a similar recipe. Early on the Detroit 2-stroke diesels had blowers on them, for scavenging efficiency rather than horsepower, they also later adopted turbo chargers as well for increased power.

I'm amazed at how many GP30s are still in service, considering they were introduced in 1960!

The EMD turbo was mechanically driven at low power and then as the exhaust caught up to demand, it over-ran the mechanical drive and moved even more air. In essence it had no true turbo lag. Without this setup they would have had to keep the mechanical roots blower to made the 597 even run at idle. In effect, a 567 diesel is not an air pump at all and does not move any air on its own.

Love that Turbo sound. Thanks for featuring Gp 20

You forgot to mention that EMD went to turbos largely at UP's urging thus the turbo research known in RR circles as Omaha gp-20s. Which is the real reason EMD got it right. As far as the low sales numbers it was simply put too early for most roads witness the low numbers for the GP-18 which would have been worse if not for Missouri Pacific's 180 or so units and the 200 extra horses weren't worth the extra costs for most of the others.

A great video and a lot of information. Thank you it’s to bad General Motors Automotive Division stopped making Reliable Cars!

Excellent video, and love the history. pretty good "mechanical" explanation of turbo v supercharger. :) The "thermodynamic" explanation would harder for most to get.

Fun fact: the GP20 demonstrator is still in revenue service with the Great Western Railway in Colorado.

5:50 I live right next to Georgetown, TX where the GRR ran, it still exists as the switching power for the Georgetown limestone quarry as well as a couple local businesses, they don't have any GP20s anymore and only roster 3 switching units, it really makes me sad looking back at old pics and seeing how it was compared to now, I wish they still ran, it's one of the last shortline railroads in the Austin area

Wonderfull locomotive ❤

Just so ya know, the EMD 567 was actually introduced with the FT in the very late 1939's... 39 I think, or 1940.

The SD24 was the first turbo EMD

Your description of the turbo charger suggests that the EMD turbo charger is purely exhaust driven, this is not accurate. Unlike the turbo chargers used on ALCO's etc. where these are purely exhaust driven, Yes they suffer from turbo lag with the engine blowing lots of black smoke if the throttle is opened very quickly until the turbo charger spools up to provide air for correct combustion. An EMD turbo charger is engine driven through an overrunning clutch, the engine continues to drive the turbo charger until the engine is working hard and reaches 85% heat efficiency where the exhaust gases drive the turbine and the turbos air compressor scroll faster than the engine is driving it. At that moment the overrunning clutch works and the rollers of the overrunning clutch roll down the ramps disconnecting the engine from driving the turbo charger. Also, EMD have never built a supercharged engine. The blowers on the 567, 645 engines provide scavenging air, the valve overlap on these engines do not allow any supercharging effect to occur, it is for that reason they are referred to as naturally asperated engines. The EMD turbo chargers are largely engine driven until the engine reaches its thermal efficiency as described above at which time the engine is relieved of its burden of driving the turbo charger.

Southern Pacific is my favorite road overall, but my second favorite road would have to be Western Pacific who had my favorite GP20’s. Orange or green they looked good to me, and I absolutely love the high hood, topped off by a Nathan M5 horn… Nearly perfect.

Looks like a lot of this was filmed in central Illinois. I recognize the grain elevator in Fairbury Il.

A certain RR(looking at you PC)de-turboed their GP20s. A cost saving measure.

I've always wondered why EMD never produced a SD 20 or a SD 30. When they produced a SD 7 & SD 9. Along with their GP 7 and GP 9's .

What is a EP20? I thought the first was the GP20

Great video. Excellent! 👍👍👍I can't keep up with my first diesel video.😉

5:55 Nice CB&Q inspired paint scheme.

A turbo doesnt make more power than a supercharger.......it just does the same task much more efficiently. Where it gets complicated for turbo chargers is that they are centrifugal compressors, which are only efficient at high rpm, and introduce high charge air temperatures. By comparison, the EMD engines used 'rootes' style super chargers like their smaller GM 2 stroke diesel engines, which were much simpler from an engineering and installation point of view. 2 stroke diesels need a positive style rootes blower to start and run, adding turbo chargers would have seemed like a lot extra inconvenience. Over time, turbo chargers became smaller and more efficient........and charge air cooling was introduced to make the best of their output. Modern heavy diesels now operate with 40+ psi of boost, which represent a massive improvement in performance and fuel efficiency........compared to just 14psi that was common in the late 1970's.

THE GP20 IS A GP9 EQUIPPED WITH A TURBOCHARGER.

It would have been nice if you explained how it was mechanically driven at low rpm's, then decoupled to be driven by the exhaust gas only, at higher revs.

At 5:32... is that a window AC unit in #272 on the left?

Seems like prime movers in this era were plagued with premature failures, apparently the manufacturers didn't have an adequate system for rigorous testing. An engine was put in a locomotive and set out for use by the railroads to see if it would hold up.

I live near Missouri northern Arkansas goes through my town

You might want to change the title and GP20 not EP20

We're the rebuild gp11 turbo charged or did they revert back to root blowers?

Top Fuel drag cars make 10,000 horse power with 500 cubic inches using super chargers. Dodge Hellcats, Shelby Mustangs, Camaro ZL1 are modern super charged cars. Today every auto manufacturer has turbo charged engines in their entire car ranges. My BMW X3 has a turbo charged 4 cylinder. Turbo lag is a thing from the past and is unnoticeable in modern production cars. The advantage of turbo chargers over super chargers is their long term reliability and low cost.

1938

EMD got it right, how come from the beginning Alco, and GE turbos have been crap? they smoke constantly, till they get real bad then they smoked like they are on fire....till they are on fire to this day! lol

2 stroke Detroit diesels are the same way. The 238 and 318 are the same engines it's just the 318 has a turbocharger also for the extra horses. Or as their called in the case of the 238 the gutless wonder and the screaming 318s. The only way to freaking make them work properly was to drive them angry. Or as we said slam your hand in the door then hit yourself with a hammer in the balls