From the Archive: After witnessing the assembly of its 186-liter V-16 turbo-diesel engine, we take a test drive at the helm of General Motors' Electro-Motive SD-60 locomotive.
We've been giddy from speed in Corvette ZR-1s and dizzy from the price of Cadillac Allantés, but we've never driven a General Motors product that affected us like this before. GM's new SD-60 is a brutal-looking three-seater equipped with everything an enthusiast could hope for: all-wheel drive, all-wheel steering, a massive midship-mounted V-16 engine, and brakes powerful enough to stop a freight train. Developed exclusively for tracks, it corners on rails.
Unfortunately, the SD-60 is one vehicle you won't see much of unless you spend a lot of time hanging around tracks. That means the only way to sample one is to undertake basic training—which is just what we did. We were only too pleased when General Motors' Electro-Motive Division saw fit to swing open the gates to its factory and test tracks in LaGrange, Illinois, for us.
The GM guy on the scene was Keith Mahalik, a young engineer—mechanical, not railroad—whose job it is to keep in touch with EMD's customers and develop ever-better software for the computer systems on today's locomotives. Mahalik also has automotive proclivities: He describe himself as "a horsepower guy" who likes big engines of all kinds, something his personal transportation fleet confirms.
The 1940s were the glory days for LaGrange. That's when diesel-electric locomotives eclipsed their steam-powered forebears. Though it's hard to imagine now, steam locomotives had ruled the railways up through the 1930s. They were immensely powerful—some produced as much as 6000 horsepower—and they had the potential for speed.
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