The Brookville BL20GH is a

diesel-electric locomotive A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the power source is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is conveyed to the driving whee ...

built by the

Brookville Equipment Corporation Brookville Equipment Corporation, based in Brookville, Pennsylvania, United States, manufactures railroad locomotives for industrial and light capacity switching needs. The company also builds and restores streetcars. The company used to be know ...

. The locomotive is designed for both freight and passenger service. Brookville built 12 in 2008 for the

Metro-North Railroad The Metro-North Commuter Railroad Company , also branded as MTA Metro-North Railroad and commonly called simply Metro-North, is a suburban commuter rail service operated by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), a New York State publ ...

. The

Staten Island Railway The Staten Island Railway (SIR) is a rapid transit, railroad line in the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Staten Island. It is owned by the Staten Island Rapid Transit Operating Authority (SIRTOA), a subsidiary of the Metropol ...

operates four nearly identical BL20G locomotives, built by Brookville in December 2008, in work service.

Design

The BL20GH is a low emissions locomotive. Originally equipped with a V12 MTU-Detroit Diesel 12V4000 engine rated at , rebuilt units now feature a Cummins QSK50 prime mover rated at . It has a separate

Caterpillar Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder ...

engine for

head end power In rail transport, head-end power (HEP), also known as electric train supply (ETS), is the electrical power distribution system on a passenger train. The power source, usually a locomotive (or a generator car) at the front or 'head' of a train, ...

, allowing the locomotive to be used in passenger service for

branch line A branch line is a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line. Branch lines may serve one or more industries, or a city or town not located ...

shuttle trains. The Metro-North locomotives are equipped with

Automatic train control Automatic train control (ATC) is a general class of train protection systems for railways that involves a speed control mechanism in response to external inputs. For example, a system could effect an emergency brake application if the driver do ...

(ATC).

BL20G

The BL20G is a nearly identical locomotive that operates on the Staten Island Railway. Four were built by Brookville Corporation in December 2008. Numbered 776–779, these locomotives lack the head-end power generator and the associated ventilation grates of the BL20GH, and thus they are only used in work train service unless performing a rescue of their R44 and R211S EMU's.

History

Brookville built a single demonstrator for the

Connecticut Department of Transportation The Connecticut Department of Transportation (officially referred to as CTDOT, occasionally ConnDOT, and CDOT in rare instances) is responsible for the development and operation of highways, Rail transport, railroads, mass transit systems, por ...

(CDOT); CDOT and the Metro-North combined to order eleven more in 2008, for a total of twelve locomotives. CDOT owns six of the locomotives, which it originally painted in its "McGinnis" paint scheme, named after former

New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad The New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad , commonly known as The Consolidated, or simply as the New Haven, was a railroad that operated principally in the New England region of the United States from 1872 to 1968. Founded by the merger of ...

president Patrick B. McGinnis. This scheme consisted of a black nose, with a white stripe and an orange rear, with white New-Haven lettering overlapping the orange rear. The first public run of the BL20GH occurred on June 9, 2008. These locomotives are used in branch service on the

, including the

Danbury Branch The Danbury Branch is a 23.9-mile (38 km) long branch line of the Metro-North Railroad's New Haven Line in the U.S. state of Connecticut, running from downtown Norwalk north to Danbury. All trains along the branch make stops at the line ...

and

Waterbury Branch The Waterbury Branch is a 28.5-mile (46 km) long branch of the Metro-North Railroad's New Haven Line, running north from a junction in the Devon section of Milford, Connecticut, Milford to Waterbury, Connecticut. Originally built as the Naug ...

. They are used on shuttle trains operating on routes where there is no third rail (such as the Upper

Harlem Line The Harlem Line is an commuter rail line owned and operated by the Metro-North Railroad in the U.S. state of New York. It runs north from New York City to Wassaic, in eastern Dutchess County. The lower from Grand Central Terminal to Southea ...

, between

Southeast The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, Radius, radially arrayed compass directions (or Azimuth#In navigation, azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A ''compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, ...

and

Wassaic station Wassaic station is a commuter rail stop on the Metro-North Railroad's Harlem Line, located in the town of Amenia, New York. It is the northern terminal of the Harlem Line. The station is located on New York State Routes 22 and 343 just nort ...

s.) They lack third-rail shoes and thus rarely operate into

Grand Central Terminal Grand Central Terminal (GCT; also referred to as Grand Central Station or simply as Grand Central) is a commuter rail terminal station, terminal located at 42nd Street (Manhattan), 42nd Street and Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York Ci ...

. The BL20GH locomotives began a rebuild program by

MotivePower MotivePower, Inc. (MPI) was an American manufacturer of diesel-electric locomotives. The company traces its history back to being a division of Morrison-Knudsen (MK) since 1972. The rebuilt units, designated as BL20GHM, are equipped with

Cummins Cummins Inc. is an American multinational corporation, multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and distributes engines, electric vehicle components, and power generation products. Cummins also services engines and related equipmen ...

QSK50 prime movers, which are compliant with Tier 3 of the

Environmental Protection Agency Environmental Protection Agency may refer to the following government organizations: * Environmental Protection Agency (Queensland), Australia * Environmental Protection Agency (Ghana) * Environmental Protection Agency (Ireland) * Environmenta ...

's standards for locomotive emissions. All units owned by ConnDOT were repainted into a paint scheme similar to the ones used on its

CT Rail CT Rail, stylized as CT''rail'', is the brand for commuter rail services overseen by the Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT), in the U.S. state of Connecticut, with services on the Hartford Line extending into Massachusetts. CTDOT ove ...

services.

References

External links

Description of the BL20GH
{{Green Locos B-B locomotives Diesel–electric locomotives of the United States EPA Tier 2-compliant locomotives of the United States Brookville locomotives Passenger locomotives Standard-gauge locomotives of the United States Railway locomotives introduced in 2008