Equipped with ESU "FULL THROTTLE" features! MUST use LokProgrammer Version 4.4.21 or newer
Beginning in the 1950s, the Union Pacific Railroad sought higher and higher horsepower ratings from its locomotives to help move increasingly heavier and longer trains. Gas-Turbine Electric Locomotives (GTEL) technology promised much higher horsepower ratings over the diesel-electric locomotive designs of the time. General Electric (GE) and American Locomotive Co. (ALCO) built the first GTEL design, a double-ended, 4,500 horsepower, B+B – B+B unit, delivered as UP #50 in 1949.
This groundbreaking design would kick off the “Turbine Era” on the UP, which saw GE building successively larger and more powerful GTELs that would power UP’s hottest trains over the next two decades. The basic principal of the GTEL saw a GE-designed and built gas turbine… essentially a type of jet engine… driving a generator that produced electricity , which was fed to the traction motors on the locomotive’s axels. This design offered several advantages over more conventional diesel-electric locomotive designs of the era, particularly in horsepower. While competing cab and hood designs of the era boasted 1,500 – 1,750 hp, the first GTELs boasted 4,500 hp. Another advantage of the GTEL was it being designed to burn Bunker C heavy fuel oil, which, at the time, was much less expensive compared to conventional diesel fuel oil. GE would build successive batches of GTELs for UP, with each new design featuring improvements and design changes learned from experience from their predecessors.
Despite their outstanding performance, the “Big Blows” were to have relatively short careers. One of the contributing factors to this was rising fuel costs; the once-cheap Bunker C fuel oil the turbines were designed to burn, which refiners practically couldn’t give away early on, saw its price per gallon rise dramatically in the 1960s, eventually negating the fuel cost advantage the turbines enjoyed over their diesel-electric contemporaries. Rising maintenance costs compared to diesel-electrics also became an issue. The turbine engines were complex pieces of machinery compared to a typical diesel prime mover, in particular the delicate turbine fan blades. These factors, along with advances in diesel-electric locomotive horsepower, and limitations on where the GTELs could operate, saw the first of the “Big Blows”, UP 1-4, retired in August of 1968, after scarcely 10 years of service. Their numbers continued to dwindle over the last few years of the decade, with UP #7 holding the distinction of being the last “Big Blow” to operate, pulling its last train on December 26th, 1969. All were officially retired by February 1970, closing out the loud and exciting Turbine Era on the Union Pacific.
As the Evolution of the GTEL Turbines progressed multiple versions were created. Among these were Single Unit and A-B sets with the Hostler Motor in the A unit and the Turbine in the B Unit. The file contains both Hoslter Motor and Turbine in one decoder. If modelling a Single unit just plug in and go! If using this in an A-B set 2 decoders will be needed. Simply turn the volume of the Turbine down in the A Unit decoder, and turn the volume of the Hostler Motor to 0 in the B Unit. DO NOT DISABLE them from function mapping as the Hostler motor sounds "talk" to the Turbine sounds inside the sound schedules within the decoder.
This file does contain "Full Throttle" capabilities. While the Turbine does not go up and down once turned on the Full Throttle abilities allow the Turbine to be Consisted with Diesels as this became a common practice in the late 1950's
Horns:
CV48=0 Dual Leslie A200
CV48=1 Nathan K3L
CV48=2 Nathan M5
CV48=3 Nathan P3
CV48=4 Nathan Old Cast P5A
CV48=5 Leslie S2M
CV48=6 Leslie RS3L
CV48=7 Leslie S3L
CV48=8 Leslie S5T
CV48=9 Nathan M3
CV48=10 Leslie RS3K
CV48=11 Nathan K5H
CV48=12 Leslie S3LR
CV48=13 Nathan M3H
CV48=14 Leslie Dual A125-A200
CV48=15 Leslie S5T-RF *Default*
Bells:
CV48=0 EMD Air Bell
CV48=64 GE Air Bell *Default*
Add values from above for total CV48 value.
Default CV48 Value = 79
15 - HORN - Leslie S5T-RF
64 - BELL - GE Air Bell
Total 15+64 = 79
New FULL THROTTLE features:
Drive Hold: Sound Slot 2 Mapped to F9
Independent Brake: Sound Slot 11 Mapped to F10
Run 8: Sound Slot 20 (not Mapped)
Coast: Sound Slot 21 (not Mapped)
For more info please see the "Full Throttle" Quick Start Guide in the ESU Instruction Manual Section of our Website.
http://www.esu.eu/en/downloads/instruction-manuals/digital-decoders/