How many mpg does a locomotive get?

Answer 1

i work in Iowa as an engineer for union pacific. some locomotives have Computer Monitors that read various statistics and i wondered also what kind of mileage do trains achieve. a general electric 44ac had 560k miles on computer and had burned 11 million (yes million) gal. of fuel. Seems that idle time, delays enroute, heavy tonnage, etc. equate to about 20 gal. per mile. WOW!!!!!!

That's not nearly the right answer, locomotives run of the Main Generator and Traction motors, and the fuel is primarily used to power the Main Generator and Air compressor... Locomotives run of electricity that provides an electromagnetic field and forces the armature to turn within the traction motors... Now, yes, idle time, delays and heavy loads will play a key part in the readout of your monitor, but the locomotive may have sat in a service track for a week while at idle, this will burn tons of fuel, which is why newer locomotives are equipped with a shut of switch. I also work for UP...