Many locomotives in daily service were built in the sixties and seventies, and are still serving their operators. This is why some people call them diesel electric locomotives. A locomotive may sometimes have a fifth letter in its name which generally denotes a technical variant or subclass or subtype.

The answer is, it depends on the apple's condition and make-up. I will use 4000HP as an average for this answer. 1,260 were built before the SD45-2 superceded it.

Mostly based on what its application was to do.

Train engines (locomotives) are produced in a wide range of power outputs depending on application. Getting into older smaller locomotives, like the GP38–2, GP40, GP60, weigh around 125 to 140 tons. Most of the locos I work with are SD40-2's, SD70's, Dash-8's and Dash-9's. The EMD (Electro Motive Division) SD45 is a series of six-axle 3,600hp diesel locomotives which were built from December 1965 to December 1971. Well, defining modern, the newest six axle over the road locomotives, weigh between 200 to 220 tons. The life of a locomotive can be prolonged further by rebuilding parts such as the prime mover, and rewiring the electrical system. Keep the locomotive's power the same, but make it twice as heavy on the driven wheels, and you will see it pull a lot more because it will have more traction. The Horsepower ranges from 3000HP to 4800HP. Standard. If it is what most would call a pie apple, it won't be very sweet. Another fact many people don't know is that the diesel engine in a locomotive today does not turn the wheels. Each alternator is big enough to walk inside and weighs more than 5-10 cars. There are many ways in which a locomotive can be the largest: the heaviest, longest, most cylinders, most power, or most wheels. So, your question is a lot like, "How sweet is an apple?" For the purpose of this answer, I will stick to modern, broad gauge locomotives. Typically in the range of 1000 Hp to 7000 Hp. It had been phased from mainline service on Class 1's to helper service, and now very few "true" SD45's remain active. It is often defined as the longest in length, but there is even a debate on whether or not to include the tender, which is equivalent to the fuel tank of … Locomotives come in a wide range of horsepower ratings. It turns large (5-6 ft tall) alternators that in turn power large electric motors that turn the wheels. How much horsepower does a modern locomotive have?