The Great Pumpkin -- BNSF GE AC4400CW in Caliente, California Spiral Notebook

BNSF 5732 just past a grade crossing in Caliente, California. It's a General Electric model AC4400CW, one of the first General Electric locomotives to use AC instead of DC traction motors.

Locomotives do not use their diesel engine to power the wheels. The engine is used to turn a generator which produces electrical power that is routed to electric motors on each axle. Until the early 1990s those motors were direct current, but in 1993 both EMD and General Electric introduced locomotives with AC traction motors. AC offered the advantage of reducing wheel slip, and therefore maintaining grip on the rails which increased the locomotive's pulling power.

I have been photographing the things I see for over thirty years. A resident of San Luis Obispo County, I'm lucky to have many excellent photo destinations within a few minutes' or hours' drive. Beyond the local area, I have traveled throughout California and the western United States, visited far away American destinations such as Chicago, New York, Florida, and Alaska, and international destinations in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. My photography varies from Architecture to Industrial Art to Nature to Wildlife and I'm sure you'll find something suitable for your home or office. Visit my blog