EMD 710

The EMD 710 is a line of diesel engines built by Electro-Motive Diesel (previously General Motors' Electro-Motive Division). The 710 series replaced the earlier EMD 645 series when the 645F series proved to be unreliable in the early 1980s 50-series locomotives which featured a maximum engine speed of 950 rpm. The EMD 710 is a relatively large medium-speed two-stroke diesel engine that has 710 cubic inches (11.6 liters) displacement per cylinder, and a maximum engine speed of 900 rpm. In 1951, E. W. Kettering (son of Charles F. Kettering) wrote a paper for the ASME entitled, History and Development of the 567 Series General Motors Locomotive Engine, which goes into great detail about the technical obstacles that were encountered during the development of the 567 engine. These same considerations apply to the 645 and 710, as these engines were a development of the 567C, applying a cylinder bore increase (645) and a stroke increase (710), to achieve a greater power output, without changing the external size or weight of the engines, thereby achieving significant improvements in horsepower per unit volume and horsepower per unit weight. Since its introduction, EMD has continually upgraded the 710G diesel engine. Power output has increased from 3,800 horsepower (2,800 kW) on 1984's 16-710G3A to 4,500 horsepower (3,400 kW) (as of 2012) on the 16-710G3C-T2, although most current examples are 4,300 horsepower (3,200 kW). The 710 has proved to be exceptionally reliable, although the earlier 645 is still supported and most 645 service parts are still in new production, as many 645E-powered GP40-2 and SD40-2 locomotives are still operating after four decades of service. These often serve as a benchmark for engine reliability, which the 710 would meet and eventually exceed. A significant number of non-SD40-2 locomotives (SD40, SD45, SD40T-2, and SD45T-2, and even some SD50s)...