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Originally Posted by AVGWarhawk
The newer boats powered the electric traction motor off electricity generated off the diesels. This is the same for diesel engines that run the freight cars on the rails.
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American railroad locomotives have one diesel engine/generator (typically a 'Catepiller' brand engine) with a traction motor for each wheelset. So if the locomotive has six wheel sets (typical for modern locos), there will be six traction motors.
However when the train is going down hill and the normal brakes (pads against the wheels) are not enough for braking, the engineer will actually switch the traction motors to generator motors which slow down the train. The only offset to this is that the generators create allot of heat and must be vented out the top of the locomotive.
