Without doing a lot of hunting on the DC vs AC power in locomotives ...
The majority of locomotives in service (and even being ordered) are still DC driven. Cost being a major reason.
Limited clarification about the following ... on a locomotive you have an engine turning a power supply (generator or alternator) and each axle has a motor.
Significant difference in pulling utilization... with a DC motor you can only operated it so long at max amperage before you start burning out components (I don't recall brushes/commutators?). So if you've got a heavy train on an uphill grade and drop below certain speeds you can't apply more power ... you can't crawl up a grade.
Because the A/C motors are built differently... you can crawl... forever with the throttle wide open without impacting the motors. So if you're the engineer and have a train that is underpowered it just takes longer to get that but you can with patience. On a DC unit you either take the train over the hill in two parts... or you wait on an additional locomotive. Fancier hardware though adds significantly to the price so most RR's have opted to manage their DC units better up to this point.
There's a couple of RR guys on here that can probably speak to it better... and some of the electrical guys can too.
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Today's Featured Article - Listening to Your Tractor - by Curtis Von Fange. Years ago there was a TV show about a talking car. Unless you are from another planet, physically or otherwise, I don’t think our internal combustion buddies will talk and tell us their problems. But, on the other hand, there is a secret language that our mechanical companions readily do speak. It is an interesting form of communication that involves all the senses of the listener. In this series we are going to investigate and learn the basic rudimentary skills of understanding this lingo.
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