diesel-electric

Describing a power system in which a diesel engine powers an electrical generator.

In the United States, where the railways are 90 per cent. dieselised today, diesel-electric power is the unvarying rule for independent locomotive units, and the only motive power exceptions are the highly successful 600-h.p. diesel-hydraulic railcars of the Budd "RDC" type, of which between 300 and 400 are now at work.

A diesel-electric locomotive.

Brush supplied shunters to industrial clients, but the first significant main line order came from the Ceylon Government Railway in 1950 for 25 diesel-electrics.