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 - Hydraulics - Cylinder Anatomy - by Curtis von Fange. Let�s make one more addition to our series on hydraulics. I�ve noticed a few questions in the comment section that could pertain to hydraulic cylinders so I thought we could take a short look at this real workhorse of the circuit. Cylinders are the reason for the hydraulic circuit. They take the fluid power delivered from the pump and magically change it into mechanical power. There are many types of cylinders that one might run across on a farm scenario. Each one could take a chapter in
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