Ever since Progress Rail opened up their new facility in Muncie Indiana, all I've ever seen in the media is "fanfare" type fluff, with no indepth coverage of what they are really doing there.
How about an article in Trains mag peering under the fluff, showing something that might appeal to the "rivet counters" among us?
Is the plant strictly an assembly plant, or are components actually fabricated on-site? Among the components fabricated elsewhere, where are they made, and how are they shipped to the Muncie facility (truck vs. rail)? Logistics pearls/nightmares? How many shifts? How many units produced per month? Fun stuff like that.
{edit} it would also be interesting to know of the jobs "created" by the plant opening, how many went to Muncie natives newly hired versus existing employees transfered in from elsewhere by the borg. How has the skill level of the local talent pool been perceived by Progress? etc.
Sounds like a good article to me, also.
James
Since EMD isn't manufacturing any new locomotives for a couple years because they can't meet the Tier 4 emissions standards (there's another thread* here someplace that I started about that) - perhaps that article would be just a lot of white space and zeros ?
- Paul North.
*- "EMD / Caterpillar Tier 4 Locomotives Won't Be Ready Until 2017 !!!" at:
http://cs.trains.com/trn/f/111/t/231051.aspx
From everything I've read that is out there publicly (not the same as a tour of the place or a Trains interview article), they are working on the F125 Spirit passenger locomotive that will utilize urea, and export locomotives.
http://www.emdiesels.com/emdweb/products/pdf/2-sidersENG_LTR_proof_rev5RevH.pdf
Paul_D_North_JrSince EMD isn't manufacturing any new locomotives for a couple years because they can't meet the Tier 4 emissions standards perhaps that article would be just a lot of white space and zeros ?
Knowing organizational lethargy the way I do, Then perhaps now would be a good time to start the "lead time" ticker ticking?
Even so, a "we invested $50 million in a plant that now sits idle, and all workers are laid-off" would make for an interesting article?
kgbw49they are working on the F125 Spirit passenger locomotive that will utilize urea,
I don't have a lot of confidence in urea sytems as an ultimate solution. Wonder if they are looking into "free piston" designs coupled to linear alternators?
Youtube animation
Convicted OneI don't have a lot of confidence in urea systems as an ultimate solution. Wonder if they are looking into "free piston" designs coupled to linear alternators?
Urea systems are fine in the 'necessary' purpose - which is reducing NOx by the fraction of a percent below what the 'dry' methods were able to achieve. I do agree that making a urea system the ONLY NOx abatement, cost-effective as that might seem at first, is the bad idea you think it is.
I still think a case could be made for lobbying Congress to reduce the NOx level slightly for locomotives, or perhaps even any off-road use ... just as I think a case should have been made that the 'double-nickel' speed limit be set to a nice round 100 kph as part of a feel-good metricization. In both cases, valid physical considerations would produce fairly dramatic improvements in operation from small nominal change.
You missed the most important part of the free-piston design -- where all the combustion gas goes after the electrical 'harvesting' is done. And yes, the approach is being looked at in detail, including the other useful aspects of the integrated generation for engine control. Thing is that positive-displacement piston expanders with flywheel effect driving an external load - of which IC engines are a good example - still have many advantages running at part load, and of course have inherent synchronization. It is probably instructive to look at the GM experiences with free-piston engines in general in the 1950s, and the problems with the ship plant (which I suspect Leo Ames is expert on) and the FG-9, to get a handle on what a locomotive-scale free-piston plant would entail... not to say it can't be done.
WizlishYou missed the most important part of the free-piston design -- where all the combustion gas goes after the electrical 'harvesting' is done.
"Instead of a turbine driven by exhaust gases, work is performed directly by the piston, or a device rigidly attached to it. This may be a hydraulic pump, an air compressor or an array of permanent magnets moving inside coils of a linear generator By discarding the turbine, overall efficiency can transcend that of today's rotating engines by a remarkable margin, values approaching 50% are in sight or have already been measured"
From here
Paul_D_North_JrSince EMD isn't manufacturing any new locomotives for a couple years because they can't meet the Tier 4 emissions standards
Looks like demonstrator #1501, SD70ACe-T4 shows they are poised to pounce. Gotta build them somewhere
Paul_D_North_JrSince EMD isn't manufacturing any new locomotives for a couple years because they can't meet the Tier 4 emissions standards (there's another thread* here someplace that I started about that) - perhaps that article would be just a lot of white space and zeros ? - Paul North.
No, it would feature a lot of export models. They have several 'conversion cars' with different couplers on each end to connect them in a train. Other gages get loaded onto flatcars for shipment to the port and then onto ships.
Just yesterday I heard the dispatcher remind the road crew of NS train 197 to set off unit 72xx at Progress as they go by.
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