What's happening?

[Anonymous]

Refering to this photo from RailPictures.net http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=18458 , could anyone tell me how the loco got fire please? Thanks!

Karn[:)]

[Anonymous]

I've seen this photo before. It appears that the locomotive's engine is overheating, but I doubt that because the crew doesn't seem to care, so it might be a unique feature of the locomotive; some kind of super engine. I'm not sure.

[espeefoamer]

I couldn't get the link to work.[:(]

[Anonymous]

Didn't work for me either.....

Would really like to see it too!

[Anonymous]

Just got an ad.

LC

[Anonymous]

The link is working now. Sorry folks. I have put a space between the link and the comma.

[Modelcar]

...Looks to me raw fuel got pumped right through the engine and out the exaust stack somehow and of course is burning.....Have seen similar scenes before.

[Anonymous]

Wow that's unreal......

You would think that would be a real problem with overhead wires or an overhead bridge or something....

Bet the RR got a lot of calls about that one.

I suppose the crew wouldn't even know about it......[:0]

[Rick Gates]

It appears that the scavanging pump has been overheated and blown.....GE's do that sometimes. At least it has happened to me. The engine will start hunting (idling fast and slow at irregular cycles.....making weird noises) and the crew would know soon enough. Shutting the engine down with the emergency fuel shut-off will extingui***he fire.

[adrianspeeder]

If extra fuel isn't burned in the engine due to a quick deceleration of engine speed, the fuel accumulates in the exhaust manifold / turbo and then burns till the turbo spools back up blowing everything clear.
Are loco turbos waste-gated? My diesel truck isn't but some diesel engines are.

Adrianspeeder

[Anonymous]

Thats a GE they have a habit of catchign fire be it electrical or the way they are plagued by falty fuel jumpers its only a matter of time before they go up in smoke hehehehehe

[locomutt]

QUOTE: Originally posted by rkarn

Refering to this photo from RailPictures.net http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=18458 , could anyone tell me how the loco got fire please? Thanks!

Karn[:)]

I had trouble getting the link to work,but did finially manage.
That is one good pic.
Hope local Fire Dept.wasn't around!

[Randy Stahl]

I like when this happens on the load box, GE locomotive with mechanical fuel injector linkage, good for stuck injector pumps. Someone hit it right on the head about the raw fuel burning in the stack. They spend alot of time in idle adding a good coating of carbon in the stack , hot carbon , air flow and fuel cause a good fire. Cool pic....
Usually a scavaging pump will cause the pistons to get tore up adding to the carbon in the stack but a good telltale is that the locomotive is often covered in lube oil.
No waste gate on locomotive turbo's
Randy

[tree68]

Saw the same thing in person once. Engine had been idling, and when the hogger notched it out the excess fuel in the exhaust caught, ever so briefly. This pic is probably excellent/lucky timing, as the fire probably went out shortly thereafter.

We discussed the same picture here a while back. The general consensus was that it was a characteristic of GEs...

It is a great shot, though!

[Anonymous]

Hmmmm..........How can I replicate this in HO scale????[(-D][:-^]

[espeefoamer]

I have seen this on GEs before,but never that bad![:0]

[Anonymous]

i saw something similar a few years ago while driving down I-25 along the sante fe via raton pass. it was a newer GE loco and i must've looked over at the right time cause there was a trail of fire about 3-4 feet back from the stack for a few seconds. it was kinda freaky but neat at the same time...haha.

[adrianspeeder]

Another interesting and scary thing about diesels goes along with this.
The turbo bearings are lubed with crankcase oil. If the bearing goes south oil can be forced into the intake right along with the air. A diesel will burn oil as happily as diesel fuel, so the oil + diesel fuel causes the engine to rev up, causing the turbo to add more air and consequently more oil. This continues until two things happens. One: all oil gets burned. Two: engine is pushed waaayyyy past the red line causing the diesel fuel to be cut off. The problem is that for a diesel to run all thats needed is compression and fuel. The compression comes from the pistons moving, and the fuel comes from the oil supplied from the failed turbo. It is now an uncontrolled runaway chain reaction. A certain death sentence for the engine as the crank will snap and pistons will fly out the block like freakin missiles.
I saw this happen with a cat dozer and it is scary not being in control. With equipment, they go to high gear, drop the blade and aim for a hill to stall it. With stick shift cars and trucks, you go to overdrive, dump the clutch, and use the service and parking brake to try to stall it. With an automatic diesel like mine there is nothing i can do but put it to neutral and cry as the tach moves over the 3000rpm red line to about 6000rpms and try to dodge the flying pistons.
What can you do in a loco? Is there an electrical disconnect between the traction motors and generator that can be easily hit?

Adrianspeeder

[Randy Stahl]

A couple times when I've been load boxing locomotives I have had turbo's run away. It is very frightening and there really isn't any thing you can do exept stay in the cab and keep everyone away from the locomotive. The overspeed will trip around 1000 rpm on an EMD and about 1100 on a GE but this won't stop it. There was a device that was used years ago called the slammer, this device at least cut the air to the turbo. I havn't seen the slammer for a long time I guess they worked alot when they weren't supposed to. Usually the prime mover is dramatically destroyed and the carbody is pretty bad off to
Adrian speeder is correct about turbo bearings, the engine airbox fills with lube oil and starts to burn , an airbox fire can cause a runaway turbo an an EMD, again there's nothing you can do. GE locomotives don't have a soakback system and USUALLY a GE turbo will simply fail, dash 7 and some dash 8 engines have a turbo speed sensor that sticks inside of the turbo , USUALLY this sensor is ruined if the bearings go to hell and the engine won't load .
Randy

[wabash1]

i can tell you the crew knew this was going on. in notch 5 and 6 is the best light show and you can keep this going on for miles

[Anonymous]

I was just on a regular freight with a Dash-8 in the lead and the stack had been spitting out black smoke the whole trip. Then after we had been sitting awhile, something built up as had been said in this forum and I turned around to see a fireball shooting out the stack, it was quite a site to see![:-,] But then again, there's something about fire that just intrigues me.

[locomutt]

QUOTE: Originally posted by mainecentral229

Hmmmm..........How can I replicate this in HO scale????[(-D][:-^]

Hmmm,Do you really want to burn your models[?][:D][}:)]

[edblysard]

You should see it at night, along with all the carbon cinders...
private 4th of july fireworks show.!
Sounds pretty neat also....

Ed

QUOTE: Originally posted by espeefoamer

I have seen this on GEs before,but never that bad![:0]

[Anonymous]

Just happened to stumble onto this story on Krug's homepage...
Exactly the same thing happening, but he just missed the picture.

http://KrugTales.50megs.com/rrpictale/p030224/p030224.htm

[Anonymous]

the locomtive wanted to be an ALCO...