Anyone noticed this problem with other GE units. This one is almost new and they cannot keep the doors closed on the unit. Yesterday, the right hand side would not stay closed and today the it is left side. Both times, they were shut in route and would fly open in a few miles.
CZ
Check out the pictures of the 7400 both days on Donner.
http://s806.photobucket.com/albums/yy345/Trainsforyou/RocklinRails/?albumview=slideshow
CZ:
Just to note, The Donner Shots were REALLY GREAT!
As to the door issue; looks like possibly, just a transient anomaly.
More interestingly, to me, is the Stainless Steel Dome Car in the UP Consist.
You do not often see UP's equipment mixed in a Corporate Consist. UP does have several dome cars in their business fleet. It is unusual that they would include an outside owner's car in one of their Business Car moves.
The only time I ever saw thir equipment mixed was on 3985's (as CRR #676) trip to East Kentucky/Tennessee in 1992 on the CSX/ Clinchfield's Santa Train Special
Any idea what that car was, and why it was in that train?
Thanks!
This was a special train for the California Association of Short Lines. I am not sure why the private car Silver Lariat was in the train but it might be owned by one of the CAS railroads. Just a thought.
When it returned from Reno, the special went down the coast line to LA.
The car in question is owned by California Zepher Railcar Charters. calzephyrrailcar.com
Avianwatcher The car in question is owned by California Zepher Railcar Charters. calzephyrrailcar.com
WELL!
Learned something, Thanks!
Found this link: http://www.monticellorotary.org/silver_lariat.htm
I guess the Silver Lariet is not unusual, maybe infrequent visitor to UPRR. The notes on the above website sure indicate that.
And this is the home website for the former CB&Q RR Dome Car 'Silver Lariet'
http://www.calzephyrrailcar.com/Site/Welcome.html
Thanks again, for the information,
The first time I saw the car was when it was hooked up to the Coast Starlight in Oakland heading southbound. We were on the Starlight and I checked it out in LA when we got off. It looked in mint condition.
Thanks for the information on ownship. I have seen this car with the other two Zephyr several times in the past year on trains like the Portola Feather River Express. It really would be great to see all of the remaining California Zephyr cars in service again on a special up the FRC.
This is the three set of cars that usually run as a trio. They were behind the 4449 on this day July 3rd, 2009.
Great picture! As a kid I rode the CZ and I will never forget the beauty of the route.
Avianwatcher Great picture! As a kid I rode the CZ and I will never forget the beauty of the route.
I would guess it was a great trip and most of us would like to have done that.
This is the Portola Feather River express this year from Emeryville to Portola for the Railroad days at Portola, Calfornia. It ran on a portion of the old route from Sacramento to Portola via the FRC.
The problem with having riden it is that it reminds me just how old I am! For what it's worth, the CZ route was in my opinion the most beautiful in the country and the train had very good service. If however you wanted real luxury and speed you took the City of San Francisco. What fun it was to take the ferry from San Francisco to the Oakland Mole, go to your bedroom, and enjoy the service. I think it equaled the Super Chief out of Union Station in LA. As you can see, one of the few joys of being really old is looking back on the great trains you rode which will never be again.
As I recall, three years ago when we were going down to LA from Salem, on the Coast Starlight, the Silver Lariat was put on our rear at Emeryville; I do not recall if it was taken off before we reached LA or not. I did not see anybody on the train to ask about it.
Johnny
Nice shots of the SOASP/SSPLA on Donner CZ. As for the door problem, it's an anti-railfan feature. LOL, jk but with UP who knows. Just another GE trait.
Here are a few shots of the CZ cars on the returning Feather River Express with WP 2001 on the point. Nice looking cars.
Cajon
Here is the Silver Lariat on the SOAOA (the "Duffy Express"). Passing MP 378 on UP's Mojave Sub.
Great Pictures. I forgot theDuffy express used this car last year.
The Zephyr cars on the FRC sure looks like they belong on Williams loop.
Thanks
I've never had this problem on any of the late model GE engines I've operated...NS, UP & BNSF. The problem must be with this particular unit. One thing I have noticed though is that 12 cylinder engines have more vibration than 16 cylinder models. This is especially true for GP59 locomotives when they are idling. All ES GE locos are 12 cylinder models compared to their earlier 16 cylinder Dash-9 cousins.
EMD#1 I've never had this problem on any of the late model GE engines I've operated...NS, UP & BNSF. The problem must be with this particular unit. One thing I have noticed though is that 12 cylinder engines have more vibration than 16 cylinder models. This is especially true for GP59 locomotives when they are idling. All ES GE locos are 12 cylinder models compared to their earlier 16 cylinder Dash-9 cousins.
I think you are correct about this not being a general problem with all of the GE's since we have watched so many of the new units without a problem like this. It is interesting that the 12 cylinder models vibrate more, but they are getting more HP out of each of the 12 cylinders compared to the 16 cylinder motors.
One suggestion has been made by others that the doors were ordered and replaced on this unit since this particular unit was out on the road a few months with the flag on it. It the doors were changed out and not adjusted correctly, it might be the problem.
Just a thought. '
It's interesting that a V12 vibrates more than a V16.
I know in Automotive engines, an Inline 4 has the most vibration/noise, an I6 and V6 the least and the V8 is in the middle, so I'd expect that to hold true when you double the cylinders. The harmonics of a V12, would I think produce less Vibration than a V16. Of course, maybe a GEVO-16 would vibrate worse than an 7FDL-16 as well?
How did the HDL fair in terms of vibration? The GEVO is it's descendent.
YoHo - sorry, not to go too far off topic here, but the V8 is the smoothest running of your engines that you remarked about. V6s are not nearly as smooth - there are different designs that try to tackle the vibration on a V6 - including odd-fire, even-fire and semi-odd-fire, 90" V, 60" V etc. Some even have balancing shafts to reduce this vibration. The 60 degree design is more smooth than the 90 degree design, because there's a firing stroke every 120 degrees (even firing) on a 60 degree separation, where a 90 degree block generally requires a balancing shaft (odd firing designs have a 90/150/90/150 design, while the even-firing designs are 120-120-120 on a 90-degree cylinder separation). The V8 is smoothest because there's a firing cylinder for every 90 degrees of crankshaft revolution. A V12 is smoother than a V8, and a V16 sould be smoother than a V12 - simply because of angle - the more angle between firing strokes, the greater the vibration.
I think, based on some very rudimentary googling that I should have said inline 6 and not V6. In either case, this is what Wikipedia says which jives with what I've heard before...Though of course it's wikipedia
There are four different forces and moments of vibration that can occur in an engine design: free forces of the first order, free forces of the second order, free moments of the first order and free moments of the second order. The straight-6, flat-6 and V12 designs have none of these forces or moments of vibration and hence are the naturally smoothest engine designs. (See the Bosch Automotive Handbook, Sixth Edition, pages 459-463 for details.) Engines with particular balance advantages include: Straight-6 Flat-4 with two geared crankshafts Flat-6 Flat-12 V12 Engines with characteristic problems include: Straight-4 using a single crankshaft have no better kinetic energy balance than a single, and require a relatively large flywheel. Crossplane V8, which requires a very heavily weighted crankshaft, and has unbalanced firing between the cylinder banks (producing the distinctive and much-loved V8 "burble"). Flatplane (180° offset crankshaft) V8.
Engines with particular balance advantages include:
Engines with characteristic problems include:
Of course, wikipedia also says this about V16 engines
A V16 engine is perfectly balanced regardless of the V angle without requiring counter-rotating balancing shafts which are necessary to balance Straight-4 and odd number of cylinder inline engines or counterweighted crankshaft like the 90° V8. In addition angles of 45° and 135° vees give an impulse every 45°, so are optimal solutions, for even-firing and non-split bearing crankshaft journals.
Which just goes to show that a little bit of knowledge wedged in the back of your brain is a dangerous thing.
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