Does anyone remember the project to convert a dozen or so former BN cabless units to be used to produce household electricity? I recall reading about them in Trains, someone actually set it up using several units and some controls in a baggage car following the blackouts in California a decade or so ago, they were capable of supplying power for a small city and could be moved into place. I haven't heard anything about them in the decade following, and always thought they would be useful, say during natural disasters like Katrina or the recent tornadoes.
I'm a little foggy on the details, but I seem to recall that in the immediate aftermath of Katrina, the train station at New Orleans was used as a temporary jail and was powered by a locomotive that happened to be there. Does anyone else remember the incident?
I do remember that there was an article in TRAINS several years ago about the units being prepared to be used as emergency generators, and that they were to be run on soybean oil. I'll have to try and find that issue. I have been curious, too, about the outcome. I suspect that the power crisis was resolved to some extent, and there wasn't demand for them.
As for post-Katrina use of locomotive power, I remember the jail part of the story, but can't confirm the power part, though I wouldn't be surprised. Things were pretty hectic.
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"A stranger's just a friend you ain't met yet." --- Dave Gardner
Exactly. And while the aftermath of Katrina was going on I always wondered why they didn't bring those units in, it would have resolved that part of the crisis very quickly.
DwightBranch Exactly. And while the aftermath of Katrina was going on I always wondered why they didn't bring those units in, it would have resolved that part of the crisis very quickly.
With a case like Katrina, the problem was not so much with generation of power, but distribution--power lines were down all over the area. The locomotives could be used for large centers like hospitals or public buildings, but they would have to be relatively close to the tracks.
As I recall, one of the problems with these in the Ca Central Valley was that running on BioDiesel caused them to be in violation of the NOX requirements for the Central Valley. Given the Air Quality problems in that part of California, this was a big deal.
DwightBranch Does anyone remember the project to convert a dozen or so former BN cabless units to be used to produce household electricity? I recall reading about them in Trains, someone actually set it up using several units and some controls in a baggage car following the blackouts in California a decade or so ago, they were capable of supplying power for a small city and could be moved into place. I haven't heard anything about them in the decade following, and always thought they would be useful, say during natural disasters like Katrina or the recent tornadoes.
The project was proposed by a subsidiary of Sierra Railroad:
http://www.sierrarailroad.com/powertrain/index.html
I have never seen any account that indicated that they put it into operation, California crawled out of it's self-inflicted power crisis before the idea could be fully realized.
"I Often Dream of Trains"-From the Album of the Same Name by Robyn Hitchcock
California and the CARB board the only place where Farting outside a truck will get you a Ticket it seems. Also where a truck that gets 9 MPG is illegal yet a truck that gets 5 MPG but produces 2% less overall emissions is LEGAL and PREFERRED. Tell me the Circular Logic in that one.
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Thanks for this, when you go to their website now there is no mention of "power train", you are likely correct that it was a good solution to a problem that no longer existed.
wasn't there an article about a CN unit that was run up a street to provide power ?? with the AC traction locos of today a quick adjustment of the static inverter and hooking power wire up can provide 60 hertz. I am not so sure about what voltage you can get but 480v 3phase would be nice. we do know that is HEP ouput..
blue streak 1 wasn't there an article about a CN unit that was run up a street to provide power ?? with the AC traction locos of today a quick adjustment of the static inverter and hooking power wire up can provide 60 hertz. I am not so sure about what voltage you can get but 480v 3phase would be nice. we do know that is HEP ouput..
I remember reading about that when it happened; back in the mid 90's (IINM) there was a severe ice storm that badly damaged the electrical grid through a wide swath of Eastern Canada..
IIRC, CN used an M420W to provide emergency power to a town. In order to get the unit to a position where it could be hooked to the local power grid, it was lifted off the tracks and then driven up a street under it's own power several hundred feet..
I imagine this resulted in damage to both the locomotive and the road..
I also recall reading in DIESEL ERA magazine that SP modified several aging U33C's to act as mobile power stations (used for it's own facilities) by plating over the cabs and modifing the electrical systems.
carnej1 California crawled out of it's self-inflicted power crisis before the idea could be fully realized.
California crawled out of it's self-inflicted power crisis before the idea could be fully realized.
At the risk of going off topic, as a resident of California I'm going to take issue with this. It was not self inflicted. It was inflicted by Enron. That is ultimately what sent the executives to jail. They were on tape laughing about how they were manipulating California and that it would causing the crisis.
YoHo1975 carnej1: California crawled out of it's self-inflicted power crisis before the idea could be fully realized. At the risk of going off topic, as a resident of California I'm going to take issue with this. It was not self inflicted. It was inflicted by Enron. That is ultimately what sent the executives to jail. They were on tape laughing about how they were manipulating California and that it would causing the crisis.
carnej1: California crawled out of it's self-inflicted power crisis before the idea could be fully realized.
Not self- inflicted intentionally by the Citizens of the State but didn't your then-Governor go down in flames as a result?
The fact that a politician was sent packing for events he had no control of is not in any way an indication of the truth of the matter, It is par for the course. I mean come on, you can't really think that's a valid assertion. He took the blame and that's all you can say. You will be hard pressed to find any facts to back up the fickle decisions of the voters. Not that I'm a Gray Davis supporter mind you.
I am not 100% positive but I do believe nearly all the B30-7's were scrapped by Schnitzer Steel in Portland,Oregon. I have a article somewhere talking about how much Schnitzer paid per locomotive and how long it would take to cut them up. I remember seeing the entire fleet sitting on a dead track in Pasco,Washington around 2004. I took some photos and will have to post them if I can find them.
The Providence and Worcester has around 5 B30-7's. There is around 10 more B30-7's assigned to various short lines around America. I am not sure if those are still active or not. You would have to check some photos on the internet and see the date on they were taken. http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/locoList.aspx?mid=144&Page=2 has the photos.
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