The usual mission creep that happens when you look something up...
SP also equipped 25 GP9s (Class DF-605, numbers not listed) with dual fuel and ATS for Roseville pool service (which includes Donner Pass). Freight units, they did not have steam generators, so fuel must have been electrically heated.
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54light15 The ship I was on in the 1970s formerly ran on bunker C but was converted to ND (Navy Distillate) fuel which was the same as diesel fuel. The flight deck trucks and the ship's boats all ran on it, maybe the jets, too. After the Navy I worked in a boiler room where we would burn number 6 fuel. Nasty stuff, had to be heated to make it flow and also to make it burn. Yep, just like tar. We would have change over to it from nat gas whenever there was a cold spell so the local hospitals were ensured that they would have an adequate supply. Every single time we were told to go over to number 6, the guy on night shift (I was on 4-12) would call in sick.
The ship I was on in the 1970s formerly ran on bunker C but was converted to ND (Navy Distillate) fuel which was the same as diesel fuel. The flight deck trucks and the ship's boats all ran on it, maybe the jets, too. After the Navy I worked in a boiler room where we would burn number 6 fuel. Nasty stuff, had to be heated to make it flow and also to make it burn. Yep, just like tar. We would have change over to it from nat gas whenever there was a cold spell so the local hospitals were ensured that they would have an adequate supply. Every single time we were told to go over to number 6, the guy on night shift (I was on 4-12) would call in sick.
Very-O.T: Navy aircraft have used a specially formulated jet fuel known as JP-5 since the early 1950's. I suspect that this is not the ND fuel you mention...
"I Often Dream of Trains"-From the Album of the Same Name by Robyn Hitchcock
According to the "1973 Southern Pacific Motive Power Annual" by Joseph A. Strapac (Chatham Publishing, Burlingame CA 1974):
1956-built DF-124 5449-5463 had boilers and dual fuel when new, so they were equipped with triple tanks; 800 gallons of water, 400 gallons of diesel fuel and 1200 gallons of heavy oil. When the steam generators were pulled in 1958-1960 the tank cpacity was changed to 1800 gallons of heavy oil and 600 gallons of diesel fuel. The mudburner feature is gone now[1973]; the stable is all pegged at 2,400 gallons capacity.
No mention is made of heating coils, though even by 1956 the steam generators would not have seen much use. They were probably equipped with electric coils. In any event they spent their time on Tehachapi before the "mudburner" feature was removed, so the fuel wouldn't have required as much heating as in other SP (or UP) territories.
" Would be interesting to see the thermostatic arrangements to keep the elements from overheating and/or gassing the heavy fuel!"
Assuming that "gassing" means boiling then it would not be much of a problem. Less than 1 % of bunker C typically boils below 160 degrees C.
http://www.etc-cte.ec.gc.ca/databases/oilproperties/pdf/web_bunker_c_fuel_oil.pdf
160C is way above what is required for flow through pipes, pumps and such. As long as the oil bunker is vented to atmosphere there is no problem.
RME ... I expect someone like Midland Mike can tell you everything you want to know from production to 95 SUS.
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I expect someone like Midland Mike can tell you everything you want to know from production to 95 SUS.
My experience is in the drilling & production end. Michigan mostly produces light crudes and condensate. I suspect that residual was not a big output from the state's refineries (there is only one left now), up until maybe the last few years when they started importing oil sand dilbit.
rcdryeSP set up a bunch of SD9s with partitioned fuel tanks to burn Bunker oil in the late 1950s.
Don't forget the UP doing the same thing on GP9s and SD24s. Here is Don Strack's account:
In a move to reduce operating costs, many of UP's 300 class GP9s were equipped to burn low grade heavy fuel. This fuel was similar to the fuel that UP was using in its Gas Turbine locomotives [i.e. the #5 that replaced the GE-modified spec Bunker C]. Those GP9 units that were modified to burn heavy fuel received a large 2,400 gallon fuel tank which contained the electrical heating coils needed to heat the fuel and keep it flowing. The use of heated heavy fuel as a fuel meant that heat built up under the walkways, so the modified GP9 units were equipped with open metal grating applied as walkways to dissipate excess heat. Also included was a two-stage fuel filter, located between the air compressor and the equipment rack in the rear of the carbody interior. The larger fuel tank forced one of the twin, GP9 air reservoirs to be mounted cross-wise in the area just ahead of the battery boxes at the front of the locomotive. The larger fuel tank forced the air cooling coils from the normal GP9 location under the walkway, out to the right side of the modified locomotive. The large fuel return line was located on the left side of the new fuel tank. Later modifications to the 300 class included the same 2400-gallon fuel tank as a simple increase in fuel tank size. This modification used the same design as the heavy fuel tank, but lacked the heating coils and large return line. All of the units originally equipped to burn heavy fuel were later changed to burn diesel fuel, but retained the larger fuel tank. The SD24s were purchased as heavy fuel locomotives in 1959, to also make use of this inexpensive fuel. The SD24s were delivered with the same electric heaters and two-stage fuel filters, with these features either being removed, or retired-in-place when the units were changed to using normal diesel fuel. By the late 1960s the oil refiners were finding other markets for heavy fuel, with a subsequent raise in price. With the retirement of all the gas turbines at the same time, UP decided to end the use of heavy fuel. During the mid 1970s all of the 300-class GP9 units were returned to using diesel fuel, allowing the removal of the large pipes from the left side of the fuel tanks. (The SD24s were converted during the early 1960s.) An exact list of units modified to burn heavy fuel is not available. Using photographs to identify the units is difficult because at the same time as the heavy fuel feature was removed, UP decided to increase the fuel capacity on many of the other GP9s by applying the same 2,400 gallon fuel tanks to GP9s that had never burned the heavy fuel. A company roster dated September 1, 1968 shows 86 GP9 and GP9B locomotives with the larger 2,400 gallon fuel tank, including six units in the 130-299 series. Twenty of the 300-class GP9s and GP9Bs never received the larger fuel tank, either as heavy fuel units or as regular fuel units. Also, fifteen 300-class B-units equipped with steam generators for passenger service were equipped with the same 2,400 gallon tank, split with 1,300 gallons of fuel and 1,100 gallons of water. When the steam generators were retired in place on these units, the plumbing was changed to allow the water tank to be used as a fuel tank. Of the 100 units in the 300-class, all but five A-units received either turbochargers or larger fuel tanks. These last five units, UP 312, 333, 341, 345, and 346, retained their original, as-built appearance throughout their careers on UP.
The use of heated heavy fuel as a fuel meant that heat built up under the walkways, so the modified GP9 units were equipped with open metal grating applied as walkways to dissipate excess heat. Also included was a two-stage fuel filter, located between the air compressor and the equipment rack in the rear of the carbody interior. The larger fuel tank forced one of the twin, GP9 air reservoirs to be mounted cross-wise in the area just ahead of the battery boxes at the front of the locomotive.
The larger fuel tank forced the air cooling coils from the normal GP9 location under the walkway, out to the right side of the modified locomotive. The large fuel return line was located on the left side of the new fuel tank. Later modifications to the 300 class included the same 2400-gallon fuel tank as a simple increase in fuel tank size. This modification used the same design as the heavy fuel tank, but lacked the heating coils and large return line. All of the units originally equipped to burn heavy fuel were later changed to burn diesel fuel, but retained the larger fuel tank.
The SD24s were purchased as heavy fuel locomotives in 1959, to also make use of this inexpensive fuel. The SD24s were delivered with the same electric heaters and two-stage fuel filters, with these features either being removed, or retired-in-place when the units were changed to using normal diesel fuel.
By the late 1960s the oil refiners were finding other markets for heavy fuel, with a subsequent raise in price. With the retirement of all the gas turbines at the same time, UP decided to end the use of heavy fuel. During the mid 1970s all of the 300-class GP9 units were returned to using diesel fuel, allowing the removal of the large pipes from the left side of the fuel tanks. (The SD24s were converted during the early 1960s.)
An exact list of units modified to burn heavy fuel is not available. Using photographs to identify the units is difficult because at the same time as the heavy fuel feature was removed, UP decided to increase the fuel capacity on many of the other GP9s by applying the same 2,400 gallon fuel tanks to GP9s that had never burned the heavy fuel. A company roster dated September 1, 1968 shows 86 GP9 and GP9B locomotives with the larger 2,400 gallon fuel tank, including six units in the 130-299 series. Twenty of the 300-class GP9s and GP9Bs never received the larger fuel tank, either as heavy fuel units or as regular fuel units. Also, fifteen 300-class B-units equipped with steam generators for passenger service were equipped with the same 2,400 gallon tank, split with 1,300 gallons of fuel and 1,100 gallons of water. When the steam generators were retired in place on these units, the plumbing was changed to allow the water tank to be used as a fuel tank. Of the 100 units in the 300-class, all but five A-units received either turbochargers or larger fuel tanks. These last five units, UP 312, 333, 341, 345, and 346, retained their original, as-built appearance throughout their careers on UP.
I have to wonder whether the SP units were set up with steam coils (from their SGs) as delivered, and were then modified to use electric coils in the tank like UP. Would be interesting to see the thermostatic arrangements to keep the elements from overheating and/or gassing the heavy fuel!
SP set up a bunch of SD9s with partitioned fuel tanks to burn Bunker oil in the late 1950s. The "mudburner" feature was not popular with engine crews, and didn't last long in service. I guess they started on Diesel and mixed the Bunker in. The engines so equipped tended to stay in Tehachapi service, since they had no way of heating the oil even though at least some of the units were S/G equipped.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_oil
Rich
If you ever fall over in public, pick yourself up and say “sorry it’s been a while since I inhabited a body.” And just walk away.
CandOforprogress2I imagine this stuff to be a dark tarry stuff that has almost the consistency of chewing gum.
If you've ever seen pitch or asphalt tar, you have the idea of the kind of 'residual oil' that the Navy used to call Bunker C. I think that in practice the straight residual is admixed with a little of some lighter fraction, like #2 or 'gas oil', to produce actual Bunker C/#6. Here is a nice introduction to fractional distillation that shows what the stuff resembles.
Keep in mind that steam locomotives (and the UP turbines) didn't burn "Bunker C", they used Bunker B or #5, which is not quite so bad (but still needs to be heated to flow effectively in lines and burners, and has a high enough volatile content at not too much higher temperatures to give you problems with gassing).
To my knowledge this stuff is viscous, not rubbery or thixotropic, so more like something like molasses than chewing gum.
I imagine this stuff to be a dark tarry stuff that has almost the consitatcy of chewing gum.
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