OH NO!! OUTTA FUEL

[louisnash]

Have any of you railroad guys or gals ever ran out of fuel while on the road? How often are the tanks filled? I thought that I recalled reading in Trains or some railroad magazine few years ago about a UP train running out of fuel and the picture showed a truck filling it up.

I know that Pepsi fills their trucks up every night whether they need ot or not. Didn't know how the fuel maintenance was.

Any good stories!

Thanks
Brian (KY)

[jeffhergert]

I myself have never ran out of fuel, but one time my crew and another were relieveing trains on their hours of service (dog catching) and the other crews train had 3 engines, 2 of which ran out of fuel before we got there.
We routinly have diesels refilled by tanker trucks at some crew change points. Some of the smaller terminals have had their fueling stations removed.
when we are getting low, or think we might be (it's not unusual to have some engines without working fuel gauges), we let the dispatcher know and they arrange a fuel truck to meet us at the next crew change.
Speaking of the gauges, one time after getting down to watch another train go by, I went to check the fuel sight glass on our engines for my engineer. The plate with the gallon markings had been placed over the sight glass upside down.

[Mookie]

Jeff: See the railroads do have a sense of humor.

Jen

[dknelson]

I was railfanning at Milwaukee's Butler Yard back in Chicago & North Western days when an eastbound came in off the Adams line -- and the crew had radio'd that they needed to refueld because one locomotive had gone dry. It had a defective fueld gauge I guess. Based on the irritated chatter on the scanner there was not much of a sense of humor at work that day. It takes a long time to remove a locomotive from a mainline train, get it to the fuel rack, fuel it and then return it to the train. I bet well over an hour. It might have made the difference between making Proviso and going dead on the line.

Dave Nelson

[wabash1]

I have had engines run out of fuel i would say 6 anyways. it seems that nobody fuels these as accurate as they once thought some places put in 2500 gals when it needed 35-3900 gals. also when a engine goes down in winter time and chance of freezing is high we drain the cooling system, we run no antifreeze in these units straight water. so we drain them into the fuel tank. keeps the epa off our buts. Maybe missouri should contact the epa and ask them about crossings safty.(lol)

[adrianspeeder]

I know that on heavy construction equipment that when the diesel injector pump starts pumping air when it runs out of fuel, that all the air needs to be purged out manually. I also know that on my diesel pickup there is an automatic air purge pump. What about on locomotives?
-Adrian

[wabash1]

not that i am aware of. i never needed to just prime the pump and fire it up.

[csxengineer98]

you all forget that the fuel is also used to lubricat the fuel injecters... so when a locomotive runs out of fuel.. it ruines the injectors...and they all need to be replaces...very costly and the engin is out of revenew service untill it is fixed... a unit begin shut down and drained for something other then running out of fuel is one thing..but they try and keep fuel in them the best they can... we are supost to notify someone be it the yard master the dispatcher..when a locomotive has less then 999 gallons of fuel..so some kind of arrangments can be made to get fuel to it...
csx engineer

[edblysard]

We have to get our switch motors fueled whenever they get below 500 gal, we burn around 400 gallons per eight hour shift, but then we do a lot of start/stop short drag movements.
We have auto start/shut down on our MK1500Ds, and the diesel shop let one sit inside the shop over a weekend, low on fuel. It ran so low the "computer" shut it off, and the shop guys had left the headlights on dim. Monday morning, not only was it out of fuel, the batteries were dead, and there is no fuel hose inside the shop proper, its a fire hazzard. We coupled up to it and dragged it out to the fuel rack. The shop guys gassed it up, but there were no spare battries around. So these mechanical geniuses decided to jump start it off our motor, but had no heavy duty jumper cables, they were at another yard, in the service truck. So they tried automotive jumper cables, the $10.99 Auto Zone specials. They worked, for about a minute. When the smoke cleared, and the small fire was out, they decided to wait for the service truck to get there. Moral of the story, I guess dont ever try to jump start your locomotive with $10.99 aluminum Auto Zone jumper cables, and if you do, have a fire hose handy.
Stay Frosty,
Ed

[wabash1]

i have never seen anyone replace injectors after you run out of fuel. the amount of lubercation a injector gets from fuel isnt much.

[Mookie]

Classic!

Jen

[Anonymous]

I was on the riding VIA Rails west bound Canadian. When early one morning the trailing unit(the one that powers the cars) ran out of fuel out side of Sioux Lookout. We sat there for a hour or so. It was November in the Canadian north so things cooled down quick inside. I was able to hear on my scanner that they where able to get the first locomotive to power the cars and pull the train. But the crews scared of over heating the enigine. When we finally made it to Sioux Lookout they fueled up the engines and went on with out any more troubles.

[adrianspeeder]

What are the size of locomotive jumper cables? I know that the solid copper cables i bought for my diesel pickup are about #4, and were more than sixty bucks. What kind of connectors are on the ends? Thanks.
Adrian

[wabash1]

the cables they use to jump start engines are not like the cables you buy comercialy the conectors are like a offset "L" and they use a cable about a inch thick. they plug one end of the cable into a receptical on the end of the engine and the other end into another engine . that is about it when you plug it in they just go and crank the dead engine up

[Jackflash]

j, I've not seen the cables you are speaking
about, the only jumper cables I've seen used
to jump start locomotives are shop made, they
use welding leads and hook them up at the battery
switch inside the cab.
Remember the old locomotives with a DC generator
you could jump start them with a welding machine
jackflash

[csxengineer98]

this is what they taught as at hogghead high for engineer trainning, that when a loco runs out of fuel the injectors need to be replaces... and yea it is alot from the fuel, look at how the injector head asembly is set up... fuel runs down the springs and into the needle... that is the only lubrication the injector gets... so its like runing your car with no oil in the engin..not good for moving mechanical parts...
like i said...this is what i learned in engineer trainning school.... some years ago
csx engineer

[edblysard]

Dont know the guage, but the ones our shop uses look like they were made from arc welding cable, with big, I mean big alligator clips on the ends.
Ed

[bfsfabs]

Seems to me when the injectors run out of fuel the whole diesel STOPS running. Real soon. Right? I know it is that way on Cats, passenger cars and pickup trucks. How is a locomotive diferent ?

Lowell

[wabash1]

i have had several units run out of fuel sd40s gp60s gp 38s and none had to be rebuilt. also look at it another way.every time you hit the emergency fuel cutoff to shut down the engines this shuts off the fuel to the enjectors just like running out of fuel. and you fire these units right back up. build up air and go. not a whole lot of differance.

[edblysard]

We use that trick to pester engineers. Never hurt a engine yet. I think there would always be enough resididual fuel in the injector to keep it lubed, even if you run out of fuel in the feed rail, the injector would still be ok.
Ed

[wabash1]

Yes this is a favorite of conductors. but i have a favorite also like stopping 7-8 cars from the switch with a sly grin and a im sorry. they haft to go and get it then pull by 7-8 cars from where they want me to stop. oh and the slack action is another rattle the teeth. and then they try the 10 cars from a coupling when only 2-3 to get me back. it dont work i am ready for them i ex back. then i also wait til its raining or snowing. im all warm and comfy and moving like a snail. yes paybacks are heck.

[edblysard]

Which is exactly why we wait till your nice and snug, all warm and toasty, and pu***he button, and duck out of sight. Nothing POes you guys like having to go out in the rain and start the motors back up.
Stay Frosty?
The Unihead Ed

[wabash1]

they do make engines with starters on the inside of the cab, but if all i need to do is go out and crank up a engine that is fine then all you need to do is walk the train when the air wont come up. and i cant move. when you get to the rear ill cut the feed valve back in.

[Anonymous]

they teach you a bunch of crap!!!!! i was a machinist at UP roseville loco shop and we didn't change injectors until they were due or if one injector was to fail. all you do when they run out of fuel, is fill'em up, hit the fuel prime switch, then start it up.

[wabash1]

gee i thought i said that

[csxengineer98]

hey...im just telling you what was told to me..crap or not...
and to the one that said that the engin needed to be rebuilt after running out of fuel...
I NEVER SAID REBUILD THE ENGIN..I SAID...REPLACE THE FUEL INJECTERS..... REBUILDING AND REPLACESING ARE 2 DIFFERNT THINGS...SO DONT SAY THINGS THAT I DIDNT SAY....
point made now....
csx engineer