Quentin
QUOTE: Originally posted by Modelcar ...I remember seeing some of them..{up close}, right along side the highway while on an automotive test trip someplace out west but can't remember just where....I do remember they took my eye as being massive and impressive and different.....
QUOTE: Originally posted by Modelcar ...Hi electro-ortcele.....Guess I better clear up what's in the picture in my Bio...On the right is our granddaughter and that's me relaxing on the bench with communications radio in hand and my green pickup in the background....Now it has been replaced by a blue one....Pic was taken a few years ago...not many though.....Location is at our hiking, walking trail which is constructed on the ROW of a CSX rail line.....30 plus miles of smooth paved trail...! On the engines...Don't remember too much specifics on the sound as we were passing them in our several test automobiles and simply got real close as the tracks were parallel to the highway at that point but I do remember they were large and massive and certainly different....That was nearly 40 years ago.....
QUOTE: Originally posted by APG45 I remember reading somewhere, I think it was Union Pacific: Salt Lake Route, that operating in arid, windy conditions caused a lot of problems with the turbine blades (sand abrasion). Combined with the inability to run them through urban areas, it meant that there were few routes they were suited for. I know I'm probably talking out my**** but how much truth is there to this? electro-ortcele, there is a free .mpeg of a UP turbine on the MRR website under Resources/photos, audio, video. It will give you an idea of the sound they made at low speed. Sounds like an airplane taxiing---medium/high pitched whine.
QUOTE: Originally posted by samfp1943 These turbines were pretty much confined to upen country runs, noise being an issue in urban settings. There was a story told that at one time a crew had spotted an idling turbine under a bridge, possibly in Cheyenne, and the exhaust heat liquified the asphalt on the bridge..
QUOTE: Originally posted by dave e The hole in the bridge and roasted pigeons sound like urban legends to me. First, the exhaust wasn't THAT hot, the object of the game was to extract as much heat as possible from the fuel to spin the turbine. This is unlike a jet aircraft in which the useful energy comes out the back as thrust. Consider also the large steam locos were running at the same time, blasting the undersides of bridges. I worked as a trainee engineer for GE, both at Erie when the 8500 hp were built and 3 months as service engineer at Omaha, NP and SLC.
QUOTE: Originally posted by RPRiebe QUOTE: Originally posted by dave e The hole in the bridge and roasted pigeons sound like urban legends to me. First, the exhaust wasn't THAT hot, the object of the game was to extract as much heat as possible from the fuel to spin the turbine. This is unlike a jet aircraft in which the useful energy comes out the back as thrust. Consider also the large steam locos were running at the same time, blasting the undersides of bridges. I worked as a trainee engineer for GE, both at Erie when the 8500 hp were built and 3 months as service engineer at Omaha, NP and SLC. Dave: Young pigeons may have fallen to the heat of the exhaust, probably dead of shock from the heat, or grounded by singed feathers, but I am fairly sure veteran pigeons knew when to vacate, and when to relax. Turbines are not driven by heat, turbines are driven by the force of the exhaust. The trick of designing any (including auto units) turbine driven by combustion exhaust, is to design a system that can deal with the heat, which is in four figures, even in a piston engine turbine. Efficient combustion produces two things, among others, greater output and greater heat; i.e. the reason the hottest part of any fire, is where the most efficient (complete) combustion is taking place. I doubt a hole was "blown" , in the road, (yet, I was not there) but it proabably did melt the surface and caused fire at the hottest point, if it was a tar road. I first heard the story from one who was involved in railroading, but that was a long time ago.
QUOTE: Originally posted by electro-ortcele my question about horns gets burried over and over agian, so I'll ask it in another thread
QUOTE: Originally posted by chad thomas QUOTE: Originally posted by electro-ortcele my question about horns gets burried over and over agian, so I'll ask it in another thread Sorry electro, I spent about a half hour looking for info and came up with nothing. It probably had the same horn that UP was using on there diesel electrics of that time.
QUOTE: Originally posted by RPRiebe [brDave: Turbines are not driven by heat, turbines are driven by the force of the exhaust. The trick of designing any (including auto units) turbine driven by combustion exhaust, is to design a system that can deal with the heat, which is in four figures, even in a piston engine turbine. Efficient combustion produces two things, among others, greater output and greater heat; i.e. the reason the hottest part of any fire, is where the most efficient (complete) combustion is taking place.
QUOTE: Originally posted by rdganthracite QUOTE: Originally posted by RPRiebe [brDave: Turbines are not driven by heat, turbines are driven by the force of the exhaust. The trick of designing any (including auto units) turbine driven by combustion exhaust, is to design a system that can deal with the heat, which is in four figures, even in a piston engine turbine. Efficient combustion produces two things, among others, greater output and greater heat; i.e. the reason the hottest part of any fire, is where the most efficient (complete) combustion is taking place. Oh but they are driven by the heat. You had better brush up on your thermodynamics. The real trick to efficient engines, be they reciprocating steam. turbine steam, otto cycle, diesel cycle, sterling cycle, or gas turbine, is to maximize the use of the heat generated. During the expansion of the gas in the power stroke, or through the turbine, the energy to pust the pistons or the blades comes from the heat of the gas. The temperature of the gas in the exhaust of a turbine is much cooler than the same gas at the inlet of the power blades.
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