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Posted by carnej1 on Wednesday, July 29, 2009 11:31 AM

aegrotatio

I love the engine talk!

Recently in New York City I observed a parallel hybrid bus and a serial hybrid bus.  The serial hybrid was marked "diesel-electric" and "electromotive."  The Chevrolet Volt is also electromotive.  Are there other non-locomotive applications of electromotive vehicles other than that huge dump truck mentioned earlier?

 The technology is beginning to spread into other industries. For instance Caterpillar has just introduced a diesel-electric version of the D7 Bulldozer that uses regenerative braking. Le Tourneau inc. builds giant front end loaders for mining applications that are diesel electric although not "hybrids" (though they may well be working on that). There are also some hybrid heavy trucks on the market. Foss Maritime just built the world's first hybrid tug boat and is using at for ship assistance work at the Port of Los Angeles.. Of course in many of these applications diesel-electric powerplants are not a new development but the energy storage systems are..

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Posted by aegrotatio on Tuesday, July 28, 2009 12:22 PM

I love the engine talk!

Recently in New York City I observed a parallel hybrid bus and a serial hybrid bus.  The serial hybrid was marked "diesel-electric" and "electromotive."  The Chevrolet Volt is also electromotive.  Are there other non-locomotive applications of electromotive vehicles other than that huge dump truck mentioned earlier?

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Posted by owlsroost on Tuesday, July 14, 2009 8:43 AM

creepycrank
The Europeans have got to watch out for their marine rating as in this country they will run flat out.

 

The marine "Unrestricted continuous ratings" for the MTU 4000 series are similar to the rail use ratings.

Keep in mind that these are high-power-to-weight ratio, high-speed (1800 rpm) engines - the downside usually comes in higher maintenance costs, which is why US freight locos use low-speed engines.

An Austrian subsidiary of GE is developing a new 3800 hp high-speed engine (derived from a natural gas-fuelled version) to power the new GE JS37Aci locos for the UK - the US GEVO engine is too big and heavy for this application. It's interesting that GE thought it worthwhile to fund the development of this (for a 30 loco order) rather than buying-in something like the MTU 4000 - they presumably think it has potential elsewhere.

 Tony

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Posted by creepycrank on Monday, July 13, 2009 3:09 PM
The aircraft analogy works for me. You have take off power, cut back to climb power, then take more off for high cruise power. The high cruise power would correspond to continuous rating for diesel. I would expect that the 4800 hp for the MTU would be war emergency power. In CAT's marine website they have worked out a pretty good explanation of their rating system. EMD rates their marine engines slightly lower than the locomotive rating.
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Posted by CSSHEGEWISCH on Monday, July 13, 2009 2:08 PM

The differences in duty cycles also explains why an automobile-size gasoline engine has not yet been successfully modified for aviation service in light planes.  Aircraft engines tend to spend more time closer to full throttle while an automobile engine in everyday service spends more time at about 1/3 to 1/2 throttle than anywhere else (watch the tachometer on your dashboard) and has been built accordingly.

The daily commute is part of everyday life but I get two rides a day out of it. Paul
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Posted by creepycrank on Monday, July 13, 2009 9:38 AM
Welcome to the twilight zone of engine rating systems. First all engines are rated or corrected to standard conditions of combustion air and fuel temperature and atmosphere pressure and humidity, all of which can have surprising results even between winter/summer conditions. The Europeans have got to watch out for their marine rating as in this country they will run flat out. The voyage from New Orleans to Saint Louis takes about 23 days and a Moran tug( pair of 12-645-E5s rated at 2150 hp each) takes a loaded oil barge from New Orleans to Portland Maine, about 2000 miles virtually at jammed rack the whole way. Harbor tugs are like switcher at about 20% load factor and only run at full power intermittently of say 15 minutes and the rest at low power. Surprisingly mainline service for locomotives is only about 50% load factor due to the hurry up and wait nature of it. The high marine rating are for high speed vessels such as patrol vessels etc. that hardly ever run at high speed and to do so the lighter the engine-hull weight combination the better. So using a MTU engine for switcher seems to make sense as a low load it probably won't get all slobbered up and has extra power when you need it. Some marine operators are trying the high speed diesel on ATB's and I never met a captain that ever had enough power. The biggest advantage of these engines is that they have the lowest price per horsepower.
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Posted by JonathanS on Monday, July 13, 2009 8:48 AM

In marine service you have the whole ocean (or lake or river) to cool the engine.  In a locomotive you have a fairly small amount of water that you must cool with the air.  In Arizona in summer the air can be 115 which doesn't cool very well. A hotter engine compresses the air less efficiently and limits the amount of fuel which may be burned.

Also in nearly all marine service the air is at or nearly at sea level pressure.  This allow the engine to compress much more air than can a locomotive in Denver, to say nothing of at the Moffat Tunnel.  More compressed air in the cylinder permits more fuel to be burned which in turn provides more power.

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Posted by owlsroost on Monday, July 13, 2009 2:36 AM

doghouse

owlsroost

The V20 version is rated at 4000HP for rail use.....4800HP for marine use Cool

Why would that be?

 

The marine use rating I quoted from the MTU website is for "e.g. fast ferries such as monohulls, hydrofoils, catamarans and surface effect ships" - for "Unrestricted continuous rating e.g. conventional ferries" the rating is similar to rail use.

The de-rating is because rail use is a more stressful application than marine or automotive use - in particular, in rail use engines can spend long periods running at full power, followed by long periods at low power or idle - this 'binary driving' increases the thermal stresses, so the engines are de-rated to provide the reliability levels/service intervals acceptable to rail operators.

Tony

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Posted by cx500 on Monday, July 13, 2009 1:08 AM

doghouse

owlsroost

The V20 version is rated at 4000HP for rail use.....4800HP for marine use Cool

Why would that be?

 

In North America the horsepower rating for locomotives is that nominally available at the wheels.  The diesel prime mover is actually producing quite a bit more, but some horses are diverted to the various other appliances such as fans, compressors, water pumps, traction motor blowers and so forth.

So possibly the reason for the difference is that in marine applications the horsepower is measured at the end of the crankshaft before any parasitic losses occur (and some may in fact be handled by separate auxiliary engines).  A difference of 800HP seems high, though, and perhaps a higher RPM is being allowed for marine use.

I understand that in Europe locomotive horsepower is measured at the crankshaft, something to bear in mind when comparing locomotives.

John

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Posted by doghouse on Sunday, July 12, 2009 9:38 PM

owlsroost

The V20 version is rated at 4000HP for rail use.....4800HP for marine use Cool

Why would that be?

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Posted by creepycrank on Saturday, July 11, 2009 10:27 AM
CSSHEGEWISCH

creepycrank
All the locomotives that use MTU or Cummins or CAT engines seem to be assigned to duties where they don't stray far from home.

This may be due to the fact that MTU, Cummins and Caterpillar engines are not widely used in railroad service at this time and most shop forces are not familiar with them.

 

All these engines also have short lube oil change intervals so it would be interesting to see how cat deals with this. In the case of the UP locomotives they are probably intended to be used as switchers but the NS conversion has CAT's new C175 engine on test which is completely unknown except it resembles the MTU 4000 series in concept.
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Posted by CSSHEGEWISCH on Saturday, July 11, 2009 10:05 AM

creepycrank
All the locomotives that use MTU or Cummins or CAT engines seem to be assigned to duties where they don't stray far from home.

This may be due to the fact that MTU, Cummins and Caterpillar engines are not widely used in railroad service at this time and most shop forces are not familiar with them.

 

The daily commute is part of everyday life but I get two rides a day out of it. Paul
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Posted by carnej1 on Saturday, July 11, 2009 9:50 AM

creepycrank
All the locomotives that use MTU or Cummins or CAT engines seem to be assigned to duties where they don't stray far from home.

 

Both UP and NS are buying CAT repowered locomotives from Progress Rail (rebuilt from SD50s) intended for road service.....time will tell if they are successful..

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Posted by creepycrank on Friday, July 10, 2009 3:18 PM
All the locomotives that use MTU or Cummins or CAT engines seem to be assigned to duties where they don't stray far from home.
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Posted by carnej1 on Friday, July 10, 2009 11:22 AM

CSSHEGEWISCH

The MTU 4000 engine is also used by MPI for its locomotive designs:  http://www.motivepower-wabtec.com/locomotives/low-horsepower/mpex-low-emissions-locomotives.php 

Given that WABTEC/MPI previously also offered CAT engines in their medium HP locomotives I wonder If Progress Rail's (CAT subsidiary) entry into the locomotive market is the reason that MPI shows only Cummins and MTU/Detroit Diesel as options on the website?

 IINM, Brookville also offered CAT power but now seems to exclusively use MTU prime movers..

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Posted by CSSHEGEWISCH on Friday, July 10, 2009 10:10 AM

The MTU 4000 engine is also used by MPI for its locomotive designs:  http://www.motivepower-wabtec.com/locomotives/low-horsepower/mpex-low-emissions-locomotives.php 

The daily commute is part of everyday life but I get two rides a day out of it. Paul
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Posted by owlsroost on Friday, July 10, 2009 6:42 AM

carnej1
I just got the new edition and was interested to note that many of the larger boats built recently have MTU 4000 series engines which are a higher speed (RPM wise) design.

The MTU 4000 series are also used in rail applications - here in the UK we have a whole fleet of passenger trains which have recently been re-engined with the V16 version (de-rated to 1500RPM & 2250HP to match the original engine power output). They also power the diesel version of the European Bombardier Traxx loco. The recent Brookville Equipment Corp locos for CDOT/Metro North use the V12 MTU 4000 too.

 The V20 version is rated at 4000HP for rail use.....4800HP for marine use Cool

 Tony

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Posted by Railway Man on Thursday, July 9, 2009 9:25 PM

edbenton

The HTC truck had all 3 axles where the TM's were facingthe same way getting rid of axle twisting underload and preventing some wheelslipping.  The old flexicoils were arranged were the inner motor was facing the oppistie way and man those were slicker than a bannana peel over egg whites on wet rail if you get my drift.  The TMS would be flexing one way or another and slipping like NO TOMMOROW.

That was not my experience.  We always figured an SD40 had identical tractive effort to an SD40-2 in helper service or drag freight service, and we mixed them up indiscriminately in consists and in the same service.  I never noticed the SD40 being slippery compared to an SD40-2.

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Posted by edbenton on Thursday, July 9, 2009 4:11 PM

The HTC truck had all 3 axles where the TM's were facingthe same way getting rid of axle twisting underload and preventing some wheelslipping.  The old flexicoils were arranged were the inner motor was facing the oppistie way and man those were slicker than a bannana peel over egg whites on wet rail if you get my drift.  The TMS would be flexing one way or another and slipping like NO TOMMOROW.

Always at war with those that think OTR trucking is EASY.
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Posted by carnej1 on Thursday, July 9, 2009 11:26 AM

bubbajustin

Murphy Siding

   
SD40-2's had longer frames, and perhaps the famous porches(?), than SD40's Why?

Thanks

Because EMD wanted to have a locomotive with a longer frame. Also didn't want to squeeze that other axel under the shorter frame


Huh? SD40s and SD40-2s are  C-C locomotives..what is the "other axle" you're referring to?

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Posted by Rogar94 on Thursday, July 9, 2009 3:21 AM

New to train watching and modeling (HO Scale). Working on a first layout and taking pictures in the tri-state area (OHio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania).

Follow up to your Caterpillar comment on the 797 Class Truck, Norscot offers a 1/50 Diecast of this very large truck. Little pricey but very, very nice! Here is the website, and particulars on the Model. Click the small pic on left to get a really good look at the detail.

https://shop.cat.com/CGI-BIN/LANSAWEB?WEBEVENT+L0193BF7D427804007BA109K+M37+ENG

 More later, love being here.  Cool 

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Posted by GDRMCo on Wednesday, July 8, 2009 9:37 PM

 The SD40-2 shared the same frame as the SD45-2 and SD40T-2 whereas the SD40 shared the same frame as the SD45

ML

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Posted by bubbajustin on Wednesday, July 8, 2009 7:30 PM

Murphy Siding

   
SD40-2's had longer frames, and perhaps the famous porches(?), than SD40's Why?

Thanks

Because EMD wanted to have a locomotive with a longer frame. Also didn't want to squeeze that other axel under the shorter frame

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Posted by creepycrank on Wednesday, July 8, 2009 5:56 PM
First of all EMD doesn't sell remanufactured engines except as unit exchange with the emphasis on exchange. In 1988 EMD signed up distributors for new engine sales and parts sales and at least 2 of them have the ability to build and sell remanufactured engines. They are Stewart and Stevenson of Houston and the Kirby group in the Marine Systems and Engine Systems. I think Engine systems remanufactured the engines on the large 20 cylinder equipped Crowley tugs. This includes welding up the head pots and "A" frames and machining to new dimensions. Part of the reason for this deal was that companies like DEFCO ( Diesel Engine Fabricators) was eating EMD's lunch on bidding rebuilt EMD engines for the same new construction that EMD was bidding on for offshore supply boats, tugs etc. built on the gulf coast. When something goes wrong with one of those engine EMD gets the blame. Most if not all of those engine were sourced from junk yards either locomotive engines or war surplus ATL's. I briefly was the engineer on the "Brooks McAllister" that was built in 1985 with DEFCO source 16-645-C engine. To get the blowers and camshafts to rotate the right way on a right hand engine they fabricated a new bracket for the cam drive idlers gears to drive the right hand cam gear instead of the left side which is normal for locomotives. Fortunently the water pumps and oil pumps were marked with the correct part number so that at least you could or the right part. In spite of some of the problems these engine had they did produce the power when needed. EMD has produced special model engine for the marine market from the very beginning of 567 production. The Coast Guard cutter "Cherokee" had 4 12 cylinder 567 "U" deck engines with cast blocks built in 1938 according to the engine data plates. The main difference for marine engines is the deeper oil pan that allows sloshing around in seaway and some down rake at the rear to line up with the propeller shaft. They also have better instrumentation such as exhaust temperature pyrometer, engine tachometer, water and oil pressure and temperature gauges, a nifty spring loaded injector link, in case a rack gets stuck you won't lose complete control of the engine. In the Seattle and Alaska fishing fleets there area lot of converted engines with the flat oil pan that are constantly slopping oil into the bilge because the crankshaft seal is the labyrinth type which works perfectly well on a locomotive and should last forever if you take care of the bearings. Some EMD service centers deal with this by converting to dry sump lubrication but it sure helps if the engine is out of the boat.
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Posted by BaltACD on Wednesday, July 8, 2009 4:45 PM

creepycrank
BaltACD

When I was a kid and my family went to New Orleans for vacation one year, we took the Mississippi River boat tour around the harbor area of the city.  Nowhere near any railroad facility I hear a 'train' pulling hard.....a minute or two later a Tow boat passes our vessel shoving a number of barges....it was powered by EMD 567 engines.  The prime movers sound the same, no matter the application.

They could have very well have once been in locomotives as EMD's biggest marine engine competitor was remanufactured engines salvaged from wrecked locomotives. We traced an engine on a American Dredging cutter head dredge to a Conrail locomotive.

My New Orleans trip was in the 50's....567's were still 'new' and no one had heard of 645's or 710's....nor was there a significant used or leased locomotive market...Class I's were in the final stage of completing the change from steam to diesel.

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Posted by HERBYD on Wednesday, July 8, 2009 4:33 PM

HI

  BEING A MARINE ENGINEER  GOT MY START  ON A 567A  X LST ENGINE. THATS HOW  I  GOT INTO BEING A RAIL FAN . 567 ALL THE WAY TO 710s NOW THANKS TO THE GOVT. THEY WANT TO KILL A GOOD THING.FOLLOWING THE NEW GEVO ENGINE SOUNDS GOOD HAVENT HEARD WHAT THEIR TROUBLES ARE THOUGH.GE IS TRYING TO BREAK INTO THE MARINE MARKET

 HERBYD

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Posted by carnej1 on Wednesday, July 8, 2009 11:32 AM

creepycrank
BaltACD

When I was a kid and my family went to New Orleans for vacation one year, we took the Mississippi River boat tour around the harbor area of the city.  Nowhere near any railroad facility I hear a 'train' pulling hard.....a minute or two later a Tow boat passes our vessel shoving a number of barges....it was powered by EMD 567 engines.  The prime movers sound the same, no matter the application.

They could have very well have once been in locomotives as EMD's biggest marine engine competitor was remanufactured engines salvaged from wrecked locomotives. We traced an engine on a American Dredging cutter head dredge to a Conrail locomotive.

 Although I'm sure the engine rebulders were getting 567's and 645's from wrecks the vast majority came from retired and scrapped units. To this day EMd sells lots of remaufactured 645s for marine applications..

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Posted by creepycrank on Tuesday, July 7, 2009 6:08 PM
BaltACD

When I was a kid and my family went to New Orleans for vacation one year, we took the Mississippi River boat tour around the harbor area of the city.  Nowhere near any railroad facility I hear a 'train' pulling hard.....a minute or two later a Tow boat passes our vessel shoving a number of barges....it was powered by EMD 567 engines.  The prime movers sound the same, no matter the application.

They could have very well have once been in locomotives as EMD's biggest marine engine competitor was remanufactured engines salvaged from wrecked locomotives. We traced an engine on a American Dredging cutter head dredge to a Conrail locomotive.
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Posted by BaltACD on Tuesday, July 7, 2009 4:24 PM

When I was a kid and my family went to New Orleans for vacation one year, we took the Mississippi River boat tour around the harbor area of the city.  Nowhere near any railroad facility I hear a 'train' pulling hard.....a minute or two later a Tow boat passes our vessel shoving a number of barges....it was powered by EMD 567 engines.  The prime movers sound the same, no matter the application.

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