Attention: TDR Forum Junkies I worked for a couple of small railroads, the first one had a fleet of ALCo's, two of which were S-2's. They had a turboed 539 inline six. For those not familiar, this was a diesel that topped out at 700 RPM, idled at about 350 (you could literally count along with the injector pulses) and had a bore and stroke of 12"x13". The turbo was about three feet across. The stack on this thing used a weighted trashcan lid to keep the rain out when no running. The 539 designation were the month and year the prototype of the engine was first fired.
In winter, it idled so cold that raw diesel lay in the exhaust manifold, a sewer pipe with expansion joints that allowed air into the exhaust. When ya did a real pull with it, sparks would fly into the exhaust manifold and ignite the vaporizing diesel and turn the monster into a huge blow torch. Solution? Sit still and let it burn out.
One of those beasts is now in the B&0 Railroad Museum on Pratt Street in Baltimore. If ya see one in its original blue, with yellow nose and cab end, lettered for the "Octoraro Rwy. ", thats the one.
We also had a pair of RS-2's, I did not work on them that much, ALCo 244 engines which had a crankcase breather system to avoid crankcase explosions. They were ex-TP&W units.
The second railroad I worked for used a couple of ex-Santa Fe CF-7's. IIRC, they had the 567B engine and that was a Roots blown engine. It was a V16 that made 1500 or 1600 hp depending on who ya asked. Power assembly work on that one was a fair bit easier than the ALCo's.
Most of this work was done as an assistant to my father, who was lucky enough to follow his dream of working for a railroad. The S-2 in the museum was truly his baby, the CF-7's were grudguingly accepted step kids, as ALCo's were his first choice. He was lucky enough in his career to have a chance to run one of the CF-7's around the famous Horseshoe Curve on the mainline of the Pennsylvania Railroad, by then ConRail.
Well, enough reminiscing... .
In winter, it idled so cold that raw diesel lay in the exhaust manifold, a sewer pipe with expansion joints that allowed air into the exhaust. When ya did a real pull with it, sparks would fly into the exhaust manifold and ignite the vaporizing diesel and turn the monster into a huge blow torch. Solution? Sit still and let it burn out.
One of those beasts is now in the B&0 Railroad Museum on Pratt Street in Baltimore. If ya see one in its original blue, with yellow nose and cab end, lettered for the "Octoraro Rwy. ", thats the one.
We also had a pair of RS-2's, I did not work on them that much, ALCo 244 engines which had a crankcase breather system to avoid crankcase explosions. They were ex-TP&W units.
The second railroad I worked for used a couple of ex-Santa Fe CF-7's. IIRC, they had the 567B engine and that was a Roots blown engine. It was a V16 that made 1500 or 1600 hp depending on who ya asked. Power assembly work on that one was a fair bit easier than the ALCo's.
Most of this work was done as an assistant to my father, who was lucky enough to follow his dream of working for a railroad. The S-2 in the museum was truly his baby, the CF-7's were grudguingly accepted step kids, as ALCo's were his first choice. He was lucky enough in his career to have a chance to run one of the CF-7's around the famous Horseshoe Curve on the mainline of the Pennsylvania Railroad, by then ConRail.
Well, enough reminiscing... .
