"OP" engines (WAS Re: Arrow Train Master article)

[NW Mailing List]

Pete

You are right about the Deltics, first put into regular service in 
1961-1962.  Nothing sounds like them  ==>  
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJtd9cSZkao
The wiki page has an interesting history, very similar to the F-M OP 
diesels.  ==>  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napier_Deltic

This locomotive is on my "wish list" for my 1:32 outdoor railroad as I 
have plenty of BR period coaches for it.

Jim Stapleton
Purcellville  VA
=====================

On 1/21/2013 7:08 PM, NW Mailing List wrote:

> I read somewhere that the cranks were timed so that most of the 

> horsepower came off the lower crankshaft; perhaps that meant that 

> lower crank also had to be the "exhaust" one.

>

> Perhaps some folks know that British Railways' early top Diesel 

> express locos had "Deltic" engines, which were opposed piston engines 

> with three crankshafts arranged at the corners of a triangle, with the 

> cylinders constituting the "sides" of the triangle.  I think that they 

> were higher-speed machines with smaller cylinder displacements than 

> the FMs. I think that they were pretty successful and ran flat out for 

> much of their lives.

>

> Maybe the "Deltics"  were mentioned in the Arrow article - I haven't 

> had time to read it carefully.

>

> pete groom

> On Jan 20, 2013, at 7:09 PM, NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org 

> <mailto:nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>> wrote:

>

>> Good questions Jimmy.  I'm traveling without my reference material 

>> (listed at the end of the article) but I'll try to answer anyhow.  

>> You are correct, that the FM doesn't have a cylinder head.  I don't 

>> know where I got that terminology, but I think I got the major point: 

>> a lot of regular maintenance required taking off the top of the 

>> engine and removing the upper crankshaft, which was, I assume, a lot 

>> more work than was required on a "conventional" layout.  Now to your 

>> second point: I meant the lower portion of the combustion chamber, 

>> and I can see how that could have been clearer.

>> Further, thank you for your comments on the tendency of diesel 

>> engines to be "smokers".  I would guess that the reputation of FMs 

>> (and Alcos)to make more smoke than "average" has some basis, but I 

>> haven't seen the hard data.  To be Frank (intended), I'm always open 

>> to supplementation and correction; we want to get the best possible 

>> information and get it out there.  And in answer to your final 

>> question about intakes, I'm sure that FM had some reason for doing it 

>> the way they did, and, if I had to guess, I'd speculate that it's 

>> related to the engine's marine history.

>> Frank Bongiovanni

>>

>>

>> On Sat, Jan 19, 2013 at 12:11 AM, NW Mailing List 

>> <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org <mailto:nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>> wrote:

>>

>>     Maybe Frank could comment on a couple of things in his Train

>>     Master article.

>>

>>     On page 23 it states:

>>     /    "Much routine maintenance required removal of the upper

>>     cylinder head and crankshaft"./

>>

>>     The FM engine doesn't have a head.

>>

>>     /"There are also reports of incomplete fuel combustion (causing

>>     blue smoke) in the lower combustion chamber."

>>

>>     /There is only one combustion chamber, rather than an upper and

>>     lower as the sentence would suggest.

>>

>>          Just for information, it is very common for diesels to put

>>     out a lot of smoke when not up to operating temperatures. Back

>>     when we had GP9's, sometimes a consist would be setting around

>>     for hours idling waiting for an assignment and a lot of carbon

>>     and unburned fuel would collect on top of the dished piston head.

>>     We would get them off of the outgoing track and baby them down to

>>     the train. After pulling the train past Randolph St. Tower the

>>     engineers would open them up and look back to see a pretty good

>>     smoke screen being laid down. Usually by the time we got to North

>>     Roanoke the smoke had cleared up.

>>         Try and start up a cold four axle GE unit in the middle of

>>     Waynesboro, Va. and see if people don't call the law on you! Yikes!

>>         With emissions what they are today, it is sometimes hard to

>>     see smoke from the diesels. Good for the air, but now it can be

>>     very hard to look back and tell which unit just shut down you.

>>         One other thing in looking at the way FM designed their

>>     engine is that I wonder why they put the cool intake air coming

>>     in at the top and exhaust going out the bottom. Seems to me they

>>     would have breathed a little easier with the cool intake air

>>     forcing the hot exhaust out the top. Maybe they didn't realize

>>     that hot air rises.

>>

>>     Jimmy Lisle

>>     /

>>     /

>>

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