ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area fried wires

yoips, you'll have to give me a little bit. I only type at 60 words/minute.
trainwire

I would love to add whatever i could to the discussion of the Railroad electrics. My personal favorits are the GG! and the E44.
This however is what I deal with on a daily basis.




Trainwire

[This message has been edited by Webmaster (edited 07-03-2002).]

How cool!!! I looked here just to see if anyone got a laugh from the Green Acres stuff, and found an image of [what looks like] a 4-8-4, along with links posted by Virgil!!!

Thanks guys!!! those were nice things to see after a torturous day of Surveys!

Gotta show the Steamer to my Wife, as She really loves them! I'm a Diesel fan [2nd generation diesels to be exact], and She is a Steam Lover [1920 to 1940 era].
I enjoy the Steamers [She thinks I hate them... oggghhh not by a long shot!], just have more passion for the EMD / GE stuff for some odd reason [must be wierd???]

Scott S.E.T.

Trainwire—You may be well aware that some varieties of DLO cable now also carry a National Electrical Code rating/designation of “RHH/RHW-2” which means it can be used as building wiring for us feet-flat-on-the-grounders.

Handy for connection to padmount transformer spades or in busduct transition compartments. Saves lots of bull work.

For the sake of other readers, DLO flexibility comes from individual 24AWG strands. http://www.amercable.com/DLOInst.asp [Compare that to 37-strand 500 kcmil.]

Available up to 1111 kcmil. In a previous life, have sagged in miles of 2kV 535.5 kcmil for linear-accelerator focus magnets.

Scott:
You are close, its a 1924 Baldwin, 2-10-0.
It's everybody's favorite, although it rides a little rough.
BJarney, The DLO wire is good stuff, we had a motor in our deasesel short straight to ground, smoke everywhere but from the wires going to the motors, never figured out how many amps, but had to be over 1500.
Trainwire

[This message has been edited by Trainwire (edited 07-08-2002).]

Trainwire [may I call you TW?],

I must have Northerns stuck in my head [AKA the "4-8-4" reference]. The BNSF - former ATSF has donated a Northern type to a Steamers club, and they run it on excursions for BNSF and public stuff at least once a year.

The stories told by the crews - both the crews of the steamer and the diesel which must accompany it - are compatable to being on board!

Let me see if I have the term correct on this Baldwin. Is this an Allegeny class 2-10-2, or was that an articulated 2-10-10-2?

Love to take my wife to UP's Nebraska shops, where they have the museum of motive power - mainly to see the still in use 4-6-6-4 Challenger.
Not sure if they have any of the 4-8-8-4 Big Boys, or any of the Gas Turbines. Ever been there???

BTW, I have some pictures of the most common Class 1 carriers in my area posted on the web. If you want to check them out, here's the URL:
http://www.railfan.net/railpix/scott/


As to the Traction Motors, the normal ampere load on the DC traction motors which would be drawn at low speed is in the 900 Amp range. This value is quoted in helper operations for starts on grades and with the slack bunched up. This would be at speeds between 5 and 12 MPH and with power throttle set at Run 6 from dead start [on sanded rail], ranging to Run 8 max.
If the load current drops below 900 A, the Engineer of the Helper set [Pushing, or DP near the end] can tell the grade which the leads are on has decreased, and back off the throttle. If the load exceeds 900 A, then the leads are taking on more grade, so it's time for more throttle.

AC traction motors can sit at stall [or speeds lower than 5.7 MPH] with higher currents and for longer times. This makes them an obvious asset for DP, Helper sets and similar tasks.

I recall the maximum of 900 Amps for DC Traction Motors used on "2nd Generation" units - such as EMD's Dash 2 series locos, or GE's Dash 7 locos as being the max continuous load current. Higher levels could be drawn for limited time [like 5 minutes]. I'll check into this and see what the books say [the books being both the Manuals and the Railroad's specs].

It was difficult to get high loads out of the "Bell Ringers" [GP 30s and GP 35s] since they would fault out so often - hence the term "Bell Ringer".

Love to talk Locomotives! I'll toss some other specs in here or in another thread.

Scott S.E.T.

Scott, #90 is a Great Northern. It used to pull suger beets over the mountains in CO. Now it pulls tourists. I think it's official designation is a USRA light decapod. (at 190 tons) www.Strasburgrailroad.com
We also have a 2-6-0, a 4-8-0 and two 0-6-0's and have a 4-6-0 in the shop for a new firebox. oh yea and two plymouth Locomotive works gas/mechanical switchers, and a GE 44 tonner. (the shorted one, it was wide open, we were plowing snow with it, and one of the brush leads shorts to ground. Blue-green smoke everywhere.)
Trainwire AKA steve

Trainwire,

Now I see what's going on with the traction motor and the resulting release of smoke!
Must have 1/2 read things again!

[QUOTE]
and a GE 44 tonner. (the shorted one, it was wide open, we were plowing snow with it, and one of the brush leads shorts to ground. Blue-green
smoke everywhere.)
[QUOTE]

In the words of Homer Simpson... "Dohh!!!"

Curious to how long it took to fry with full throttle at low speed against the snow. You would think a switcher could take that task easilly. Maybe you need to put a slug with that 44 tonner, then take a crack at the snow!

ATSF had an Alco RSD-15 and a slug [cut down from another RSD] that worked the Hump Operation at Barstow, Ca. classification yard. Never left the hill, just kicked cars!

Very cool list of equipment! If I ever travel your way [eastern seaboard], definitely gotta look you up!!!

Scott S.E.T.