A few years back, I read a story about an engineer’s experiences out on the road. I want to say the book was by Ed King but I may be mistaken about that. Anyway, in the book the author tells of an experience where one of the locomotives had a crankcase explosion/fire just after he had walked past on the catwalk. If my memory serves me correctly, what had happened was the locomotive had overheated for some reason and shut down. The author explained the reason behind the explosion, something along the lines of fuel vapors building up in the air box or crankcase and then igniting. Has anyone heard of this kind of situation? I seem to recall the writer saying it was a EMD locomotive but I can’t remember the exact model.
That is an interesting question to me because I too have heard of crankcase explosions, but never knew how often they happened or what caused them. I seem to recall them being associated with EMD engines in the first generation locomotives. Your question prompted me to google crankcase-explosion, and here is at least a partial explanation:
Crankcase explosions are extremely rare. I had 40 years in engine service and never had one.
EMD engines have a Crankcase Overpressure (CCOP) detector which is supposed to shut the diesel engine down before this can occur. Most roads have instructions that once a CCOP happens the engine is not to be restarted without authority. Further, do not to take off inspection covers or even oil dipstick until cools down. Either of these actions will admit oxygen to the crankcase.
Alco engines eventually had a crankcase exhauster to get the gases out of the crankcase, which helped but didn’t prevent explosions.
I have heard of GE explosions too.
One engineer I fired for told me that when he was firing main line passenger on the RI he had just entered the engine room of one of the DL109 to do a walk through inspection. The next thing he knew he was laying in the grass in the park by the RI depot at Geneseo,IL looking at blue sky and a pretty nurse. The Alco suffered a crankcase explosion and the concussion KO’d him. He said just 2-3 seconds later and he would have been right beside the engine where the rod came out and went thru the side of carbody.
The book I believe that G Mack is refering to is From the Cab by Doug Riddell. The crankcase explosion story is Chapter 10 (page 107). D. Riddell was a “first day engine service employee” in 1979 who went to check on a “‘hot engine’ alarm bell” and “was a mere five feet short of the engine block itself when, at 40 mph, the old GP7 (ACL No. 761) blew.” He goes on to explain that, “[t]he force of blast was of such magnitude that the locomotive’s number boards disintergrated and its handrails were bent enough to necessitate their removal with a cutting torch before any other trains could pass on a parallel track.” The injuries to Mr. Riddell were servere - concussion, burns, etc. - and he spent over a week in the hospital recovering.
Wow! Some interesting responses and videos from that post!
To Chris30: You are correct, it was the book by Doug Riddell.
I have, fortunately, never seen a diesel engine experience a crankcase explosion or catastrophic mechanical failure. But, I do remember when I was working on offshore drilling rigs we sometimes had EMD power. I remember being instructed to stay away from them and let them cool down on their own if they ever overheated. Now I know why.
My Dad experienced this back in the early70s He was the head brakeman and was using the tiolet on a f7 which was in the carbody in the rear When he finished he walked to the cab thru the car body closed the door and sat down and a couple of minutes later the crankcase exploded he said it was more terrifiing then when he was in combat in WW2 Larry