Well, the last question went over so well…
When a diesel motor is “worked” on or in for maintenance - do they “test drive” it in the yards afterward?
Any specifics on approximately how long it should be tested, how far it should be tested, does it just stay in that area or does it go out a way from the yard on maybe a spur track?
Who tests it? Hostlers? Mechanics? Maybe a Mookie?
If I had a railroad I would let you test all my locomotives [;)]. Seriously though, I’ve seen them do ?‘load tests’ where the PM is fully loaded but the loco is not moveing, Mabee main generator connected to the dynamic brake grid? Anyway good question, look forward to hearing replys.
Yes. I remember the DL&W would shop diesels in Scranton. Bangor and Portland locomotives would sometimes work west to Scranton, then east to Port Morris after shopping and work jobs out of Port before returning to Bangor. And I remember one time at East Deerfield on the B&M…ca.1967…seeing an RS2 come out of the shop building and accelerated up and down a half mile stretch of track several times; but who was running and who was riding, I don’t know. I am sure each type of repair had a protocol on any given road. Some would work to and from shops, some would be dragged in a frieght, or double up on a passenger train.
Is a Mookie a large, fur-bearing creature that is pink instead of orange?
RWM
Era is important as to method. IC has a building where they attach the locomotive to test equipment and run the engine to check out the loading. They let it run for about an hour. You can here the engines being tested over one mile away when they do.
I get to do the hostling and I will admit to that! Will even wear a striped cap! [:-,]
Will your given name then be “Mew-bacca?”
And I though I was bad…
Mookie…
Static checks are done in the shop, then the locomotive is run back and forth on the lead to the shop, depending on what was repaired, like brakes and such.
Most repairs, like changing a light bulb or replacing a relay can be done “in the field”, and need no real test other than turning it on to make sure it works.
Major engine repairs done inthe shop are tested while the locomotive is in the shop, then the shop guys release it for duty…depending on the shop forces, they may want it to work a switch lead or run back and forth in a yard for a little while with a mechanic on board to make sure the repairs are done and work.
A lot of new locomotives have the same type of computer hook up just like an automobile, you can plug in a laptop and get a fault code read out that tells the mechanic what failed, when it failed and sometime why it failed.
No - more like “She who has sharp teeth and claws”…
One diesel shop that I am familiar with had a “load bank” right outside the building. The load bank had dynamic brake resistor grids and fans. The loco to be tested was spotted next to the load bank and cables were run from the bank to the electrical cabinet on the engine and the traction motor leads were disconnected. The engine could be run wide open under load without moving. Anyone with a car with a decent paint job was well advised to move it upwind of this operation.
The engines were spotted and run by machinists and electricians.
Mook,
My grandpaw said that when theay worked on a loco theay would just get onto the main line with permission from the controller, not a very busy line, and run it back and fourth. But that was then and a diffrent time then. If you are ever in Lafayette IN, E-mail me and you can come to the J.S.R.R.C.(Justin Sandlin Railroad Company) And run all my locomotives! We have a sapling, SD40-2, SD45,Alco RSC-2,GE-8,GP38-2’s,we evan have a 2-6-2 Prarie! I will let you drive oure’ newest engine, an Amtrak P40! FP7, F7,FT,F-PH40. Just say the word and the throttle is youre’s![swg]
I recall when I first hired out that CNW would just move its engines along a stretch of track in the shop complex at full throttle, and that was the “load test”. If you saw that track, you’d wonder how anything could be expected to stay on the rail…then visualize a couple of SD45s at Run 8, with clouds of white smoke hanging around where they started the test…
That is a good description Carl! I can imagine my facorite loco’s screaming down the rusty beat up rail at the shop… VROOOOOOOMMMMMM![:-^][:-^][:-^] Good night everybody! see ya’ tommorow![:)]
No matter where the “test” or “road test” is done, do not be around if wearing fairly decent clothes. I once was by the NYSW engine house in Binghamton,NY when an Alco was started up just outside. It rained oil ruining a good shirt and and spotted my hair with real grease!
Now imagine if that was an FRA inspector who just shut you down or somehting… Orignial![(-D] Bet you learned youre lesson there didn’t you!
We call that “ALCO snot…” [;)]
Some years ago there was a story in Trains about a visitor to a locomotive shop seeing a freshly repaired unit being dragged back into the shop for more work, with the enginehouse foreman looking on in disgust. When a visitor asked what was wrong, the foreman replied that the traction motor cables to one of the trucks had been reversed when re-connected. So, when it was placed into “Run”, one truck wanted to go one way, but the other truck wanted to go the other way - so the loco just sat there, roaring away, with all the wheels spinning, but going noplace. So the story went . . . [;)]
At least, the motors did not have to be rewound. In my experience in handling vacuum pumps, we had some with single-phase motors, and many with three-phase motors. Some, but not all, of the pumps with single-phase motors had cords attached to them when they came back from being repaired, but the three-phase motors did not, and the tech who installed such had to connect the motors to the power supply, being careful to connect them properly. Once is a while, a tech would bring a pump back to Stores, complaining that it would not run–because he had not connected it properly, and did not realize what he had done. So, another PO would be cut and the pump would be shipped back to the repair company, who would tell me what the problem was, and I would tell Maintenance what had happened. No warranty, just another repair charge.
Johnny
He got lucky. Aparently only two cables were wrong . If you swap both fields for both armatures , the motor will run fine in power . AS soon as you go into dynamic braking bad things happen.Good way to send an engineer through the front window.
The DME shop in Huron, SD test ran locomotives after they worked on them in the roundhouse. They did what test operations they could in the former CNW yard there. That was one of the questions that came-up during the C&NWHS tour a few years ago (that was a lot of fun and very interesting).