Hi guys,
Brazilian broad gauge MRS rebuilt its big fllet of SD40-2 and Sd40-3 for tunnel operation like SP did in the past, adding deflectors like elephant ears on the rear end of the locomotives. The railroad have more than 100 tunnels at mainline, some with more than 26,000 ft long.
Have you seen old SP or any other locos using these deflectors?
Cool pictures!
SP had some GP40Xs during the 80s that were equipped with the “elephant ears”.
What exactly do the deflectors do?
They aren’t exactly deflectors, but more like inductors. When locomotives go through tunnels, the oxygen-poor exhaust rises to the roof of the tunnel where a normally-aspirated locomotive would get it’s air - the top of the locomotive. The “elefant ears” force the locomotive to draw cooler, cleaner air from the bottom of the tunnel instead of the poor-quality air from the roof of the tunnel.
Southern Pacific had some SD45s with deflectors.
I beleive the reason for lower intakes on tunnel motors is for the cooling of the radiator…regular locomotives would overheat and shut down while in the tunnels.
The air intake for the engine aspiration is usually right behind the cab above the walkway.
The MRS locomotives in the 5300 series were rebuilt by NRE from SP SD40/SD45’s in the 7300/7400/7500 series so some of the deflector-equipped SD45’s possibly turned up in Brazil.
The old term was “elephant ears”. Santa Fe B36-7’s had them. At least they didn’t have the maingenerator porch roofs and smoke deflectors fo cold weather use…
Love the tunnel motors, here’s a strange one in between two AC60s pulling rocks, naturally.The Big GEs are common around here heading up rock trains but the tunnel motor between them is a first for me. This particular rock train was at LEAST a mile long.
http://s222.photobucket.com/albums/dd174/bakupolo/?action=view¤t=DSC03073.jpg
CP Rail tried a few (4 I if I recall right) but they were not successful.
The locomotive is listed as a SD40-T, it is actually a SD40T-2.
However, none of those “deflectors” are any that were applied by SP, those were all removed years ago.
Chessie even tried the deflectors on SD50 #8570. It was installed in 6/85 and were gone only two months later.