hi all,
what causes traction motors to catch fire on a locomotive is it because of maintanence or…
thank you
Dirt oil, and arching from electrical issues. Overheating components as well.
There are reasons involving maintenance, and reasons involving operating abuse, and sometimes reasons that are just accidental.
Add to the causes already mentioned: bad bearings, birdsnesting due to overspeed (usually from slipping rather than ‘speeding’, as with the valves on the PRR T1s) or overloading/overtemperature at low speed melting the insulation on the windings. Brush damage or flashovers are also potential problem sources. Note that the presence of oil and forced ventilation may complicate relatively small overheating or arcing issues.
A few years ago we had a bad batch of traction motor cables. Would burn up all the time at a heavy load. Lasted a few months until we used them all, I guess.
That sounds awful, and dangerous.
Would this cause break-downs on the road, or could you limp back in?
-Kevin
I recall a bunch of GE U-boats on Penn-Central had either bad cables or the way they were routed caused the insulation to chafe off. Anytime they got to some bad track (about every five-miles or so) the ground-fault relay would trip.
Some crews put up with it but others got fed up with it after a while, took the engine off-line and limped along until they outlawed.
Eventually they were modified but it sure took a while back then. Some of the stuff P-C was running should have been scrapped years before.
Regards, Ed