Lima's mythical 2-12-6

Here, for the first time anywhere, we present the rumored but never seen legendary Lima Locomotive Works proposal for a 2-12-6 locomotive. Often cited as the genesis of the awesome 2-6-6-6's of the Chesapeake and Ohio and the Virginian railways, this design has remained an unprovable myth. No longer.

Presented during the above group's meeting in Chicago, the report was written by none other than W.E. Woodard, legendary locomotive designer, and at the time Vice-President, Lima Locomotive Works. Unable to attend due to poor health, the report was actually presented by Mr. H.W. Snyder, Mechanical Engineer of the Lima Locomotive works.

Many aspects of super-power locomotive design were covered in this thorough and intelligent presentation, but what interests us here is the section about reduced locomotive maintainance. Woodard, and Lima, were advocating unitary machinery supports, and tandem rod drives. These served to reduce the distance between cylinder centers, thus greatly reducing the bending forces on pins, rods, and frames. A 4-6-4 and a 4-8-4 are shown using these principles, but below we see the ultimate extrapolation of 2 cyl. power, the 2-12-6. Cylinder centers as shown are only 88 inches, with bending forces well within curent limits, and actually less than some locomotives already in service.

The grate anticipated was 151 sq. ft., needed to supply the enormous cylinders. Their goal was to be able to replace 2-8-8-2's with such an engine, developing more power on less fuel and water. This 2-12-6 embodied all the then current super power features. By estimate, it would have evaporated a very impressive amount of water for 1928, and with limited compensated cutoff would have been able to use that steam to provide power at speed. It is the natural progression from their 2-8-4 and 2-10-4 engines, without articulation.

So here it is. It wasn't just a type discussed somewhere. This was presented in front of the leading motive power men in the railroading world. This presentation was followed by another given by A.W. Bruce, Designing Engineer, American Locomotive Company, on "The locomotive of today and the future as a factor in fuel economy." Excellent company to be in, and in front of which to present this awesome design.






The table above was given in the report after the drawing. This table shows not only the capabilities of the proposed engine vs. that which it was designed to replace, but Lima's design philosophy at the time. The new engine might not be able to start a heavier train than the Mallet, but it could move the same trains much faster on less fuel and water. The concept of power at speed was well understood by this time, and just as 2-8-4's were made to replace 2-8-2's, and 2-10-4's to replace 2-10-2's, providing more boiler capacity than the previous types, so was the 2-12-6 designed to replace an even bigger type, providing the same power at speed increase.


A major consideration in locomotive design used to be "clearances". Probably still is! That is, how big a locomotive could be and still fit everywhere on the railroad that it needed to go. Very accurate measurements were taken by the railroad along their right of way, and these were supplied to the locomotive manufacturer. A template was made, and the finished locomotive had to pass through it in order to be accepted by the railroad.

Virginian's famous 2-10-10-2's actually were too large to be shipped on most railroads. They had to be partly disassembled for their trip. The reason was their enormous low pressure front cylinders. Their total width was too big for many roads. This was in some cases the limiting factor for compound locomotives. Simple articulateds solved the clearance problem of the big cylinders, but 2-cylinder simple (non compounded) locomotives like 2-10-4's could press clearance limits with their large cylinders too.

Lima's unitary machinery support concept, used on the 2-12-6 proposal shown above, lessened the distance between cylinder centers. This allowed very large cylinders, in this case actually well forward of the first pair of drivers AND THE LEAD TRUCK (!!) without having an overly wide locomotive. Without this innovation, such a locomotive would have been impossible.

Another thing this design accomplished was to reduce the bending forces exerted on the cylinder saddle and main drive axles. This is because the main rods are closer to the wheels themselves, using shorter journals than would otherwise be possible. As the report states, reduced forces lead to reduced maintainance, an important factor in railroading. Locmotives in the shop can't make any money hauling trains. Lima's design innovations not only allowed for bigger, more powerful locomotives, but also ensured they would be out on the road hauling trains more often than not.

Would these locomotives have been successful if they had been built? We can look at Union Pacific's 4-12-2's for an answer. Built to replace compound Mallet locomotives, the 4-12-2's were expected to haul about the same trains as the Mallets, but faster and on less coal and water. They did indeed prove that they were able to do so. In this case, an unorthodox wheel arangement (the 4-12-2) was the right machine for the job. One can expect that had the 2-12-6 been made, and used in a similar way (as Lima's comparison targets) to replace Mallets, the results would have been at least the same if not better.

General Electric FDL Diesel Engines - 4

FDL-16F

This engine seems the hardest to quantify in terms of initial changes using the available manuals although some things are fairly clear. What seems clear is that by at least 5-70 a new engine cross section drawing (GE E-16188) has appeared in the manuals; the new Diesel Engine Mechanical Service Manual GEJ-3869 contains this drawing at that date for, we believe, the first time and this manual is the first to cover the 3600 HP 16-cylinder engine for the U36 series; thus the first and most obvious change is the increase in fuel rate for the FDL-16F at 3600 HP.

Other locomotives already in production soon changed to use of the F engine, including the U23 and U30.

In terms of manufacturing alterations in the "F", one change that clearly was due to the uprating of the engine was the provision of a second oil drain hole in the underside of the piston crown cavity on the pistons fitted to these engines. GEI-81976, Instructions for Connecting Rods, Bearings and Pistons (and which is a component part of large binder GEK-30130A) instructs that earlier engines should be modified by drilling the second set of drain holes into the piston crowns. These pistons, it is important to note, are NOT yet steel-capped pistons.

A new heavy walled cylinder liner also appears in this time frame, omitting an external jacket (the old style is called "belly band liner" in GE manuals) and thus making the cylinder assembly essentially revert to a wet block construction, since the outer water boundary is again the inner boundary of the cylinder assembly. In the same parlance this new liner is called the "Annular Groove" liner, and on this style the interior was either chrome plated (requiring iron piston rings) or Tufftrided (requiring chromed piston rings.) Further, it appears that on the "F" the change to holding the cylinder head in place using the liner, instead of bolts from the head to the cylinder jacket or cylinder assembly, was made (although this may have occurred late in "E" production and during overhaul GEK-61273 instructs for the omission of these bolts on all engines... Note twice now the instruction to make alterations to in-service engines that essentially convert them to "F" engine features.)

At least one railfan oriented publication stated (quite some years back) that the U34C introduced steel-capped pistons. This may in fact be the case, especially since the U34 is listed in GEK-30130A as being equipped with the FDL-16F. However, since the date of publication of this particular table is 2-76 and reprinted 9-77 this may also reflect upgrading of all of the engines in this model of locomotive to "F" status. One cannot be sure, at least from this material.

1973

According to the manuals, a number of changes were made to the production FDL diesel engines in 1973. This appears not to have made a difference in the letter designation of the diesel engines, however. These changes are spread throughout the various instructions and descriptions and appear to be a number of small refinements all essentially implemented at one time.

Up until mid-1973, all FDL engines had incorporated intake valves with 45 degree intake valves (the angle of the seating surface to the valve centerline.) Apparently, according to a GE technical paper in our collection, valve seat recession was experienced. The modification to remedy this was to alter the intake valve design to 15 degree seating surfaces and this occurred in mid-1973 on some engines, and by the 10-78 print date of GEK-61273 all production engines incorporated this change. This same instruction orders that no exhaust valves with a date stamp prior to 8-68 (and those with no date stamp at all) should be remanufactured, but instead scrapped due to questionable quality.

A modification to the governor drive assembly occurred at this time, and the new drive with an adaptor was then furnished any time the complete previous assembly was requested as a replacement or spare for engines in the field.

Steel crown pistons, using a steel cap bolted to an aluminum body, probably appeared in testing applications on production engines near the inception of the "F" series initially, as hinted at by the fact that the GE illustration number for the steel crown piston is fairly close to the illustration for the new diesel engine itself (which does NOT include these pistons.) It seems that by the 1977-1978 general date of the Conrail manual that is our primary source, these were production standard for all FDL engines in 8, 12 and 16 cylinders.

Also at this time all FDL engines were changed to a fuel header pressure of 39-41 psi. These used the same (large) fuel pump system as previously employed. Older locomotives could be altered to use the new pressure but had to have the fuel racks reset; the locomotive had to be on a load box if the low pressure, large pump system in more recent locomotives was to be converted.

There appear to be numerous other small changes; these are only a few at the time. We'll now turn briefly to a look at the FDL-12 series in domestic U-series locomotives.

FDL-12

The FDL-12 in all references had no lower model delineation than "B" - so that the first FDL-12 model in GE locomotives by these tables (which never give dates) is FDL-12B. This seems to correlate in some way to there being no sixteen cylinder engine with the letter "B" so that in the early days of the Universal series (for export) and then the U25B, the A engines were 16 cylinders and the B engines were 12 cylinders. (Interesting that the "A" variant was for the domestic U25, which appeared later - giving some further credence to the wide assertions that GE intended to enter the domestic market from the start.) This slightly complicates correlation of engine models, though. It appears that after the early production, the FDL-12 used the letter B and D for export models U20 and U22, model C and F for domestic U23 models, and model D for export models of U23 and U26.

Item: The engine model listed for the U50C is FDL-16D, at 1050 RPM maximum.

Further Item: We know from manual evidence that the U50C, and from first hand operator evidence (thank you, Noel Weaver) that some of the Penn Central U23B units used a modified engine speed schedule whereby the engine operated at half speed in notches 1 through 4 and full speed in 5 through 8, with variation in tractive effort by excitation only. This engine speed schedule or description of any such NEVER appears in this Conrail manual; we imagine this variation to be quite rare as a result of this finding.

Whatever the case, the 12-cylinder engines are covered by this same large manual and delineations are almost never made in the material so that we can be sure the same lineage of modifications occurred to the FDL-12 (and also the FDL-8) even if the engine model letters did not match up, at least for the first few years.

We hope you've enjoyed this series on the known (or rather, UNknown until now) model delineations of the GE FDL series engines. I have many engine illustrations to show and those will be coming along shortly.

Baldwin - BLH Diesel Engines in photos -2

If you haven't seen our first installment in this series, please take a few minutes to find it and read it to get the whole story -- and the piece (all text) on the mechanical history of the 600 series engine won't hurt either. We are not going to show EVERY photo in our whole collection, but will show the majority.

Let's pick up our study of engine photos with the beginning of 600 series engines that were released for service .. in other words, right after the prototype engines.

This photo comes from the Baldwin magazine, first quarter 1946 in which the new 3000 HP locomotive for the Seaboard Coast Line is announced. The photo is of one of the two 1500 BHP 608SC engines constructed for use in this locomotive; this shot appears to be the only shot we are using here that is duplicated anywhere. (Kirkland's book uses a copy from the same negative, apparently.) Again, notable are the lube oil filters mounted to the side of the engine.

Bulletin 249 (no date) was an advertising brochure produced by Baldwin for its 600 series engines for all types of service. Even with no date, it's easy to tell that it's early because the two engine shots depict the engine-mounted lube oil filters like we've been seeing all along. This engine is the production version of the 606NA, which was rated 660 BHP.

Here, also from Bulletin 249, is the short-lived production 608NA engine, rated 1000 BHP. This engine was not built for long before Baldwin decided that a six cylinder turbocharged engine with identical rating was a better choice than this eight cylinder normally aspirated engine.

This smaller image is from Baldwin DE-100, Diesel Engine Manual / 600 Series. This was the very first manual for these engines, and shown is the early production 608SC engine identical to that shown earlier as depicted in the 1st quarter 1946 Baldwin magazine. 1500 Brake Horsepower, eight cylinders, turbocharged.

Now, we'll end up our look at these engines - at least externally - with the final round of engines built by Baldwin, which of course by this point was Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton. (Note; The company did build the Hamilton T69SA and T89SA engines after the merger, and also used Superior engines for export locomotives; we'll be showing those engine ranges in future articles.)

Baldwin 606 engine. Six cylinders, normally aspirated. 875 brake horsepower; 800 horsepower for traction.





Baldwin 606A engine; 1315 brake horsepower, 1200 horsepower for traction. Six cylinders, turbocharged. Final turbocharged six-cylinder variant shown in final Baldwin 600 series manual, DE-111A.



Baldwin 608A engine; 1750 brake horsepower, 1600 horsepower for traction. Most powerful engine employed in any Baldwin or BLH diesel locomotive.

SO, there's our quick look - mostly externally - at the range of Baldwin / BLH diesel engines to go along with the posted discussion on the development and progression of the 600 series engines. I hope you've enjoyed it.

Baldwin - BLH Diesel engines (VO, 600 series) in photos 1

Yesterday, I made a post about the mechanical progression of the Baldwin 600 series diesel engines, which really is an updated post of a piece I wrote about five years ago or so and put on my original website. I've reproduced it here, minus the photos as I mentioned -- but today I've got FAR MORE photos ready than that original site ever had.

One note - These photos come from a variety of sources in our collection, namely the VO Diesel Engine Maintenance Manual, BLW/BLH manuals DE-100, DE-104, DE-111 and DE-111A (600 Series Diesel Engine Maintenance Manuals), a Baldwin Magazine from 1946, an undated Baldwin-Westinghouse sales brochure, and BLW Bulletin 249 which is a sales brochure for the 600 series engine for various kinds of applications (in other words, not just for locomotives but for stationary power.) All original source material.

Even though we didn't discuss the VO engine in the previous post, let's start with a few views of this engine.

Here is a three quarter shot of an eight cylinder, 1000 BHP Baldwin VO engine. Note that this engine uses the main production version of the engine frame that only includes a half-circle mounting for the main generator, which Baldwin found problematic and changed after the war when it was allowed to do so. Note also the two lube oil filters on the side of the engine; these are a hallmark of VO and early 600 series engines.



Here is a cross section view of the Baldwin VO engine. Readers should immediately examine the cylinder head, and notice the ovoid (egg-shaped) combustion chamber contained entirely within the cylinder head, and connected to the cylinder working volume by a cylindrically shaped passage. All of this is cast into the head. This antiquated design came from the days when atomization of fuel was problematic; this could be remedied by forcing all the air into a small volume, with induced swirl, which would start combustion in the small chamber upon fuel injection and heat all of the mixture to the point that any larger fuel droplets would hopefully both atomize and burn completely as they spread into the working cylinder. What this means, though, is that a large amount of heat is liberated in the cylinder head - given to lube oil and cooling water - and that it's impossible to cool this combustion chamber with intake air. This makes the heads run hot and makes a definite ceiling on fuel rate due to liberated heat. This is why Baldwin had to convert to (more modern, more conventional) open combustion chambers with its new 600 series engine in order to get any increase in power.

Next, at left, we have a late VO series 8-cylinder 1000 HP engine. Note the late-model alteration to include a main engine bed that has large extensions or arms to mount the generator much more solidly than the half-circle flange used previously. Note also the lube oil filters. This engine looks very much like the later 608NA but the sure way to tell is to look at the fuel pumps and push rod tubes. On the VO engines, the fuel pumps are on the cam deck between the intake and exhaust valve push rod tubes. On all 600 series engines, the fuel pumps are BESIDE the push rod tubes. This always works as an ID feature.

Baldwin developed its new 600 series engines while the war was in progress, using some new components and some VO components. Two fascinating shots are found in a Baldwin-Westinghouse sales brochure we have. One of these engines has been seen before in Kirkland's book in a different shot; the other one has not.

This is the shot we're sure hasn't seen light yet. This is certainly the prototype 608NA engine. Note the clear 600 series fuel pump and push rod arrangement, but note the use of the half-circle flange mount for the generator and the two lube oil filter tanks. Note also the four exhaust stacks. We can guess a bit more after seeing the next picture.

This is the prototype 608SC engine. This engine is shown, in a different picture, in John Kirkland's book and in that book Kirkland mentions that only this engine was built this way - with a mix of old VO style and new 600 style components; again note the half-circle flange mount for the generator. Surely the previous photo contradicts this unless we assume that the engine was first built and tested as a normally aspirated, 1000 BHP unit and then altered and turbocharged to produce the 1500 BHP prototype seen here and in Kirkland's book. This assumption seems safe enough, but again it is only my assumption. From an engineering standpoint it would make perfect sense.

Next post in this series will continue with the 600 series engines in every variant we can get a photo of, so keep looking back.

Baldwin - BLH 600 series engine history

THIS CONTENT was originally published on my locomotive site a number of years ago. I've decided to put it back on the net on our new site. I have totally cut and pasted it from my own site page at the internet archive but the PHOTOS are not included. I will try to get all of those, and some more, including shots we have of some of the prototype engines that haven't seen the light of day before, up on this blog in the near future. So please ignore photo references in the text.

Baldwin / Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton 600 series diesel engines 1946-1956.
Following the failure of its multi-engined road locomotive concept, which effectively ended the Baldwin 400 series engine's future, the company decided to center future locomotive production around a thoroughly redesigned version of the VO engine, to be known as the 600 series. Paramount to the new engine's design was the ability to accept turbocharging; the cylinder heads had to be totally redesigned to eliminate the integral combustion chambers of the VO in favor of the modern open chamber design (in which fuel is injected directly into the cylinder volume.) New, saucer-top pistons were developed. The entire engine structure was redesigned and reinforced, including much heavier crankshaft and connecting rods; the new engine would be required to develop a rated 1500 HP, which was 150% of the rating of the previous 8-cylinder VO.

The new engine series was phased into the various locomotive lines in a slightly hodge-podge manner. The basic details of the new engine lineup immediately after the end of the Second World War are seen below. Note that all 600 series engines were 12.75" bore, 15.5" stroke and ran at 625 RPM maximum.

606NA 6 cylinders, normally aspirated. BMEP = 70.6 psi. 660 brake HP.

608NA 8 cylinders, normally aspirated. BMEP = 80 psi. 1000 brake HP.

608SC 8 cylinders, turbocharged (Elliot BF44.) BMEP = 120 psi. 1500 brake horsepower. (This engine is pictured at left, in its earliest production configuration. From Baldwin Diesel Engine Manual DE-100, published 1946 and revised 3-26-47, 4-9-47, 2-1-48, 5-1-48.

Baldwin decided, shortly, to replace the 608NA engine with a new, turbocharged 6-cylinder engine. This engine is added to the aforementioned DE-100 manual in the 3-26-47 revision; details for it are as follows.

606SC 6 cylinders, turbocharged (Elliot BF40, known as "two exhaust pipe" type, or Elliot BF34, known as "three exhaust pipe" type.) BMEP = 106.7 psi. 1000 brake HP.

It should be noted at this time that Baldwin was advertising and rating its locomotives based upon the brake horsepower rating of the diesel engine. ALCO-GE was also using this system with its locomotives powered by 539 engines, but had decided to rate its road locomotives, powered by 244 engines, using the "horsepower for traction" rating which indicates power delivered to the generator. This theoretically placed Baldwin at a slight power disadvantage, which it eventually corrected later.

The original DE-100 manual stipulated that main bearing alignment be checked at intervals of once per year, or every 300,000 miles. The revision of 5-1-48 shortened this to every six months or 50,000 miles. The 5-1-48 revision becomes more specific about procedure of mounting the generator to the engine and checking its alignment. The engines were still using shimmed main bearings at this time; drawing D-1004 in DE-100 shows the comparative placement and thickness of the bearing shims. Some of the locomotives still used lube oil radiators; some used the full flow oil filters, some the bypass type. The 2-1-48 revision appears to be the one to include the three-pipe, or BF34, turbocharger for the 606SC. In general, it is clear that, at this time, the engine had been improved from the VO, but many design details were being altered in the period 1946-1948 and that some of the original sources of complaint (oil radiators, shimmed crankshaft bearings, for example) had still not been eliminated when the 600 series engine appeared.

Baldwin Diesel Engine Manual DE-104 was the next manual issued, and while the first printing date is not known, it was revised in 5-15-50 and 11-1-50. It is assumed that the original printing was likely in late 1949 or early 1950. In this manual, it is made apparent that numerous changes have been made to the engines. Probably the most important to modern railfans, and the least known, is the fact that Baldwin changed over at this time from rating its locomotives by the brake horsepower of the engine to rating the locomotives using the newer "horsepower for traction" method. Baldwin increased the actual power output of the engines without altering the advertised ratings of the locomotives. Below are the 1950 specifications for the three engine models in production (first built in January 1950 and contained in DE-104 on a revision page dated 5-15-50.)

606NA 6 cylinders, normally aspirated. BMEP = 88 psi. Compression ratio 14.88:1. 825 BHP. HP for traction 750.
606SC 6 cylinders, turbocharged (as before.) BMEP = 120 psi. Compression ratio 13.45:1. 1125 BHP. HP for traction 1000.
608SC 8 cylinders, turbocharged (as before.) BMEP = 130 psi. Compression ratio 13.45:1. 1625 BHP. HP for traction 1500.

New, Tri-Metal shimless crankshaft bearings replaced both the (shimmed) gridded and babbitt types used prior. Bearing dimensions remained the same, as did valve dimensions in the cylinder heads. The following are the given cylinder conditions at full load: 606NA max compression pressure 540 psi, max firing pressure 1015 psi. 606SC max compression pressure 720 psi, max firing pressure 970 psi. 608SC max compression pressure 750 psi, max firing pressure 1000 psi. Maximum exhaust elbow temperatures in the same order were given as 950, 850 and 900 degrees; thus, the normally aspirated engine had the highest exhaust elbow temperature. Valve timing for the engines depended upon whether or not they were turbocharged, and also upon whether or not the engines had the older "Saucer top" pistons with a concave piston crown, or the new "Hesselmann" pistons, sometimes referred to in the field as "Mexican Hat" pistons, as these had a depressed top portion with a pointed, raised center. Fuel injection timing also differed between piston types as well. Thus, for six-cylinder engines there would have been four different camshafts available (normally aspirated with saucer pistons, normally aspirated with Hesselmann pistons, turbocharged with saucer pistons, turbocharged with Hesselmann pistons.)

Baldwin issued its Diesel Engine Manual DE-111 on 9-15-50, which covered the next round of revisions to the 600 engine. The largest change was the inclusion of a substantially larger and heavier crankshaft; all of the bearing bore sizes increase, and lifting weight of the crankshaft increases as well. It appears that upon issuance, Baldwin was beefing up the bottom end of the engine to accept a further power increase. This happened shortly thereafter. The following ratings are included in this manual, on a page dated 6-15-51.

606 6 cylinders, normally aspirated. BMEP = 93.5 psi. 875 BHP. HP for traction 800.
606A 6 cylinders, turbocharged (Elliott H503.) BMEP = 140 psi. 1315 BHP. HP for traction 1200.
608A 8 cylinders, turbocharged (Elliott H704.) BMEP = 140 psi. 1750 BHP. HP for traction 1600.

Cylinder conditions at full load are given as follows: 606 max compression pressure 540 psi, max firing pressure 1120 psi. 606A and 608A max compression pressure 690 psi, max firing pressure 1120 psi. Max exhaust elbow temperature 1000 degrees F for normally aspirated engine, and 925 F for turbocharged engines. The increases in power over the time the whole 600 series was in production had been produced by increase in fuel injection amount, involving both volume and timing, as well as boost pressure and thus scavenging effect and compression pressure. No increase in engine speed was needed to increase from the 1000 brake horsepower of the 608NA all the way up to the 1750 brake horsepower of the 608A.

At the very late date in Baldwin history of 2-1-55, manual DE-111A was issued to cover further revisions to the engine. These changes were very slight -- including changes to the crankcase breather design, engine air filter design, and others. One change of note was that the engines themselves became several hundred pounds lighter, for reasons which are not explained. This manual is also the first to contain a complete section on engine speed control applicable to all optional setups, including both types of air throttles available (D-1 and CE-100) as well as the 8-step electric throttle, and also includes data for the UG-8 and PG types of Woodward engine governors. (Most Baldwin manuals are specific, and thus there is a wide variation of manuals --- this is why this one, applicable to any optional combination, is unusual.) Looking through this manual reveals that the vast majority of important changes had already occurred prior to a date of 1953 (some of the pages in this manual carry this date) and most likely all of the last-generation changes physically date to 9/50, with the last uprating likely 6/51.

There you have it -- the complete breakdown of important evolutionary changes to the post-War Baldwin / Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton 600 series diesel engine. It is apparent that Baldwin continuously tried to improve their product, but for too many railroads it was not enough. Even though the late locomotives were greatly improved in reliability, the serious shortcomings of the VO and very early 600 engines caused many railroads to abandon Baldwin as a serious supplier of diesel locomotives.

Westinghouse Gas Turbine - Electric Locomotive 3

Here's our final look at the Westinghouse Gas Turbine locomotive which was first operated in road service in May, 1950. Our primary source is a previously described (see older posts on this blog) specification book produced by Westinghouse in June 1952.

Westinghouse drawing number 55-J-87, described below.

It appears that in terms of test or prototype gas turbine powerplants for locomotives, Westinghouse was first out of the box with its 2000 HP prototype being operated from September 1946 until December 1948 at its plant before being shipped out to the field, modified, as a stationary plant for further evaluation (which Westinghouse of course monitored.) General Electric's prototype gas turbine plant for locomotive service operated at its plant in Erie from September 1947 until August 1948. Westinghouse indicates that its test unit operated 1500 hours; Railway Age reported in 1949 that GE's test unit operated 700 hours. Unlike Westinghouse's test unit, though, the GE unit was placed immediately in a newly-designed locomotive, lettered and numbered as "ALCO-GE 50" and placed in test operation very shortly. Extensive testing of this ALCO-GE prototype on the Union Pacific in 1949 revealed that the locomotive worked; according to Don Strack, UP had already ordered a production batch of locomotives before the end of 1950. The first was delivered in January of 1952, several months before this specification book was issued by Westinghouse covering its gas turbine locomotive.

It would then appear that Westinghouse re-issued the specification with slight revisions (the book indicates that the diagrams and line drawings supersede previous data) and put this binder out to the railroads in hopes of getting some action, as it were, before it was edged out of the gas turbine locomotive market. The fact of the matter was that all of the members of this locomotive family (Westinghouse, offering straight electric locomotives including Ignitron rectifier units, Baldwin and Lima-Hamilton, and Whitcomb) were essentially only marginal players at this point. Further, GE had an advantage with the gas turbine locomotive in simplicity and very likely in fuel economy in developing 4500 HP for traction with a single gas turbine powerplant while Westinghouse chose to use two powerplants to develop a total of 4000 HP for traction.

AS AN ASIDE, a very interesting notation appears on Westinghouse Drawing Number 55-J-87 which is included in the specification book. This drawing is labeled as "4000-4500 Locomotive Arrangement." If this carries any weight it would appear that Westinghouse was considering a 2250 HP net output for its gas turbine plant. However, Railway age reported in 1949 that while the locomotive rating ALCO-GE was publishing was 4500 HP, the gas turbine's nominal rating was 4800 SHP at highest normal altitude (for railway service) and temperature, and 5000 SHP at sea level but that the unit could possibly tolerate operation with higher turbine inlet temperature at 6000 HP and finally that in testing in cold weather the unit had actually been tested at 6400 HP. Clearly then, while it is possible that Westinghouse may have uprated slightly to match the as-built 'first generation' GE turbines, GE also had plenty of horsepower growth available - far in excess of what Westinghouse could have matched, without major redesign.

Getting back to our story line, having covered much of the operational data and the developmental story all that's left is to describe the mechanical layout of this prototype gas turbine locomotive. For that we'll use Westinghouse drawing 57-J-844 from the specification book, which is the Layout & Servicing diagram.

Starting at the left side of the drawing, we note that there are two large air brake equipment racks in the nose of the locomotive, flanking the vertically mounted front traction motor blower serving both front trucks. The blower motors are Westinghouse Y-400A units; each blower was rated 12,000 cfm air flow. Central also is the heavy fuel filler pipe, above which is a hinged door in the top of the nose. Also present in the front compartment is the UE-23 Traction Motor Blower Alarm relay, warning of blower shutdown. In the cab, the engineer's position is fairly typical for road locomotives of the time, including a pneumatic throttle. In front of the fireman's position are a remote steam generator control panel and a hand brake.

Moving into the engine room through a centerline door we find, each side, a large 5000 gallon water tank and behind these two electrical equipment cabinets. Outboard of these, and accessible are various control and indicating panels and the TS-31-D Load Regulators, part of the complex load control scheme required by the nature of the gas turbines' load profile. The front end of each powerplant is a Westinghouse 2-cylinder air compressor; inboard of these, flanking the central walkway are the operating handles for the two XC-623-H Starting Controllers. We imagine these are used only for individual powerplant startup. Outboard and below the air compressors are the YG-53-A Pilot Exciters, which have mounted on front shaft extensions A-80 Tachometers. Behind these we see the large auxiliary generators mounted directly to the front of the main traction generator groups, and on top of these are the four exciters. On top of the front end of the actual gas turbine compressor housings are turning gear motors, used to operate the turbine shafts at very low speeds (required during cooldown for prevention of rotor bowing) and alarm lights indicating dirty intake air (probably a D/P cell.) While the locomotive has three engine room ventilating fans, the larger one over the turbines is a Y-44D motor providing cooling for the turbine lube oil. Below the turbines are Y-109A auxiliary lube oil pump motors and Y-202A fuel pump motors. Overtemperature thermostats, with resets, are located in the engine exhaust pipes; under the left-side exhaust elbow is an auxiliary air compressor driven electrically by a Y-204-A motor. The unit on the left of the engine room behind the left turbine is a standard Vapor steam generator, and on the right is a Babcock & Wilcox custom exhaust heat generator; water is supplied to the exhaust steam generator by a Y-109-B motor driven pump.

Next are two further large water tanks, with the rear traction motor blower at center, sanitary facility at right rear, 75 HP auxiliary diesel left rear, and auxiliary and signal power cabinet at centerline. Item 65 on the drawing is a TK-168-A Hostling Switch, probably used to direct power from the auxiliary generator to a traction motor or pair of them for hostling moves.

The drawing indicates a total capacity of 3850 gallons of heavy fuel in main, or underbody tank, and I-beam tanks. Total diesel fuel capacity 500 gallons. Traction motors labeled as model 370K. The rear traction motor gear cases, #7 and #8 were using an experimental lubricant (Sinclair Jet Lubricant TM) in place of the normal prescribed lubricant. The cab was heated only by steam.

THAT about covers the Westinghouse 4000 HP Gas Turbine Electric Locomotive in as much detail as we need to get a good idea of its design, history, construction, and competitive position in the field at the time. I hope you've enjoyed it!

Even MORE General Electric brochure photos

Yet another round of GE sales brochure photos. Hopefully this will help occupy our many snowed-in friends in the Eastern half of the US.

Let's lead off with another view of the locomotive that heads this blog, namely the experimental General Electric road locomotive no. GE 750.

General Electric 750. Four unit experimental road locomotive, built in 1955. Length overall 212 feet, weight in working order total 490 tons- all on drivers. Rated 6000 horsepower. Operations totaled over a million unit miles under testing, mainly on the Erie Railroad (for which the locomotive was painted.) Two units contained Cooper-Bessemer FVBL-8T engines rated 1200 HP for traction; two units contained Cooper-Bessemer FVBL-12T engines rated 1800 HP for traction.

Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific No. 206, General Electric model U25B.







Assembly of FDL-16A diesel engines. General Electric decided immediately upon separating from the old ALCO-GE agreements to develop the Cooper-Bessemer F series engine for locomotive service, namely in 1953. In 1954-1955 GE built a diesel engine lab at Erie, and in 1958 took design and development responsibility for the FDL diesel series from Cooper-Bessemer, who still built the engines for GE at its Mount Vernon, Ohio plant until early 1963 when assembly was transferred to Erie, Pennsylvania at GE's plant. In this illustration the nearest engine frame lacks cylinder assemblies; a technician appears to be checking or finishing the bores for pushrods and fuel pumps. The next most distant engine is having its last cylinder assembly installed in the frame by overhead hoist.

Cylinder assembly, seen in cutaway. From sales brochure for U30 locomotives; depicts FDL-16D assembly. Note valve box on top, with valve spring visible; steel cylinder head is visible in center, containing valves and injector nozzle (hidden inside) while removable cylindrical cylinder liner is seen at bottom.








Detail of (circular) cover illustration for U33 sales brochure. Unit closest camera is GE 301, one of the original four U30 test/prototype/demonstrator units that was converted to U33 by the time of this brochure's printing. More interesting is the unit at left, obviously another U33 but numbered "308." There was no GE 308 that we know of; either this number was applied (very well) by an artist for this photo and perhaps the unit was built for, perhaps, NYC or perhaps there was going to be a GE 308 which ended up being one of the two pre-production U33 units built for NYC that were mixed right in with a large order for U30 units. Pure speculation, but this illustration has puzzled me for years.

MUCH more to come!