Eastern Railroad Discussion > Diesel Locomotive Operation

Are the steps on how diesel locomotives are completely turned off, to being in an idling state (like turning your car on, using a key) classified, to non-railroad employees?

This is a topic that I have aways wondered about for many years.

Matthew

To shut it down you can either hit the fuel shut down button or just let it auto shut down if it has that option.

As far as idle there is knob with 4 positions on the back wall. Jog, isolate, run and start.

Jog will prevent the locomotive from shutting down, all the rest are self explanatory

As far as starting if it has auto start you can do it one of 2 ways, just press the auto start button with the knob in the start position and it will prime and start on its own, if it doesn't have an auto start button but has auto start you move the throttle to position 1 and it will then start on its own or if no auto start you do it the old fashioned way by going into the engine room and turning the knob to prime for a period of time and them turn it the other way to start until it cranks over. When engines are MUed together the trailing locomotives should start up if they are on isolate as long as the lead locomotive is still running but you have to manually put each locomotive on run for it to have HP output

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Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 08/26/15 20:47 by SlipperyWhenWet.

Wow, that's really interesting! Thank you.

I have seen that in the newer models there can be LED screens, like in P42s. Considering that the touch display has been invented, are many of the comands done, using that type of technology?

I have yet to get on a locomotive with any sort of touch screen anything on it. Everything has buttons or keys.

Posted from Android

DG .
Unknown, US

From what I remember on an Alco Century there is an oblong rotary control switch (run, idle) and two round buttons. One you press and hold to stop the engine after placing the control switch in idle; the other button has the sides notched out, kind of like an hourglass... you turn it one direction to start the fuel pump, then the other way to crank the engine. The 3000+hp units had an air starter which was cool, if you had ear protection. If the starting air was drained or you had a problem starting the engine you could couple up a running unit and crank to your heart's content.

SlipperyWhenWet Wrote:
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> Jog will prevent the locomotive from shutting
> down, all the rest are self explanatory
>

The Jog position will prevent the GEs from shutting down but that's not its intended function. More like a side effect.

Jog is for moving the locomotive short distances around a shop without having the prime mover running. It basically connects the batteries to one of the traction motors. I believe EMD calls this a "spotter circuit" IIRC is not done though the isolation switch on them.

Be careful using Jog to keep a engine running, they recently disciplined a guy up here for it. I don't know how though, I have yet to see anywhere in rules or bulletins where its a prohibited practice.

Cumberland Wrote:
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> Considering that the
> touch display has been invented, are many of the
> comands done, using that type of technology?

I don't know if this would apply in this situation, but I know the FRA requires certain functions to be a actual physical button. I'm not sure I would like a touch screen anyways, there's certain situations where its nice to hit a actual defined button.

loopy7764 Wrote:
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> . The 3000+hp units had an
> air starter which was cool, if you had ear
> protection. If the starting air was drained or you
> had a problem starting the engine you could couple
> up a running unit and crank to your heart's
> content.

The Tier 2 and newer EMD units are air start. The earlier ones were LOUD! but they seemed to have muffled the newer units down quite a bit. The older ones also tended to run into situations where after siting a short time the starting reservoir would drain to the point the unit wouldn't start. This was a big problem when you had a pair of SD70ACe shut down at a outlying point without a means to supply air to them. EMD appears to have fixed this. I've been in a few situations where a engine was siting totally shut down for a long period of time and it had enough air to fire up. (One engine had been siting for 5 weeks!!!)

Someone awhile back on this forum mentioned how the GM70-73 demos had a hand pump on them of some kind in case the tank was drained. I find this a little difficult to believe. I dont have exact capacities but that starting reservoir is huge at least 200 gallons maybe bigger and you need at least 80 PSI IIRC to start. Your not going to pump that by hand.

I had the reverse problem about 10 years ago. Plenty of air, but no battery charge. Train was tied down at a outlying point with a SD70M-2 and a C40-8. The C40-8 fired up no problem, but for some reason the batteries on the SD70M-2 had drained to the point that the computers would not start up. On the modern locomotives, just about every last function is done though the computers even starting (its push button). Well no computers, no starting.

The SD80MAC and some SD70MAC/SD9043AC do some kind goofy combo start where it uses a air starter and a electric starter in a sequence. I'm not really sure what the benefit of that is. Hotwater? Bogieman? You guys are the in house EMD experts, any idea?

My last BIG question is: How are multiple units linked together, having the ability to run simultainiously, with only the head locomotive having someone controlling the speed, etc... It seems like mixing one, say SD-70, with computer-like capabilities, with an older unit, like an SD40-2 or olde, with less capabilitiesr?

Cumberland Wrote:
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> My last BIG question is: How are multiple units
> linked together, having the ability to run
> simultaneously, with only the head locomotive
> having someone controlling the speed, etc... It
> seems like mixing one, say SD-70, with
> computer-like capabilities, with an older unit,
> like an SD40-2 or olde, with less capabilitiesr?

Just about everything in the North America, (with a few exceptions) Has a standardized 27 pin jumper. On that jumper there are 4 pins are are energized in specific patterns to command 1 of 8 different pre-set power levels from the engine. These 8 power levels correspond to notches 1-8 on the throttle. (two more pins do direction)  (9 levels technically if you include idle I guess)

The engines, basically regardless of type or configuration will respond in kind and produce power in whatever way they are designed to do so based on those commands.

One engine may have fancy computer controls or AC traction motors, but it will still respond to a older DC engine and visa verse. While AC locomotives and DC locomotives both do things a different from each other, they can be used together. If everything is working right, it will pull as hard as its requested/designed to regardless of speed.

Now just because they will all work together, doesn't mean they will work nice together. A example being older GE engines load slower than most EMD engines, so you may get odd slack action or delayed response while the GE brings itself up to the requested power, where the EMD has already done so.

 

>
> The SD80MAC and some SD70MAC/SD9043AC do some
> kind goofy combo start where it uses a air starter
> and a electric starter in a sequence. I'm not
> really sure what the benefit of that is. Hotwater?
> Bogieman? You guys are the in house EMD experts,
> any idea?

The only units that have the dual air/electric starter setup at least on NS are the 80MACs (and one SD40E that is being tested with the same setup). The reason it as the starter setup it does is due to its 20 cylinder engine. Two normal air or electric starters are not powerful enough to get the engine up and going fast enough to start. But why 2 of each air and electric...because if you used 4 electric starters you would need at least another battery or two to provide enough juice for 4 starter motors. Same thing for the air starters...just with air. So EMD used 2 of each in tandem to get the big 20 cylinder engine to start.

When the 90MAC's get rebuilt here starting in a month or two, they will be getting the same dual air/electric starter setup as the 80MACs...but this for better reliability. If you don't have enough air you can start the engine just with the electric starters, and vise versa if you are low on battery juice you can use the air starters to fire it up.

Posted from Android

So, in general terms, in many ways, it CAN be like using DC, rather than DCC, in model railroading terms. Each locomotive has it's own personality and the ratio of how far you turn/notch the throttle, determons vs. how far an engine will go, over a fixed period of time. Is that a good comparisn?


>
> Now just because they will all work together,
> doesn't mean they will work nice together. A
> example being older GE engines load slower than
> most EMD engines, so you may get odd slack action
> or delayed response while the GE brings itself up
> to the requested power, where the EMD has already
> done so.
>
>  

Each locomotive does whatever the engineer tells it to do, if he throttles up the lead locomotive the trailing g locomotives throttle up behind it. Like the other guy said an EMD responds much faster than a GE. So depending on where your locomotives are in consist if EMD is leading it will load and be "dragging" the GE while it catches up, if EMD is trailing it will be pushing the GE while the GE catches up. IMHO the best power combo to have is GE lead and EMD trail cause GE is way more comfortable and easy to see out of

Posted from Android

trkspd Wrote:
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> I have yet to get on a locomotive with any sort of
> touch screen anything on it. Everything has
> buttons or keys.
>
> Posted from Android

out of all the answers in this thread this has to be the most technical reply of the bunch ...

trkspd Wrote:
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> I have yet to get on a locomotive with any sort of
> touch screen anything on it. Everything has
> buttons or keys.

So basically, like an older ATM.
Or a military aircraft MFD.

Unless the locomotives your railroad runs have touch screens in them, then my simple answer got the point across then.

Maybe I should get a job at the Mech. Desk?

Out_Of_Service Wrote:
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> trkspd Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I have yet to get on a locomotive with any sort
> of
> > touch screen anything on it. Everything has
> > buttons or keys.
> >
> > Posted from Android
>
> out of all the answers in this thread this has to
> be the most technical reply of the bunch ...

DG .
Unknown, US