Western Railroad Discussion > Results of a blown turbo

I was just east of Soldier Summit when I spotted smoke further east and decided to investigate. However before finding the source of the smoke, I found a stopped uphill loaded coal train just east of the turnoff to Scofield with obvious problems with one of the helper units. The white smoke is actually fire extinguisher power from the crew trying to put out the actual fire. After several rounds with the fire extinguisher, they pulled up to the summit and removed the helper set.

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At the summit, they again worked on extingishing the fire in the turbocharger area of the SD-50. I asked if they were responsible for the smoke further down the hill. They said that it was possible and that the turbocharger was in about 500 pieces. At one point when they shot the fire extinguisher down the stack, flames came out the open doors but I missed getting it with the camera. I think that by the time the crew was done they had used every fire extinguisher on the helper set. The effectiveness of the fire extinguishers was not very impressive.

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By the time, I headed back down the hill to investigate the source of the original smoke, the fire had really blown up and both tracks were shut down as fire crews tried to put out the fire around the tracks. However, the fire had gone uphill to at least the ridge and there was at least one aircraft dumping retardent on the fire. While the fire had probably burned 1000 acres, it was not enough to even make the evening news in Salt Lake as there were more serious fires elsewhere. It is going to be a bad summer in the west.

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Nice shots! Quite the unseen side of railroading.
~GP-38

Some good shots. I've heard some stories that the turbo blades sometimes blow out the stack (in a million pieces of course)in a turbo explosion, is this true. If so, does it always happen in explosions?

GP-38 wrote:

> Nice shots! Quite the unseen side of railroading.
> ~GP-38
>
Yes, thanks for the photos of the massive power set! Oh, those fire extinguishers are not designed to put out engine fires which can get big very fast! They usually call for help<g> I commend the crew for trying to prevent further damage to the unit but I get it will need a new turbo and a overhaul for the fire damage.
I remember an incident which happened in 1995 when a switch engine caught on fire in Dolores and the crew tried to put out the fire. Two people went to the hospital and management was ticked off! They told us if this ever happens to you while your working to just get away from the engine and call for help. Anyone else ever run into this kind of problem? It would be interesting to hear from you guys. Cheers.
Mr. C.

sooman wrote:

> Some good shots. I've heard some stories that the turbo
> blades sometimes blow out the stack (in a million pieces of
> course)in a turbo explosion, is this true. If so, does it
> always happen in explosions?
>
> [%sig%]

The most likely case when a turbocharger blows up is that the tubine wheel explodes and parts are throw in all directions including thru the housing and up the stack. One problem is that the lube oil lines for the turbocharger can be ruptured and start a fire in the locomotive. There was still a minor oil fire burning in the exhaust stack when they stopped at the summit. Several years ago, I saw another turbocharger explosion that also occurred going up Soldier Summit but on the west side near Sheep Creek. There was no real fire but the whole valley was filled with smoke (probably just a fine oil mist).

sdrake wrote:

>The effectiveness of the fire extinguishers was not very impressive.

I'm not too surprised at that. I just took a refresher course in fire extinguishers (I'm part of the ERT team at work). The average extinguisher isn't really a fire fighting tool. It's a 12 x 12 piece of gear; 12 feet max from the flame, 12 seconds at full discharge. It works by capping the fire and blocking the 02 from getting in. If you can't get close enough to hit the base of the fire, it's not going to be too effective. Even then, you need to watch out for a flash back and reignition. Still, they're a lot better than nothing if you're there just after the fire starts.

DaveE

Anyone recall the Canadian Pacific F unit fire photo that appeared in Trains Magazine 15 or so years ago? IIRC, the photo was taken by a Canadian forest service worker sent in to help quell the engine fire - the ties below the unit appeared to be burning as well, although the surrounding forest escaped destruction. I believe the fire occurred on the mainline in Ontario.

DaveE wrote:

> sdrake wrote:
>
> >The effectiveness of the fire extinguishers was not very
> impressive.
>
> I'm not too surprised at that. I just took a refresher
> course in fire extinguishers (I'm part of the ERT team at
> work). The average extinguisher isn't really a fire fighting
> tool. .....
>
> DaveE
>

They used to make really effective fire extinguishers. They were filled with halon but someone decided that halon was harmful to the ozone layer. I believe that the military still uses halon in military aircraft and armoured vehicles. Anyway, I once put out a propane fire with a small hand held halon extinguisher. A neighbor had a BBQ grill with a leaking valve which caught fire and then melted off the valve which created a 5 ft fireball next to their house. I got to within 15 ft and hit it with 2 about 1/2 second squirts and it was snuffed. Just out instantly. I would not have believed it if I had not seen it with my own eyes.

However, those dry powder extinguishers do not seem to work very well on flamable liquids.

3... 2... 1... FIRE It'sin Ona,West Virginia close to Huntington,WV and it is named after C.P.Huntington so its kinda on topic I have more if you want me to post em. Oh and how do you get them to post smaller?

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The biggest problem with trying to extinguish a turbo fire is the heat. Even if you get the fire out, the oil will reignite without cooling the hot steel. You need lots of water and foam, the water cools and the foam keeps out the oxygen. A big carbon-dioxide extinguisher will work better than dry-chem in most oil fires. And, yes, there is a time to cut the unit out of the consist and let the pros handle it. But when you're setting the countryside on fire, it's a tough call.

The CP FP-7 unit photo you are referring to appeared in Trains(uncertain of date) but occurred, I believe, in the early '70s.

For specifics you might try the CP SIG and/or C-P-R Group available through Yahoo groups.

The incident was mentioned in the last month or so as part of a discussion concerning disposition of CP FP-7s and FP-9s.

The CP never owned any straight F-7s or F-9s but they seemed to spend a lot of time on regearing the FPs for freight service: 65 mph vs. 89 mph.

Roger Keim

I remember an old railroad man telling me that the only thing those dry chemical extinguishers would do is make a fifty-dollar fire into a five-hundred-dollar mess.

Yes, it was a while ago. Inflation has made those numbers quite a bit higher.