Steam & Excursion > RRHMA Unveils ATSF 537

Railroading Heritage of Midwest America unveiled ATSF 537 beautifully restored in Warbonnet colors last weekend.
Details at https://rrhma.com/t-n-t-recap/

Great job RRHMA!

Posted from iPhone

There was a You Tube video posted of the recent open house at Silvis and the 537 was shown, it is
immaculate AND it was running.

Out 

callum_out Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> There was a You Tube video posted of the recent
> open house at Silvis and the 537 was shown, it is
> immaculate AND it was running.
>
> Out 

I hope that it is kept sheltered when it is not being operated.

ts1457 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> callum_out Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > There was a You Tube video posted of the recent
> > open house at Silvis and the 537 was shown, it
> is
> > immaculate AND it was running.
> >
> > Out 
>
> I hope that it is kept sheltered when it is not
> being operated.

I don't think that will be an issue with the amount of building space at Silvis :-)

I was there to see progress on 3985 and also saw ATSF 537
Steve

---

Nice photo of the 537!

Any photos of that little CN 1914 thingy to the right of the Centtennial?

Rob in NorCal

GoldenState Wrote:
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> Nice photo of the 537!
>
> Any photos of that little CN 1914 thingy to the
> right of the Centtennial?
>
> Rob in NorCal


That’s “Obie”
https://littleobie.ca/

Posted from iPhone

Looking good!  Pretty amazing that the cabs being installed on new GE's are pretty much the same shape 35 years after it was introduced.  One more year and it will eclipse the record set by EMD's "spartan cab" (1963 - 1999).

Wonder if there are still extant examples of the type of air conditioner 537 was built with.

I’m presuming you’re referencing the air louvres visible behind the cab at the roof line?

I’d bet that it’s the cooing air inlets for the dynamic brake grids.
I know very little about all the changes in GE units.

But that’s my wager…

In the short time I was employed by the Rock I spent its last two years at
Silvis Shops as Master Mechanic,
It’s an immense facility, and I’m so glad that RRHMA has put it to good use
in restoring both steam and diesels to operation.

Steam locos can be stored for extended periods, unused; whereas,
diesel electrics, if not used for extended periods absorb moisture
in substances like electrical insulation and exposed copper
contacts of electrical relays and contractors oxidize very rapidly —
- causing all sorts of spurious and intermittent contract failures and
‘ground-relay’ activation and alarms.

Ground Relays are protective devices
used on the traction motor high-voltage circuits —— the Ground Relay
monitors the high voltage circuit to detect any current flow between the
high voltage circuitry and the steel structure of the loco.

When it gets activated, it causes all generated electrical current flow
in the traction motor circuit to be cut-off & the diesel engine returns to ‘idle’ RPMs.

So, stored diesels, unless operated for extended periods of ‘heavy loading’,
high -current , high temperature operating conditions…
will present future operating problems.

And things like the exposed copper
relay contacts become rapidly oxidized if not operated for extended
periods —— even a few weeks of storage can present unexpected
problems in electrical control systems.

We spent a lot of time on the Rock clearing-up electrical problems
on locos that had been stored for short periods —-awaiting parts availability ,
etc.

Also, parts ‘borrowing’ from locos waiting for their extended repairs,
or waiting-on fresh parts availability, became further disabled from
the lack of the return of the ‘borrowed’ part…

‘Parts-borrowing’ is common on RRs where operating funds are low and
new part replacements, are both reduced to extreme maintenance-shortcuts
and ‘parts borrowing’ to keep other locos in the fleet operational …

W.

Posted from iPhone



Edited 6 time(s). Last edit at 10/24/24 07:08 by wcamp1472.

wcamp1472 Wrote:

> I’m presuming you’re referencing the air
> louvres visible behind the cab at the roof line?

No. On a wide nose GE Dash-8, the air conditioner is the box behind the cab on the fireman’s side with a single screened opening on the side. It’s subtle, but that opening was a different shape on the A/C units that came with the 500’s. Not that it matters - 537 was retrofitted with the type seen in the photo while it was still ATSF 537.

Evan, 
Thanks for the distinction...

​W.


(P.S.

What was the GE model designation
when it left original construction
factory ? B-B trucks.
Maybe catalog #? )



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/24/24 20:06 by wcamp1472.

wcamp1472 Wrote:

> What was the GE model designation when it left original construction factory ?

The GE builder's plate would have said Model: DASH 8-40BW. 

Unfortunately, almost no one uses that designation because spelling out the word "DASH" looks funny and takes up a lot of column width.  If you look in the back of a Santa Fe System Timetable from the early 1990's, the designation for the 500's will be shown as B40-8W.  For reasons unknown, some railfan sources like to put the W up front and give the 500's the designation BW40-8. 

Sooo?

Would the rated HP be 4,000 & riding on 2-axle trucks ("B")?
Equipped with AC traction motors , or DC?

​W.

 

wcamp1472 Wrote:

> Would the rated HP be 4,000 & riding on 2-axle
> trucks ("B")?

Yes. Dash-8 series, 4000hp, 2-axle trucks, widenose safety cab.

> Equipped with AC traction motors , or DC?

DC. Santa Fe didn’t buy any AC traction power before the BNSF merger.

Thank you!

A/C traction, once perfectec, revolutionized diesel loco hauling capacity..
FINALLY, they could take advantage of the diesel engines high HP + 
match it to A/C traction motors --- even at high speeds, while hauling 
the freight.   With DC motors is was common to see 5 to 7 locos 
hauling trains --- DC motors couldn't deliver the power, at decent track speeds,
so, RRs added more units to keep track-speeds up ..

Nicola Tesla was SO right, in his fight to utilize A/C power.
He could only dream about the advantages of variable-frequency 
high-HP,  motors  --- with steady torque forces, across many RPMs,
of motor output.

​W.

 

Evan_Werkema Wrote:
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> DC. Santa Fe didn’t buy any AC traction power
> before the BNSF merger.

Santa Fe's view was that they needed high horsepower for speed on the Transcon, and DC was less expensive at the time than AC.

I thought that view was wrong, but ....

wcamp1472 Wrote:

> FINALLY, they could take advantage of the diesel engines high HP + 
> match it to A/C traction motors --- even at high speeds, while hauling 
> the freight.   With DC motors is was common to see 5 to 7 locos 
> hauling trains --- DC motors couldn't deliver the power, at decent track speeds,
> so, RRs added more units to keep track-speeds up

Seems like the railroads, at least initially, had just the opposite theory about AC traction - it was for slow, heavy haul coal and grain trains, which they were now free to underpower without worrying about short time ratings and burning up DC traction motors.

Evan_Werkema Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> wcamp1472 Wrote:
>
> > FINALLY, they could take advantage of the diesel
> engines high HP + 
> > match it to A/C traction motors --- even at high
> speeds, while hauling 
> > the freight.   With DC motors is was common to
> see 5 to 7 locos 
> > hauling trains --- DC motors couldn't deliver
> the power, at decent track speeds,
> > so, RRs added more units to keep track-speeds
> up
>
> Seems like the railroads, at least initially, had
> just the opposite theory about AC traction - it
> was for slow, heavy haul coal and grain trains,
> which they were now free to underpower without
> worrying about short time ratings and burning up
> DC traction motors.

In the beginning the railroads were afraid to mix AC and DC locomotives too. Afraid they would burn up the motors on the DC units.
The fear seems to have past since AC and DC units seem to be freely mixed these days. At least that's what I've observed trackside.

PHall Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> In the beginning the railroads were afraid to mix
> AC and DC locomotives too. Afraid they would burn
> up the motors on the DC units.
> The fear seems to have past since AC and DC units
> seem to be freely mixed these days. At least
> that's what I've observed trackside.

Reminds me of an interaction I had with a Road Foreman back in the late 1990's when I received a consist with a DC road switcher being moved to a shop dead in tow behind two AC locomotives.  He instructed me to make sure the DC locomotive was shut down, the battery switch pulled, and the MU cable unplugged from between the AC and DC locomotives.  I assured him the locomotive was shut down and wasn't being used for power.  He responded that the power desk wanted it completely isolated from the rest of the consist.  I asked, "But shouldn't the power desk people know, even if it was started and put online, that the locomotive has self-protection circuitry that will reduce the load if it exceeds short time ratings?"

His response was ... "You and I both know that, and you'd think they should know that too, but I'm just telling you what those idiots want done."

I remember that there were specific precautions to 
be taken when EMD switchers are towed, dead.

Tracrion motors on EMD switchers are permanently wired in
'series' at each truck --- effectively making each truck have one motor.

That arrangement + the electrical connections at directional relays, 
together with latent magnetism in motor construction .... meant 
possible current flows in the inactive circuits.

Maybe, other experienced contributors can relate the specific actions 
to take when preparing to haul EMD swithcters, dead-in-tow?

​W.