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Nostalgia & History > a U25B operating question:Date: 07/31/09 08:29 a U25B operating question: Author: eljay apparently, U25Bs had a "16 position" throttle that upped generator excitation twice for each increase in prime mover RPM. a GE "innovation."
inquiring (failing) minds would like to know the answer to two questions: 1) did this feature carry over to later U series power? 2) say there was a 3 unit consist: U25B / GP35 / U25B. My understanding is that the GP35 of course would NOT respond to "1/2 notch" throttle increments because no capability to do so; would the trailing U-boat respond to same? thanks for any info! eljay Date: 07/31/09 10:20 Re: a U25B operating question: Author: spnudge Far as I know, the ones we had on the SP didn't respond most of the time:)
No, they had their 16 notch throttle but they just responded to every other notch. The thing I hated about GEs was that if you touched the throttle (dropped a notch or two) it would drop its load to zero and then start all over again. You could lose 6 minutes between Arlight and Concepcion with a bunch of GEs on the point on the Zipper. The other thing was the noise. EVERYTHING in the cab rattled. The whistle was bad enough but you had to shout to be heard on the other side of the cab. They were all like that. Oh, and the wheel slip controls were useless. Many a time I looked back going up Cuesta on the point or a helper and you would see what looked like a rail grinder. I had one of the 86-8700s on peddler once, a single unit. It kept shutting down. Well the low oil reset was not only on the governor but a button had to be pushed on the firemans side below the floor from the outside. Well, we had No.12 sitting at the depot at Salinas on the main and here we poked into the siding at 3 MPH with the fireman resetting the button with a flag stick leaning way out the window, and the head man using a wrench on the lay shaft back by the governor to reset the oil button and keep the racks open enough to keep it running. (GEs never had a lay shaft handle like EMDs.) Oh, the days of paper cups in the relays to keep them loading. Nudge Date: 07/31/09 10:31 Re: a U25B operating question: Author: TomPlatten What you are saying is what I have heard from more than one source---early GE road units were---questionable--in their reliablility. That continued until GE made the corporate decision to actually put some serious money into their locomtive division and go after the market!
Date: 07/31/09 10:33 Re: a U25B operating question: Author: ddg On the Santa Fe, we had the 16 notch throttle on 6600 class U-25-b's, the 7900 class U-28-c's and the 8000 class U-30-CG's. They were all worn out by the time I went to engine service, and only lasted a couple more years, maybe realy early 80's. It was real creepy walking through the engine room on those 8000's when they were making electricity.
Date: 07/31/09 15:40 Re: a U25B operating question: Author: tomstp A engineer friend of mine of years past on the Santa Fe had a GE representative with him in the cab on a run one day. The rep made the fatal mistake of asking the engineer what he thought about the GE engine.
The engineer responded, "just wipe the deck clean and start all over". Date: 07/31/09 19:39 Re: a U25B operating question: Author: shannon I talked to the GE Rep here in Fresno last year when the YOU-PEE had an open house at the Fresno yard. When I started telling him I hoped the new GEs rode better that the old U-Boats, all I got was a blank look. He said he not nothing about them and had never seen or rode in one.
This younger generation...where did we go wrong. Shannon Date: 07/31/09 20:13 Re: a U25B operating question: Author: fbe eljay Wrote:
------------------------------------------------------- > apparently, U25Bs had a "16 position" throttle > that upped generator excitation twice for each > increase in prime mover RPM. a GE "innovation." > As I understand it the excitation was increased in the 1/2 notch position but the RPMs stayed the same. The next throttle increase to the full notch brought another excitation increase and an engine RPM increase. What the GE design engineers failed to realize is that most engineers moved the throttle 2 to 4 notches in short sequences rather than one notch, pause, one notch, pause and so on. It was more like two notches, pause, two more notches, then one pause another pause and so on. No one I ever worked with ever messed around with the 1/2 notch positions on the baseball bat size throttle. Who ever came up with those ergonomics was a sadist. If you were short and had a stiff or sore back these engines were sure to inflict pain. > inquiring (failing) minds would like to know the > answer to two questions: > > 1) did this feature carry over to later U series > power? The AAR standard control stand was based on the EMD design and had only 8 notches on the throttle. > > 2) say there was a 3 unit consist: U25B / GP35 / > U25B. My understanding is that the GP35 of course > would NOT respond to "1/2 notch" throttle > increments because no capability to do so; would > the trailing U-boat respond to same? > As previously mentioned no one used the 1/2 notch feature except in very rare situations. I surely never did. GEs were just not reliable enough to try to fine tune tractive effort by modulating the excitation. Keeping them running was the goal. > thanks for any info! eljay The MILW Little Joes and Boxcabs had lots of throttle combinations but that involved resistance, shunting and probably a few other tricks of magic from GE. Date: 08/01/09 02:09 Re: a U25B operating question: Author: DNRY122 That 16-notch controller does sound like a carryover from the "Juice Jack" days. Next time I have a moment at OERM, I'll take a look in PE 1624 or SN 653, since they both have similar GE controllers from the 20's.
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