International Railroad Discussion > Changing a traction motor (Brazil)

Hi, today morning my friend engineer Marlucio Andre leaded crane train S698 to Vale mining siding "Patio 4" in the Belo Horizonte branch to change a traction motor of VLI BB40-9WM 6097. He sent me these pictures of the operation.

Pedro

1 - 3) Unit 6097 without one axle and  VLI Kirow crane at Patio 4.

Pedro Rezende
Vespasiano MG,

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4 - 6) Kirow in action.

Pedro Rezende
Vespasiano MG,
https://youtube.com/c/minasgeraisrailways1

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7 - 9)  An easy job to Kirow. In fact, both Vale and VLI are buying more Kirow in both narrow and broad gauge to substitute the old Orton and Takraf cranes.

That's all for now. Enjoy.

Pedro

Pedro Rezende
Vespasiano MG,
https://youtube.com/c/minasgeraisrailways1

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Thanks Pedro for an interesting look at changing a traction motor. The locomotive when up in the air, looks like a fish out of water.

Larry

A while back I watch the UP change out one of the trucks on a single unit, LOADED, double stack.  It was in the Cheyenne WY yard and you could see the operation from the Observation Lounge of the Cheyenne Depot Museum.  They use two(2) side-winders to get the job done.  Did not take long, but I can imagine doing a traction motor change out "in the field" could be a challenge!

David Ketchum
Cheyenne WY
drgwk59

Pedro does anyone use side booms down there,  With side booms field changes of traction motors  can be done with the side booms a or a large crane , it is neat to see a rail mounted modern  " wrecking crane " in use

Interesting that we do not have those side booms here. VLI use a system called Fast-track to change the wheels of freight cars at some locations, but all the railroads here prefer to use cranes for locomotives. I imagine the choice could be the difficult to use the side booms in the field through the forests, mountains and narrow cuts along the narrow gauge system.
Use the link below to watch the VLI fast track in action.
https://youtu.be/RQ2aXc-i56I

cctgm Wrote:
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> Pedro does anyone use side booms down there,
>  With side booms field changes of traction motors
>  can be done with the side booms a or a large
> crane , it is neat to see a rail mounted modern
>  " wrecking crane " in use

Posted from Android

Pedro Rezende
Vespasiano MG,
https://youtube.com/c/minasgeraisrailways1



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 08/02/22 07:23 by pedrop.

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