estoniaman It's an Alco in all but name. Copied and built in Russia and improved from a 6 cylinder engine to a 8 cylinder inline engine rated a 1200 horsepower. I'd love to see about 50 or more imported into the U S. There are lots of them running all over the former East Bloc countries so parts must still be available. Often wondered if the parts for the Russian copy would fit a American production 539 engine. And there all 6 axle 6 motor locomotives.
In the past, we had early series ТЭМ2 shunter in our station (Piriatin, Ploltava region, Ukraine), and it sounds and smokes very same) Later I read about Alco, which was common Base for ТЭ1, ТЭ2, ТЭМ1, ТЭМ2 locomotoves, and Д50, ПД1 engines.
Like others said, music to your ears for those of us that appreciate the old alcos. Yes they all had little tweaks here and there but these are real brutes. They'll take a beating in the short time rating all day long while all the new fangled electronic controlled BS cuts out or derates or just flat gives up and catches on fire. Say what you will naysayers, they may not have all the HP and creature comforts but these beauties were built to last.
***** Yes, for the ones that could/can maintain them they are almost bullet proof. I really enjoy them all. They (all models) just have that look to them that says "rock solid"!
That's an original Alco,you can tell how fast he was able to start it right after entering the cab and the unique sound the turbo makes on the cold start...excellent video!!. No draining the cylinders BEFORE startup.This is a EMD requirement.
αиσиумσυѕ James Normally you don't but on a cold day, you might have to open the test ports on 3 of the 6. And deactivate those three injection pumps too. If it has been sitting for a long time, it is a good idea to open all of them to make sure the cylinders are clear. They do leak water into them at times and a hydraulic lock will ruin your day.
There's an old Alco down around Sheridan, OR I'd love to see restored. My father remembers the exact same loco being used to haul lumber from the mills back in the late 50's and through the 60's. Last I saw it... in '02... it was still doing it.
Sounds a bit like some of the Soviet era diesel engines that are still around. I do miss the sound of the old MLW FPA4s - essentially BB versions of PA’s. Nothing like hearing them accelerate uphill from a signal stop with 8 or more coaches behind.
Reflex Photography NZ..... Starts a heck of a lot easier than most all British locomotive diesels I've ever witnessed.... at least the older ones from the same time era as this Alco. The British locomotive diesels of the era were some of the finest examples of complete overly complicated engine wizardry I've ever laid eyes on, Barr None!! lol ; )
What I'm wondering is why they don't cut out the cold cylinders until it warms up a bit. You can do that on a 539 engine to reduce the smoking. Turbo sounds real good on her though!
I don't know if it's true with locomotive engines, but semi truck engines will, on a cold start, get up to idle speed, then revert to firing on only three of its six cylinders, in order to make the engine work harder, to warm up faster. Yes, you get lots of unburned diesel fuel, and lots of smoke! Nice video, and nice catch!
Never heard of such a thing, the engine runs on all six after it starts. If it’s only running on 3, then there’s only half the heat being made and it takes longer to warm up, plus the only way something like that could even be done is with EFI. An EFI engine can go into high idle for faster warm up in cold weather because a computer is controlling the engine speed. My Duramax does just that below about 35*F, it runs slow until the oil is well circulated then after about 3 minutes the ECM speeds the engine up from 700 RPM to about 1200 until it’s warm or is put in gear to drive.
It is due to mass of the motor one fire has enough power to speed up the motor enough that the one or more combustion cycles after have little to do causing the note to change. when forward is selected it often loads the motor enough to fire on every combustion cycle.
1000 horsepower for traction,probably 1300 at the crankshaft. The other 300 horsepower being used for driving the compressor and other auxiallary devices.The six cylinder engine came in two types non-turbo and turbo.The non-turbo delivered 600 horsepower for traction and the turbo 1000 for traction. For example the Alco S1 600hp and the Alco S2 1000hp yet look at the loco's from the outside they are all most the same.
@251CE RSD1 sorry for the typo...they all ride on the A1A truck design and the way the cabs are shaped is identical...but horsepower differs from the models but one thing is for sure u got to love the sound of the 251..up in scranton Pa there are a fleet of RS3...M636's and i think a few others and they roar like crazy..nothing like a 4 cycle engine..btw can u tell me more about the class 48?
EMDSD14R The Alco RSD-1 is a 6 axle 6 motor locomotive built to operate on European railroads which have tighter clearances the railroads in the US. The truck were designed to be field adjustable from 5 foot Russian gauge all the way down to 3 foot track gauge" the were specially designed for the US Army for service overseas. When Stalin was enroute to meet with Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt if I remember correctly in Malta Stalins train was hauled by a lend-lease Alco RSD-1. Stalin was so impressed with the reliability of the engine he ordered it copied. This resulted in the locomotive first produced in 1946. Class TEM-1-20 was the result of Stalins order which as the Russians improved on the design became the TEM-2. Look up the TEM-2 on RU-vid if you like 539 Alco power or an SM48.
And here I go, worried about my 3.0TDI making a thumping sound when its cold (it's rather a paranoia). This is a pure hammer vs. metal, yet it's a healthy machine.
You know the engine is really cold when you have to open up three of the cylinder cocks and kill 3 of the injector pumps to get one running. Once it cranks, if the exhaust barely makes it out the stack, falls on the hood, rolls onto the walkways, and off onto the ground, then you know its cold. Then you get to start closing the cocks and putting the injector pumps cutouts back in.
gravelydon I helped the engine house forces restart an S-2 switcher that had died in February 1974 ran out of fuel. Showed up to use it and when I tried cranking it over with three cylinders cut out and open cocks still needed a jump start from another S-2 after they refilled the fuel tank with the fuel truck.took just over a 90 seconds of cranking before one cylinder fired and another 30 seconds or so before I could let go of the starter button with the throttle at half throttle. Then closed the three open cocks and kicked in the injector pumps one at a time 45 minutes or so was running smoothly on all 6 but didn't get any heat until I tied onto 30 loads of stone to make up a westbound freight. By the time I got a stop signal over the radio I was at 170 degrees and had plenty of heat but it was another hour before everything in the cab warmed up to a comfortable level in the cab. Most of the Alco S switchers were built during WW II and it is a testament to the design and men who built them on the fact there are so many still running today.
The last DL-109 left imagine if she had been saved and rebuilt NH's DL-109 were used for passenger by day and hauled freight at night they even leased some to Bangor & Aroostic Railroad Back in the mid 50's to haul potatoes during their rush the B&A was all EMD imagine the shop and engine crews With those units.
Nice video! I work at a railroad museum in Southern California that has 2 ex US army RSD1 locomotives I don't have any video of them starting up but I do have video up of them running in one video I show them running together. I will post a video response with for that video please approve thanks.
May have been cold for Alabama, but given the way people int he clip are dressed, it can't have been all that cold! For a diesel I believe, *white* smoke = unburned fuel, very incomplete combustion. Going back out of the cylinders and up the stack as fuel. Sometimes you see it actually catch fire briefly. Scary!
As far as I know, Detroit series 60 did this for a few years only, more to save fuel at idle. It was a very limited time and they have been programed to not do it now. I know of no other domestic diesels that did this.
You know, these locos with a turbocharged engine would start much better if you put a starter motor on the turbo as well as the engine rated for the turbo idle speed, because it would get air into the motor faster and pressurise the cylinders so it'd start quicker because of correct compression.
the grass is green and the sun is out and he calls it a "cold winter morning" somebody clearly lives in the southern hemisphere if that's what you call cold
Nice explanation, ok so basically only 1 or a few cylinders are firing, the rest aren't combusting or not combusting much when there isn't a load on the engine.
Irgendwie denke ich da an den alten Scania V8 Turbo Diesel, erst ein Krummeln vom Diesel, dann kommt der Turbo mit seinem Pfeifen hinterher. Hat doch was für sich, was einen Diesel angeht. Aber wenn er Rundläuft ist er nicht mehr zu Halten.
ALCO 539T engine idle 275 rpm full throttle 740 rpm 12-3/4 inch bore by 13 inch stroke. Used to run one from first street Yard South Boston NHRR out to Andrew Square yard present Amtrak yard and shop Boston. Pull 25 or more loads from first st Due to heavily clogged radiator cores engine would run hot by the time you pulled into Andrew yard halfway down the lead reduce throttle to One half the put reverser into neutral keep throttle at one half till engine cooled down to 160 or so then close throttle to idle. If coolant was over 180 or higher would shut down if you went to idle hence the half throttle position 99% S-2/4 and on rare occasions one Alco HH-600 with a 531 engine would be our power for the day. I was 15 at the time 1965, Only thing I regret was an old passenger engine sitting in the dead line. After they Conrail scrapped did I discover it was the last DL-109 left and was completely intact but hadn't run in years! I believe it was scrapped in 1974.
James Shanks.... I believe you and I are the same age.... and from the same area, originally. I had a couple of my uncles that were train crew on the NHRR as well.... in that same time period. Definitely a crying shame about that DL-109!!.... some railroads just have No heart and No shame!
Is it/was it common to start on a limited number of cylinders in cold weather, then close compression releases once things get rolling? That is an old crewboat/tugboat trick. I did it on a 645 EMD on accident once. Engine started really well with only one bank running and the other shooting soot and what looked like actual fire. Set off smoke alarms galore of course.
Wonderful! I have an unusual question: does anybody have any figures about how much fuel this kind of locomotive burns when in idle (volume/time or weight/time)?
Just a few gallons an hour at most, is it just needs to overcome pumping friction / vacuum and have just enough power to keep the rotational mass going. If you want to figure out how much fuel it sucks at full tilt though thats easy, just take into account the maximum power output (1080-1300hp) - for the sake of simplicity we'll go with 1100. Now diesel has an energy density of 49.76hp/hr. Im going to assume that older diesel engines did not benefit from modern combustion chamber design, maximum allowable combustion pressure, injection technology, valvetrain timing, or even boost pressure - among other modern improvements so I'm just going to assume a total thermal efficiency of 30.0%. at 75 gallons per hour, this will net you 1,119.6hp, or just over our 1100hp figure. You can safely assume that at full power, the ALCo 539T is burning 70-75 gallons per hour, at least approximately so. Modern diesel engines, particularly large industrial ones similar to the 539T, like the EMD 710 & 1010, GE GEVO, CAT 3516, Cummins QSK-95, and in particular giant marine (shipping) engines like the ones from Wärtsillä and MTU can range anywhere from about 40.0% thermal efficiency to over 50.0% thermal efficiency. It's pretty wild how far diesel technology has come in spite of shitty VW and their Dieselgate scandal.
the constant problem with alco diesel engines. in the cold start if you hear the video not alll the cylinders work,and then the clag (white smoke)is present. this is because rhe compression ratio isnt equal in all the cylinders,and is necesary observ and repair fuel injectors as injector fuel pressure, fuel pressure angle, and fuel flow as spray(microdrops).
Most diesels will smoke like that(or though not as much as an alco.) The reason is that the temps inside the cylinder are not up to operating temp. Therefore it is not able to burn all the fuel the injectors put in the cylinder until it warms up. The compression is constant in all cylinders(baring ring ware) EMD's Detroits, Cats, Cummins etc will all emit smoke white smoke when cold. I had an International Scout II with a Nissan SD33-T in line 6 turbo diesel and it belched clouds of white smoke until the engine warmed up. Now Diesels have electron fuel injection,and improved "swirl" so that white smoke at warm up is cut down or eliminated. Also There might be turbo lag creating more fuel than the engine can burn.
That is why on the 6 cylinder 539s there are cutouts and cylinder cocks for each cylinder. On a really cold engine where it is just above the freezing point you open three of the ports and disconnect three of the injection pumps. That puts more load on the other three cylinders and allows them to warm up quicker. Then you start closing off the ports and putting the injection pump cutouts back in. Then just wait for it to come up to operating temp. You can run up the RPM a little to warm it up faster but it is best to leave near idle if possible. At Idle the excess fuel which is warmed a little is returned to the fuel tank. That helps warm the engine as warm fuel burns better than fuel that is just above the waxing point.
nonom95..... That has to be the most exquisite expose of uninformed BS trying to sound intelligent, that I've read on YT, to date!! Congratulations!! : )
@251CE well i am not sure on the internals of the class 48 but the RS1 is a different model.the class 48 in my opinon from what i've seen is simular to an (Alco RSX4)or (MR412) both powered with the 251F and rode on simular trucks to the class 48.the RSX4 & MR412 were two models and were only built for war time..during the War both Alco and EMD made them in the same car body but EMD used the 567 in theres.i think the RS1 and the RSC3 are all simular to the class 40 becuase of the A1A trucks/cabs
Why do big diesels make that inconsistent thudding sound? I'm not talking about the misfires because it's cold but it seems like switcher locomotives and other small locomotive don't have a constant sound as if the combustion isn't consistent but I think it's just because of beat waves or something among the cylinders?
