Starting a 567 GM "E" Locomotive Diesel Engine 

There's nothing quite as beautiful as the song of The General motors 567 series locomotive engine. Thank you Mr Kettering. The sound of the roots blower, that valve train, those giant pistons. If that's not a reason to be a GM fan. It's up there with a Detroit. Those sounds!

It sounds the way they always did. The old engines sound different from the newer EMD engines mostly due to the different blowers. The old engines used gear-driven Roots-type blowers, while modern EMD two-stroke engines use a hybrid blower/turbo charger. This unit is a direct-drive blower up to about throttle 3, after which there is usually enough exhaust flow/pressure to push the turbines and overrun the clutch; then it runs like a normal free-wheeling turbo charger.

Up until 1971, the Rock Island and Illinois Central ran their E8s at sustained 90mph speeds on their hotshot passenger runs. Seaboard Coast Line E6,7s, and 8s were whipping 80mph speeds with the Silver Meteor, Silver Star, and Champion. They were mechanical "race horses" until age, high miles ( million+) and deferred maintenance took their toll.

I worked on a fishing boat that had a very similar engine. I don't remember what model it was but it was a 12 cylinder GM that put out 1,600 hp. Prior to start up we did a blowdown like you, this engine also had a pre-lube system that would bring the oil pressure to about 14 lbs. before rolling it over.

love that sound. brings back memories as a small boy in the mid 60s listening to Victorian Railways locos idling at the platform and then increasing the revs when departing.

Awesome! My grandfather worked for GM in the 40's, installing and tuning these beasts in the LST landing ships for the Navy. I still have some of his notes and manuals.

Thats a sound that brings back memories for me, 4 decades ago i was a loco maintainer and did all sorts of work on dash 8s with the same engine . Quite enjoyable engines to work on except washing out the scavenge chambers .

Awesome! For years and years and years I always wondered what an engine room on a locomotive was like inside........!!

Next time I start my car I'm going to yell "hot start".

The sound of an EMD E class locomotive, so soothing

This is a valuable tool to learn how a diesel locomotive works.How to start and how it works different from a gasoline engine.And the safety view point,to keep it from having any problems.

Very exciting. I know this is an older video, but as a 20 year veteran on diesel engines, it still makes my blood dance when I hear one start up, something very unique about a cold diesel from a gas engine. Thanks for sharing.

Boy does this bring back memories. Thanks for sharing. I have had the opportunity to rebuild some of these engines years ago.

I don't know anything about locomotives, only that I use to love trains as a kid, but oh boy, WHAT A SWEET SOUND. Thank you for sharing.

I liked how the lights dimmed on the hot start. It takes serious battery amperage to roll those engines over.

One day I had just dropped off an E60 at motor storage in New Haven, Ct. And as I exited the clerks office I heard an EMD 567B engine start up that was on the wall track between the motor storage building and the wall was one track where they stored excess power and when the E-8 engine started it was running very rough. The center door was open so I stuck my head inside and inquired if they were having any trouble and was told it was a broken camshaft on one side of the engine. I set my bag down and climbed inside as as I was known as a smart ass on locomotives I was told they didn't need my help. So I asked them I know what's wrong and I don't think it's a broken camshaft. The Enginehouse foreman was in there and out of frustration as they had been trying to figure out what was wrong and I asked them " how many over speed trips are on an EMD engine?" One was the answer and everybody agreed with the answer, Gentlemen, not trying to sound like a know it all though I realize that's how I come across the correct answer is 2 over speed trips, one for each camshaft now pull the low oil button on the governor and someone climb up to grab the reset lever for the over speed trip lever then pull on it steadily as we crank her over and when the parts line up she'll drop into reset position. Everyone looked at the foreman and he looked at me and said what have we got to lose? Jim has been right more than I care to admit, try it and they did and the machinist helper pulling on the reset lever was surprised when we rotated the engine and the reset lever moved and locked into place. The foreman released the starter button when he saw the lever move. He reset the low oil button and hit the starter and everyone except me was surprised when she started normally and settled down to a normal idle. This was during August and the engine room was hot and everyone said thanks to me as they had been trying to figure it out for over 45 minutes. The lead machinist asked me how did I know? Sometimes being a railroad buff is helpful when you study the mechanical side of diesel locomotives and I apologize if I sometimes seem like an ass. I noticed over the next couple of years they treated me with a lot more respect than they had previously. And once in a while when going on or off duty they would question me on a problem they were having. One I had heard before. They had a GP-9 that kept having multiple ground relays and would bring it into the shop and Megga the motors all motor cables and the main generator looking for a short to no avail, everything checked out find. Take the engine out on a road test and sooner or later the ground relays started again. I told him a story when I was 15 years old hanging around the Boston and Maine railroad locomotive Shop and they had the same problem with an F-7A unit for 8 months and when I visited on a Saturday night the electrician offered me a cab ride as they were taking her out to see if the problem was fixed. We had at my suggestion all the floor panels up and off to the side and when she tripped out the ground relay the 6th time I saw something and asked the engineer to stop the engine and shut it down and told the electrician there was something rolling around on the box that runs under the high voltage panel. He climbed down and after a minute he started cursing like crazy. And came up and handed me a chrome flashlight with hundreds of scorched marks all over it. While the engineer restarted the engine the electrician put down all the floor boards back where they belonged and the engine worked just fine without any ground relay trips. The locomotive shop foreman was highly upset when he saw the flashlight and called everybody in the shop to his office with their flashlights. Over half had chrome all metal flashlights which he confiscated and issued new yellow plastic flashlights. The electrician at motor storage said it couldn't be that simple and went off to check the locomotive and while I was waiting for my train to come in from Boston the shop foreman called me on the radio by name and said thank you sir, that is exactly what we found in the tray. The locomotive shop foreman issued over 50 new yellow plastic flashlights to his shop people. The is a reason why the railroad issues plastic flashlights and prohibits the use of all metal flashlights. Everyone that reads this whether an employee or a volunteer at a railroad museum this applies to you guys too. Plastic doesn't conduct electricity.

I ran the C series of these engines when I was on the U.S.S Enterprise. It is a wonderful engine.

Very interesting explanations on the EMD 567E prime mover. I liked especially the explaining the blowing out of water in the cylinders to prevent vapor lock and possible damage (bending or cracking) of the connecting rods. Thank you for sharing!!!!

This is one of my favorite videos. I LOVE the sound of the 567. THANKS.

I appreciate you making this video. By reading some of the comments, I can tell that they weren't made by railroaders. There are usually 3 or more crafts working on a locomotive at any one time. Each employee NEEDS to keep talking in order to protect hid own safety. If he's quiet the one cranking the engine up thinks he's alone and is less likely to say what step he's in, in the startup process. You heard him ask whether or not the TOP DECK DOORS were closed...that tells me that a Machinist was working on the tops of all the cylinders. If you start an engine with these open its an oily mess! (top deck doors are essentially Valve Covers). Communication amongst railroaders keeps everyone safe.

Great video! Here in Argentine we have a lots of 567-c running!! 💪🏻

Listen to this guy old school Diesel. He knows his stuff

That guy is so American it's incredible.

good old 567 series! tons of them on tugs, great old engines

I like how the engine starts up. You can actually hear the pistons pumping in the hollow cylinder (at the time), while it's ramping up to speed....kool deal!

walking through one of these running is an awesome experience

The beautiful sounds of history here! Thanks for sharing!

0:08 "i got your nuts" hahahahahahahh

I love the guy at the beginning! "He`s got that magic demeanor" about him! LOVE this piece!! proud of you guys!!! 50 stars!

Many years ago I had an International Harvester TD-18 dozer. It had 3 valves per cylinder... one intake, one exhaust, and one that opened a spark plug chamber (also lowered the compression). The intake had flaps to draw from the carb for cranking and warmup... or fresh air when you kicked it over to diesel, never losing more than a few RPM for a few seconds.

Those "E" units are amazing. The 6051 sp in Sacramento Ca. Is a beautiful engine. But standing in the middle of those emd motive power engines while under load is incredible youll feel true power from the soles of your shoes through your spine.

I like this one! It's educational and the big EMD sounds very nice.

Great video and a nice sounding 567B engine. I learned something here, too; hold the layshaft OUT when blowing down with the test cocks open so it won't start. I am Engineer of a GP7 with a 16-567-B engine, so this is good information.

These locomotives used to be in service for another museum when they were still in Tennessee. There are several pictures of them pulling our excursions.

I believe we had a diesel engine similar to this one down in our missile silo when I was in the USAF. Huge engine and very loud being 3 levels deep in a concrete structure. This is how I lost part of my hearing.

3:55 is what you're waiting for

God youtube is recommending videos from the start of its era....

I use to work on tug boats and they had 2 GM locomotive v20..they are just like this engine but with 20 cylinders and 15 litters of displacement per cylinder

We ran these engines on my LST in the Navy! We really didn't need the second blower!! 64 volt electric start.

Love the Medina Museum. Santa Express was a ton of fun when my kids were young.

It's called a layshaft. After the engine has caught you just pull on it a little bit until you hear the engine smooth idle. Try it, it's really easy.

Great video. Love the humor in the beginning

very good for people who love trains.And railroads.the worlds greatest hobby.

Loved the Sound of this GM Engine always in my Childhood here in Austria, as the Class 2050 (Austrian Railways) were equipped with this Engine. :)

So cool! Fascinating and kinda scary to watch at the same time due to the Woodhorn Museum scale of this beast, but boy does she purr...

This kind of thing reminds me of what a mate of mine constantly does which is start up a emd 16-567e engine. Also being in Australia, he has to activate the knife switch first and turn a dial to start, then he can fire up the loco

The beautiful chant of the 567c, ahhh!

America is not only President. America is hardworking people. America are wonderfull buildings. America are you and your goodness.

Love the sound of a non-turbocharged EMD.

that engine has damn good equal compression on all 16"s perfect for its age in time

Gotta love that DUB DUB DUB DUB DUB and then it sounds like a whole row of Cylinders clicks on at one time.

I went to a boat race in Charleston and got to see a sub. also went to Chicago and went through the u boat that was captured off the African coast. I know it was an electric boat but having worked around diesels, I can imagine how it must have smelled when the krauts were surfacing and charging batteries or moving long distances. glad we had exhaust pipes at the nuclear plant.

Hi! This vídeo is excellent demonstration. Congratulations!!!

Awesome! Thanks for sharing it.

I love the blown 567's and 645's (worked on a lot tugs with them) but the Turbo's are the real muscle. I worked on a ship with 4- 3600hp 20-645-E7's That was nice, the power of 4 SD45's in one room (not to mention two 1200hp V-16 Cat D399 gen-sets). Blowers are cool and less hassle though, my Buick Regal has one!

@the124Lscania Yup, two V12 engines, one in front and one in the rear. EMD's E-type passenger locomotives were all like this. In this video the camera is in the middle of the locomotive, usually looking toward the forward engine and the cab. EMD's F-type and GP-type locomotives had a single V16 engine.

@the124Lscania yes, two engines. The need for two engines goes back to the original Winton powered E units of the 1930's where 2000HP was required per locomotive, but there was no sigle engine that would put that out. 2ea Winton 900hp engined did fit the bill, and as the E units evolved, two engines were kept to increase redundancy and reliability.

These are still in operation in Denmark. Search dsb mx and dsb my, danish my locomotive etc.

Awesome vid!! Diesel engines are so great!!

Now you insert a control key card and wait for it to be accepted, you may insert the controls if desired, depress system on, wait, depress system start. Until an actual route has been established or it is in service mode the engines will not start. Once everything has completed self test the engines start if multiples. If single unit it starts and pressure builds to around 100 psi. The locomotive has old style controls but the portable joystick is easier. One can be walking around and in control

@MrHandyandy10187 yessir, a 2 stroke. Not at all like a gas 2 stroke, it is nearly an ideal design being a 2 stroke diesel, roots blowers scavenge the gasses and it has either three or four exhaust valves in the cylinder head

Nice video! Sounds like my old Plymouth Fury on a cold morning! Haha! seriously, though, really nice to see this old gal firing up!

this is the coolest video on youtube

"Hot Start!"

@n4120p It's an E8 which was made in the early 1950's. The engines are specifically 12 cylinder 567B prime movers.

Számomra ezek a motorok az"alfák", nálunk Hungáriában is voltak ezek távoli rokonai, a NOHAB-ok. Én is vezettem őket, sajnos csak keveset.Most mátr a közforgalomban sajnos nincsenek. Ezek a motorok a királyok!!!

Yeah I have noticed that too. Guilford Rail System runs a couple SD26 locomotives that originally had 567 engines, but were converted to 645 by Sante Fe. The turbochargers sound different then their GP40's, quieter.

@WhiteGangster400 the displacement is 567ci per cylinder, and in thos engine's configuration, 12 cylinders. this locomotive has two 12 cylinder engines

love how this thing starts up

The quality of the vid is great considering this vid was made 9 years ago!

these engines were at the tennessee central in nashville a few years ago.

It should be an E-8. The square hand hole covers indicates the crankace is a 567B, which was offereed in the E8. The E-9 would have round hand hold covers as it had the 567C engine/crankcase

Beautiful sound.

Reminds me of when I sailed in the best union in the world for merchant marine refrigeration engineers and electricians. (Marine Firemen, Oilers, Watertenders and Wipers Association) [M.F.O.W.]. We would blown down the huge (six story tall) main propulsion 2-stroke diesel engines which were the largest diesel engines in the world. I loved the smell of blowing them down. We used compressed air to start those slow speed, direct drive reversable encines. I would make $100,000 per year (6 months on)

@theratfarmer He means a piston rod. That's what can happen when you try to run an engine when there's water in a cylinder. If there's more water than would fill the space with the piston at the top, the piston won't be able to compress, and the piston rod will bend or break instead. Radial aircraft engines also have this problem, only with oil pooling in the lower cylinders rather than water.

@nascarguy101 that's exactly what it is ,a supercharger. being a two stoke diesel, it needs a supercharger just to breathe. the blower forces out the exhaust gasses while the cyliner wall ports are exposed. On an engin such as this, there's actually another blower on the other side fo teh other cylinders!

Another spotting feature- notice the square access covers right under the pressure relief valves, this indicates either a 567, 567A or 567B engine. The 567B was used in the E8 locomotive, which this is.

Great video! Love diesel engines.

Good engines. I've worked with them on boats. Not the most efficient or air friendly. But they are dead simple and simply won't die.

Starts quicker than my car.

Thats cool they let you on there and all. My Grandpa used to work for N+S.

nice of someone running their mouth when you were explaining this. Thank you for your time.

two stroke, yes. Yes on the super chargers (2), they are needed for a 2 stroke diesel to run at all

cool vid , like the monster blower

Nah I couldn’t stand next to that thing! I have a crazy imagination from dangerous things in an engine. Especially that big thing!!!

Nice channel."thumbs up".

I always wondering how they start a large diesel engine ? Do the have a pony motor or battery powered starter??

Great video guys

I HAVE STARTED THIS ENGINE MYSELF A FEW TIMES ON THIS SAME LOCOMOTIVE!

It's the same engine that we're currently using on a still active WW2 landing ship tank here in the Philippines

How do you control the field to the drive motors and the EMF. Do you have a way to adjust the exciter voltage ?

Lovely 2 stroke rumble.

like how at 3:58 or so, the lay shaft moves as it starts to roll over. It's the grey bar hanging right inder the control panel off of the back of the engine

Very interesting; now I have a better idea of the engine start sequence and some of the "wheres" and "why fors" about a diesel locomotive. The engine compartment resembles a U-Boat, just a little bit.

Its amazing how quiet it is considering the power its banging out. Its no louder than a truck engine judging by the comparison to the guys voices.

Pour information. Ce moteur diesel 567GM est de Général Motors 12 cylindres en V à 45°. Cylindrée de 567 pouce cube, soit près de 6 litres par cylindre. Il existe en version de 16 cylindres. C'est un moteur diesel 2 temps avec admission par lumières et échappement par 4 soupapes par cylindre. L'admission d'air est forcée par 2 soufflantes (Roots), une par ligne à la pression de 0,3 bar. Injection de combustible par injecteur-pompe dans la culasse.

I was going to suggest exactly that this was a cold start and will perhaps idle a little faster than normal "warm" engine. The 567 and 645 engines have the same stroke length (10") and idle speeds (318 rpm), the dispacement difference is made up in the cylinder diameter (8.5" vs. 9.0625"). The 710 is 9.2" x 11.1" in bore and stroke. The stated idle speed I found for the 710 is 269 rpm.

BRAVO MAESTRO *****

did i see a rootes type supercharger on that unit if not please inform me if you can what it is. much thanks

fantastic, thats what an engine should be like to start up