Alco Nothing Serious, You Know

8/3/2019 Alco Nothing Serious, You Know

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April 1993ETTER OF THE MOHAWK & HUDSON CHAPTER, N.R.H.S.

o t h i n g S e r i o u s ,~ . . Y o u K n o w !EW YORKONTRALSYSTEM

By Harold CrouchIt has been suggested that there is some

interestin early diesel-electric locomotives.So what better than to describe the "home-grown" variety - the units produced byAmerican Locomotive Company in Sche-nectady, New York? AIco produced theFNFB, PAlPB, RS-2 and RS-3 models fordomestic road freight and passenger ser-vice. Ail of these models utilized the AIco244 oil engine for the power plant. So alittle history of this engine may be in order.Back during the Depression Era, theAIco engineering department was cut backto the bone. About this time, the UnitedStates Navy requested that the six cylinder,in-line oil engine (MacIntosh & Seymour)be re-designed for fabricated constructionrather than cast construction. Thus, the fewpeople left in the department were tied upon this project with no time to devote tofuture engine designs.

Shortly, AIco' s Auburn, New York plantcame up with a "vee" type engine designand three of these were built and applied tosome New Haven Railroad units (the BlackMoriahs). This design was unique in thatthe big end of the conn rod was angled sothat the piston and rod could be removedfor re-ringing without the necessity of re-moving the cylinder liner. This design be-came known as the Model 241. A couple offailures of these rods occurred and so theoil engines were withdrawn from service.Still, AIco needed a new engine design.

Thus it was that AIco hired some designpeople from Fairbanks-Morse, Diesel En-gine Division, to come and design a newengine - which they did. When the AIcoProduction Department people saw the de-sign, they threw up their hands in disgust,saying that it was meant for job shop con-struction and not for mass construction. Atthis, the Fairbanks-Morse people picked uptheir slide rules (remember, this was the

B.C. era - Before Computers!) and left ina huff. Consequently, the Alco Engineer-ing Department had the added chore oftrying to salvage as much as possible fromthe design. The result is what we knowtoday as the Model 244 engine.

This design had some deficiencies -serious ones. The main bearing caps usedthe tongue-and-groove arrangement, whichwas not suitable for the crankshaft stresses.EMD, on the other hand, used a serratedtype of cap which was much better suited tohandle crankshaft stresses. Along towardthe last of the RS-3 production, AIcochanged over to the serrated design. Thusmany of the RS-3' s running today have theserrated main bearing caps. Coupled withthis difficulty was the use of main and connrod bearing shells with a lube oil groovedown the center - thus detracting from thetotal area to carry the piston head. Laterversions put the lube oil groove on the backof the bearing shell and with oil holes atpoints where the piston load was much less.

To compound the bearing difficultieswas the lube oil cooler, of all things! Thecooler was of the standard shell and tubetype with lube oil on the outside of the tubesand cold radiator water on the inside of thetubes. When it came time to clean thesecoolers, using the best available cleanersand procedures, the outside rows of tubeswere clean as a whistle. However, the cen-ter or core of the cooler was packed solidwith carbon. At the New York Central'sCollinwood Backshop, we cut several ofthese tube bundles in two (after cleaning)and so found this situation. During theearly dieselization period, standard diesellube oil contained about 5% additive con-tent which, as it turned out, was insuffi-cient. The additive in the lube oil tends tokeep the carbon particles small and so helpsto prevent the buildup that we saw in thecoolers. Thus, at this period, New York

Central - with one of the largest AIcofleets - was losingjive crankshafts a week!In connection with this, NYCS installed alarge VanNorman crankshaft grinder atCollinwood Backshop. The A.F.E. autho-rizing the purchase of this machine esti-mated that it would pay for itself in twentyyears! Actually, it paid for itself inless thante n years, what with the crankshafts thatwere saved - not necessarily all AIcos, butother manufacturers' crankshafts as well,the crankshafts being re-ground to the nextstandard undersize.

As a result of all the above, New YorkCentral asked AIco for a better design oflube oil cooler - one that could be cleanedmore easily. AIco then furnished a flat typethat can be dis-assembled and easilycleaned. This cooler was then applied tosubsequent AIco locomotive models.Another serious deficiency was the rout-ing of the high pressure fuel pipe (hydraulictubing) from the fuel injection pump to thefuel nozzle through the rocker arm space.In due course, the pulses of fuel wore holesthrough the pipe, thus pumping fuel oil intothe lubricating oil. This did not help thebearing situation, as mentioned above. Fi-nally, this problem was greatly reduced bythe introduction of the "snubber" valve atthe fuel injection pump discharge. The sub-sequent AIco model 251 engine eliminatedthis pipe through the rocker space entirely.The early 244 model engines used duc-tile iron pipes for the exhaust manifold withslip-type joints (for expansion and contrac-tion). After a while these joints wore andthus allowed the exhaust gases to bypassthe turbocharger. With the turboootreceiv-ing its full gas flow, combustion air outputwas reduced (lower turbo air pressure)which produced smoking (incomplete com-bustion). This problem was greatly reducedwith the use of stainless steel pipes andstainless steel bellows for expansion-con-

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April 1993 NEWSLETTER OF THE MOHAWK & HUD SON CHA PTE R, N .R .H .S . TH E C ALL BOARD 11traction connections. Also, being out in theopen, leaks that might develop could bemore easily seen.In service, a great deal of difficulty wasexperienced with the cylinder liner-waterjacket assembly.Holeswouldwork throughthe cylinder liner and allow cooling waterto pass by the piston and enter the cylin-ders. Not good for the bearings. A greatdeal of this problem was caused by notcarrying the water treatment at the properconcentration. At the beginning of die-selization, chromate water treatment waswidely used and gave good protection tothe cooling system of a locomotive. How-ever, chromate isNOT friendly to the envi-ronmentand sohas been outlawed. Instead,a borate typewater treatment is now in use.This isbetter suited tothe environment. noras good as chromate for engine coolingsystem protection.

On the electrical side of the early units,General Electric Co. furnished amain gen-erator control system called the amplidynesystem. This system controlled the maingenerator output for maximum perfor-mance. This was a good system, but a bitcomplicated. Therefore, many people didnot take the time to sit down and reallylearn how the system worked and how todiagnose problems. As may be suspected,this greatly affected locomotive output. Incontrast. today's high-performance unitshave such a complex control system, suchthat the average railroad electrician cannotcomprehend it. Therefore, many of the bigroads have the manufacturers do the main-tenance work.Ontheroad, theAlcoFAIFB units reallyput out. A good friend ofmine, John KellyfromWest Springfield, Mass. Diesel Shop,was riding a four unit consist of FAIFBunits from Selkirk to West Springfield.Going out of Selkirk Yard, the going wasslow - barely above the continuous ratingof the traction motors (an EMD wouldnever havemade itandwould either have toreduce tonnage or call a pusher locomo-tive). Meanwhile, the four 244 oil engineswere really putting out full fuel injectionrack, good turbo air pressure and the maingenerators loading good. Still, the slowspeed. At Pittsfield, Mass., the train bad topick up and set out some cars. While theswitching was in progress, the conductorcame up from the caboose (rememberthem???) to announce that they had thirtymore cars than he had way bills for!!! Thisexplained the slow going - over-tonnage!Calling back to theSelkirk, theYardmasterat once exclaimed: "So that's where theyare! I've been looking all over the yard for

them!"The yard crew bad placed the carson the wrong train!For many years, New York Central badan extensive banana operation atWeehawken, New Jersey. Banana boatsfromCentral America unloaded bananas torefrigerator cars. Train#WB-3 thenmade anon-stop run to Selkirk and then on west toBuffalo, New York. At Utica, the bananacarswere set out for train #UM-1 to take toMalone, New York over the Central's Adi-rondackDivision. AtMalone, the carswere

wasn't even thought of yet) with groundrelay trouble. The foreman and hostler ranthe unit up and down trying to fmd thecause of the difficulty (I dido' t understandthenecessity of thisas high voltagegroundscan be located with a megger instrumentwith the units standing still). Becomingabsorbed in their work, they forgot to lookwhere they were going and so the unitrolled into the turntable pit (Nothing seri-ous, you know!). The big hook fished theunit out and shortly itarrived atCollinwood

The New York Central had a substantial fleet of Alco FA's, such as#1101 pictured here. The author had numerous interesting andhumorous experiences with the FA's, as well as the PA's and RS-3's,~u~ing his years of service with the New York Central. (Alco Photo,

serviced (iced) and then a Canadian Na-tional Railroad crew from Montreal wouldcome topick these cars up. Usually, a fourunit AlCOFAIFB consist was assigned tothis run. Invariably, once a month - assure as day and night - the four unitswould be struggling up Owls Head gradewhen a unit would go off the line - lowlube oil alarm, ground relay trip,hot enginealarm and even automatic train control ap-plications! Obviously, this resulted in adelay and theCNcrewwould waitonly fiveminutes, but nothing more. Anything moreand they would turn around and return toMontreal!!! (Want to buy a carload ofba-nanas - CHEAP?!)One day FA unit #1035 came into Sel-kirk Roundhouse (the present diesel shop

Backsbop. The unit came in the shopwherethe overhead crane lifted the unit off itstrucks so that the trucks could be taken tothe truck shop for overhaul. With the unitabout ten feet upin the air, suddenly one ofthe legs of the lifting rigging slipped outand the unit came down with a crash in thepit!The unit was finished up in due courseand bad a new 244 unitexcbange oil engineinstalled. Out in the firing up shed, onewent through the usual Alco break-in pro-cedures. About the last item to check wasthe overspeed trip. The machinist got outhis tachometer while I brought up the en-gine speed with the potentiometer in theelectrical cabinet. The overspeed trip wentout at its designated speed and the oil en-


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12 THE CAll BOARD NEWSlEITER OF THE MOHAWK & HUDSON CHAPTER, N.R.H.S. April 1993gine began to coast to a stop. Suddenly,there was a loud Bang and the engine com-partment filled full of smoke - we had hada crankcase explosion! (Nothing serious,you know!). With the crankcase exhausterrunning, the unit soon cooled down (it isNOT advisable to open crankcase doorsimmediately after a crankcase explosion asthere may be a secondary explosion). Itturned out that one of the temporary mainbearing lube oil filters had come adrift on#4 main - the critical bearing, naturally!

At that time, AIco had a procedure - inthese cases - to return the adjacent mainbearing cap and a new cap would be ma-chined to be in proper alignment on re-application. It was decided not to take achance and so another overhauled oil en-gine was applied. after which the unit wasdispatched for service again. So much forthe 1035.

The AIco PA's, on the other hand. wereanother breed of cat. During the late winterand early spring of 1950, I had the assign-ment of riding the Twentieth Century Lim-ited every day, Harmon to AIbany andreturn. At that time, there were explicitorders that only EMD E-7 units, which hadtwo engines per unit, were to be used on thistrain - NO single engine units were to beused (AICO,Fairbanks-Morse or Baldwin).

One evening when I arrived at HarmonElectric Shop, I was met at the door by CarlHall, Shop Assistant Superintendent. Carlsaid that two sections of #25 (The Century)were to be run that night and all they hadavailable to cover the second job were twoPA units. Carl asked if I would go with thePA' s. Locos are locos to me and so the unitsbacked over from the ready track at Harmonto Harmon Station. When the train arrivedand the motor cut off (T-motor#278, whicheventually came to the Mohawk &HudsonChapter???), the PA's coupled to the train.The car inspector coupled up the steam heatconnectors as well as the air hoses and thengave a signal for steam. The fireman putone steam generator on line while I put theother one on. The fireman then went backto the cab while I stayed in the rear unit tocheck performance of the power plant.

From Harmon to Peekskill the speedlimit was 60 mph, followed by a reductionto 30 mph for the reverse curve throughPeekskill, after which it was back up totrack speed - 80 mph. Past Peekskill, Icame up to the lead unit only to see thetmboon fIre! (Nothing serious, you know !).The turbos on the early 244 oil engines

were GE Co.' s air cooled units (RD-1 forthe 12-cylinder engine and RD-2 for the16-cylinder engine). These turbos had ex-ternal bearings and some lube oil had leakedout of the bearings and had become ignitedfrom the hot turbo. Grabbing a fire extin-guisher, I tried to put out the fire. It wasn'tquite enough and so I went up to the cab toget another. When the engineer saw thefire, he wanted to stop and call the local firedepartment. I said: "No! Keep the traingoing." By now most of the oil had burned

hence the main generator voltage), TR. thetransfer relay, was pushed in manually.With a loud BANG and flash in the electri-cal cabinet, we were in parallel shunt andthen could make good running time. Thishad to be repeated every time the throttlewas closed. At Harmon Electric Shop itwas found that the manufacturers had over-looked adding any lubricant to the shuntergear box and so the bearings were frozensolid. Later, these shunters were removedand two steps of traction motor field shuntsubstituted for about the same performanceand more reliability.

PA units #4208-4209 also earned a badreputation on account of the Elesco steamgenerators that were installed in them. These.steam generators were made from the su-perheaterunits of steam locomotives. Thesewere real boilers and could put out lots ofsteam, but the trick was to keep them go-ing! For its operation, the boiler dependedon the differential in pressure between whatthe circulating pump developed and theboiler pressure. The circulating pump, acentrifugal type, was mounted directly un-der the steam separator. Now it is a well-known fact that to pump bot water a veryhigh "head" isrequired as the pump suction(reduced pressure) will cause the hot waterto flash into steam. A high "head" on alocomotive was impractical and so opera-tion of the steam generator was not depend-able. With a 16-car train in the winter time,all steam generators had to be operational.Even EMD E-7 units #4008-4009 had a badreputation, too, on account of their Elescosteam generators. Eventually, these gen-erators were removed and Vapor Corp.steam generators, which were more reli-able, were installed. But they had prob-lems, too.The AICORS-2's and RS-3's were builtin large numbers and used for both passen-ger and freight service. A few were madewith both a steam generator for passengerservice and. at the same time, had a dy-namic brake unit installed. Today, there area few of the FA units still around. thoughnot operable as originally built. However, afew are being rehabilitated as original. Itsurely will be nice to see them in actiononce again. On the other hand. there are alarge number of RS-3's still in service,primarily on short lines, still doing what themanufacturers built them for - and thriv-ing on the improvements that have beenintroduced over the intervening years. Withreasonable care, they should run forever!

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D .(S( l-I t(C lR . C

"ff and the other extinguisher fmished it.The units went on through to Chicago.The New York Central's PA's 4208-

4209 were only a month out of AIco' s plantwhen they were dispatched east from Chi-.cago. At Porter, Indiana, trouble developed(trouble a lways developed at Porter!). AtElkhart, Indiana, someone did something,but itwas ineffective and so the units limpedinto Toledo, Ohio. My good friend andfellow co-worker, Bob Ash, was on handand so rode the units through to Buffalo,New York, where I had been working Buf-falo Central Terminal platform that night.Bob got off to return home, while I rode theunits through to Harmon.

These later PA's had a device in theirelectrical system called a multi -point shunt.This device was supposed to keep the maingenerator output right up to the curve at alltimes, thereby improving performance. Inthis case, the shunter was stuck in the "up"position and could not be made to run down- neither electrically nor mechanically. Itwas solid! So the "modus-operandii" wasto accelerate the train up to about 35 mphand then request the engineer to take thethrottle down to ''notch 1." This kept thecontrol circuits set up. Waiting a momentfor the oil engine speed to drop off (and

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Alco Nothing Serious, You Know