17MG3/6 governor operation

[kmerkel]

Hello all,

At the Illinois Railway Museum we have an RS-3 with a severe case of hunting. See a couple videos of it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZRAa6griZw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlA2G9xXXKc

In addition to the hunting, in run positions there is surging of power output. Power seems to lag behind engine speed. That is, after the engine has hit the top end of the hunt the locomotive accelerates.

We have the service manuals for the locomotive, but even with those I'm unable to fully decipher how the governor actually controls engine speed and load.

My goal is to (hopefully) get it running right this year, or at least get an answer as to why it runs the way it does. At the top of the list is to check oil and fuel pressures.

We do know the locomotive had some rewiring done, and has some electrical issues. For instance, the warning bell is supposed to sound and the low oil pressure lamp is supposed to illuminate during starting (neither happen).

Right now it is winterized and shut down for the season, but we're going to start troubleshooting in the spring. If anyone can provide some insight into the governor's operation, we in the Internal Combustion department at IRM would be eternally grateful!

Thanks,
-Kyle

[alcodoc]

The stabilizing rheostat on the governor might be open. Also check that the brush arm is making contact with the segmant too. I would start there. Check the fuel rack for binding or lost motion as that can cause severe hunting.

Alcodoc

[kmerkel]

Thanks for the reply. The rheostat(s) should be easy enough to test/inspect.

When you say "free motion," I assume you mean free play or looseness?

-Kyle

[FCP503]

Kyle, please PM me your email address. I have a number of Alco/GE instructional books scanned onto my computer, including one that describe the function of the 17MG3 and 17MG6 governor.

I think it is a very neat system. It just work totally differant than anything else. I had to learn about this system just a few months back.

[mawood]

Im an old ALCO employee,with more than 30 years working on the railroad. It sounds to me like the stabilisation pot needs to be trimed up in the controll panel. Three pots on the gov stabilisation, load limit, fuel limit. you could alsom have bad wiper brushes on the pots, or com segments pushed together where the brush rides on them. I just retired from the TP&W, as cmo. I live in mich but would be willing to come dow and volunteer my time to help you out

Regards
Mike Wood

[kmerkel]

Mike,

We can always use an extra body. It will be a couple months yet before the weather is consistently warm enough to get our equipment watered without fear of freezing, but we're still working on restoration projects in the off season. If you (or anyone else, for that matter) would like to come down to help out we'd be glad to have you! You can read more about volunteering with us at http://www.irm.org/.

-Kyle

EDIT: We have what may be an old friend of yours, too. It's out of service for now, but who knows what the future holds: http://www.irm.org/cgi-bin/rsearch.cgi? ... estern=400