emd smoke

does anyone have any images of emd loco's blowing smoke, as ge units do it as a daily occurence, it would be nice to see the emd units throwing out some black or white filth!! .thanks, dash7

EMD locomotives are pretty good in terms of the release of uncombusted gunk, but you've gotta love GE for its exhaust-manifold fires! Unless you've got a malfunctioning turbo on your EMD, you're not gonna see it smoke.

It's quite rare that EMDs put out the kind of smoke shows commonly seen with older GE and ALCO units. But it's been known to happen when the units have mechanical problems or poor maintenance, or if they haven't been run in a while:

Turbo problems on an SD40T-2 in a mid-train helper consist:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByoZNudQ ... ed&search=

A few more smoky EMDs:

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=182784
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=136886
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=97203
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=57587
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=68556
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=79195

grabbed this a few weeks ago.. with a camera phone so very poor quality.. sd60
http://s125.photobucket.com/albums/p70/ ... smokey.flv

trainiac wrote:It's quite rare that EMDs put out the kind of smoke shows commonly seen with older GE and ALCO units. But it's been known to happen when the units have mechanical problems or poor maintenance, or if they haven't been run in a while:

Turbo problems on an SD40T-2 in a mid-train helper consist:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByoZNudQ ... ed&search=

A few more smoky EMDs:

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=182784
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=136886
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=97203
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=57587
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=68556
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=79195

thats unbelievable!!! exelent pics , thanks; dash7

That thing sounds like a cow with an upset stomach!

nickleinonen wrote:grabbed this a few weeks ago.. with a camera phone so very poor quality.. sd60
http://s125.photobucket.com/albums/p70/ ... smokey.flv

Sounds like an electrical issue. You can hear the results of the load regulator backing off the load. The whine is the dynamic brake grid fans.

nickleinonen wrote:grabbed this a few weeks ago.. with a camera phone so very poor quality.. sd60
http://s125.photobucket.com/albums/p70/ ... smokey.flv

Now that's entertainment!

trainiac wrote:It's quite rare that EMDs put out the kind of smoke shows commonly seen with older GE and ALCO units. But it's been known to happen when the units have mechanical problems or poor maintenance, or if they haven't been run in a while

If an EMD is smoking, dirty filters are usually the culprit.

My observation is EMD 2-strokes don't have the propensity for brief eruptions of thick, black exhaust as do GE and Alco 4-stroke turbo'd engines. However certain older (and I presume also less well-maintained) EMD 2-strokes are not bad at throwing up continuous streams of dirty exhaust when worked hard!

I watched the SD40-2 lead and 2nd units in the consist below smoking like this continuously over the entire length of an ~2 mile tangent. (The exhaust appears gray in this photo on account of backlighting.) ...FB

ExEMDLOCOTester wrote:

nickleinonen wrote:grabbed this a few weeks ago.. with a camera phone so very poor quality.. sd60
http://s125.photobucket.com/albums/p70/ ... smokey.flv

Sounds like an electrical issue. You can hear the results of the load regulator backing off the load. The whine is the dynamic brake grid fans.

Nope electrical system is likely doing exactly what its supposed too, the turbo likely blown and is surging every few seconds from the disruption in air flow. This surge causes alot of smoke and a huge drop in power output, which is why you hear the dynamics die down when the engine smokes up. The locomotive is being load tested in that video.

This surge is VERY loud inside the locomotive.

This is perhaps a minor point in this discussion, but the very cleanest stack EMD's I've ever seen were those of the Bamberger Railroad in Utah. I grew up on SLC's 400 West Street in the 50's, and witnessed Bamberger's RS-1m (EMD re-engined) and SW-8's. Even though under occasional heavy load, lugging 20+ cars upgrade in the middle of the street, I never saw any visible emissions from the Bamberger stacks - never! I made the comparison to UP's nearby yard where dirty EMD 1000 class switchers were the norm.

Chesapeake wrote:

ExEMDLOCOTester wrote:

nickleinonen wrote:grabbed this a few weeks ago.. with a camera phone so very poor quality.. sd60
http://s125.photobucket.com/albums/p70/ ... smokey.flv

Sounds like an electrical issue. You can hear the results of the load regulator backing off the load. The whine is the dynamic brake grid fans.

Nope electrical system is likely doing exactly what its supposed too, the turbo likely blown and is surging every few seconds from the disruption in air flow. This surge causes alot of smoke and a huge drop in power output, which is why you hear the dynamics die down when the engine smokes up. The locomotive is being load tested in that video.

This surge is VERY loud inside the locomotive.

We may both be correct. I have had a GV module do the same thing....

Just last night while working the dual hump at MacMillan Yard, I took a hump set out of the west escape and into the R yard to begin work and boy after doubling R17 to R16 and pulling out of 16 the smoke show began ! I realized afterwards the power had been sitting there for almost the whole day.

hahaha I had a good show last night too - my power was sitting most of the day as well - and its quite a sight to see a smoke cloud in the dark!!!! but it was there, adn I knew it was there because for a little while, the skyline of Newark NJ totally disappeared in my side view mirror!!!!