Equipment repairs for the Suzy-Q?......

1802 back in service on Northern Division. No current plans to revive any other stored 4 axles at Binghamton.

3636 is out of service due to catastrophic turbocharger failure. Worst failure I have ever seen in my 29 years in the business. Root cause of said failure is yet to be determined. Suffice to say that the aluminum and metal debris flooded throughout the air boxes and into the cylinders before the diesel stopped turning. Probable gear train damage in addition to what was observed.

Until business increases it makes no economic sense to spend 200k on another remanufactured 20 cylinder to install on 3636.

Cheers.

Kingfish

What market, if any, would there be for #599 Office car from Rochelle Park?

Is it even movable?

IT LIVES!!! I got 1802 dragging 9 cars out of Bevier Street with the BH-1:

http://andy9889.rrpicturearchives.net/s ... id=1171368

http://andy9889.rrpicturearchives.net/s ... id=1171375

http://andy9889.rrpicturearchives.net/s ... id=1171386

And all the old stone cars are scrapped:

http://andy9889.rrpicturearchives.net/s ... id=1171388

Interesting pictures of an old more or less "relic".
Thanks for sharing.
Noel Weaver

Noel Weaver wrote:Interesting pictures of an old more or less "relic".
Thanks for sharing.
Noel Weaver

Yeah, the 1802 is pretty much a relic that goes back to the Kennedy administration. Seems the GP18's and the Kennedy's have been in the news lately.

kingfish wrote: 3636 is out of service due to catastrophic turbocharger failure. Worst failure I have ever seen in my 29 years in the business. Root cause of said failure is yet to be determined. Suffice to say that the aluminum and metal debris flooded throughout the air boxes and into the cylinders before the diesel stopped turning. Probable gear train damage in addition to what was observed.

Until business increases it makes no economic sense to spend 200k on another remanufactured 20 cylinder to install on 3636.

Cheers.

Kingfish

Sad news to hear. Is the $200,000 just for the motor rebuild or entire loco rebuild like the others?

King, someone on the yahoo boards had asked about 3612's prime mover. I know it went to dansville and never came back. Could that prime move be used or is it just as shot?

Please pardon my "what if", but would dropping a 645-16 into the locomotive make it a cheaper rebuild? And/or make the locomotive more attractive were it to be sold to another railroad? I notice not many locomotives are rebuilt with a 645-20 any more.

Thanks for sharing with us.

That's typically a business decision, with variables as you described, vs. how many 16 vs. 20 salvage cylinder blocks are available, where, and at what cost. And any frame mounting modifications vs. the cost of a straight swap. Also, with a basic frame and trucks that old, my guess is that a further resale is on a list of things to consider but not in the first priorities.

While the 20's pretty much left the rail scene, there are a large number of of marine blocks floating around the Great Lakes. And with the high number of 645-16's still in rail service, that block salvage value may be proportionally higher because of greater demand.

The other wild card is the tier rule for diesel emissions from EPA, and what level of repair triggers what emissions protocol.

So, in the world of speculation, anything is possible.

It's probably run it's last NYS&W mile. Too many lease-fleet SD40-2's idle right now for it to make economic sense to pour money into major repairs on a circa-1968 unit when you can just lease or buy a couple of newer units to replace it. And that's been the mechanical department philosophy, even their better power (3040 a prime example, with a failing turbo as reported on this board) is not being repaired, in favor of leased NS/CSX power.

One of their ballast cars was originally a DL&W drop-frame covered hopper, someone should have got a hold of that one. Or was it the old B&LE hoppers that got cut up?

3040 is in the process of receiving a remanufactured turbocharger and drive gear. We had to put the unit in line at Utica and wait for some other work to be accomplished before this unit can be repaired.

On the 16 vs 20 prime mover discussion many carriers perform that swap. Personnaly I like the 20s and maintained the ATSF SD45-2 fleet for four years with 3600 hp 20645e3 and e3B.

The 16 swap is too expensive if one does not allready own a core 16 cylinder to start with. NYSW does not have one available.

Regarding costs to reman a 16 and 20 EMD prime mover are 150ish to 170ish in dollars. As 3636 has a catastophic turbo failure one has to add in the cost of an outright purchase of the turbo.

The 200k price is prime mover only costs.

3636 may run again some day. Having said that market factors will determine that. Lease versus repair vs rebuild. It allcomes down to the financial analysis.

We all do the same thing in our personal lives when it comes to automobiles.

Kingfish

Can't argue with that, it's always possible a unit will turn up at a bargain price with the cab smashed off it or something that could serve as a donor for the 3636.

Sometimes it's cheaper to piece one together, I spent about $500 on two trucks in the fall - one good one with a bad trans, one with a bad motor that had sat around a long time - stripped the donor and scrapped it and got $425 for it with all the junk parts thrown back in - so I have all of $75 invested in the other truck, and a big pile of spare parts on top of the transmission I needed. Plus time and some gas money. To buy the same thing ready to roll is $1000 and up, depending on just how nice it is.

But it's rare to pick up locomotives for less than the scrap price; even in November what I paid for the first truck I could have towed it to the junkyard and made money with it.

Bring back the GP18s.

For what it's worth, is there any noticable difference in fuel consumption between a 20-645 and a 16-645, or can they be set to manage them pretty close to the same?

20-645E3 has a burn rate of 194 GPH in throttle 8 when configured for 3600 HP

16-645E3 has a burn rate of 155 GPH in throttle 8 when configured for 3000 HP

any updates for the repair line? a member on the yahoo boards said it looked lke the deadline has moved around and things aren't in sight. are engines beeing worked on?