Use of train power generator for emergency power

Hi I could not find any info on this on the internet ,so ask the experts.
Is it possible to use a Diesel electric power to run a emergency power grid 115 vac 60 hz ?
I remember something my grandfather said about this .(He worked on railroad in Binghamton Ny E&L ).
thanks Dave

It has been done. Several years ago Canadian National used a diesel to provide electricity to a shelter after some sort of big storm that knocked out power to the area.

Sure, I don't see why not. A loco is just a big generator.

-r

any plans on how to do it??? SWP has 4 locomotives here in scottdale pa
and a suggestion was brought up on this subject. thanks for any info Dave

The local electricity company would probably be able to figure it out pretty easily.

This has been done successfully but locomotive traction alternators are not designed for the same voltage/frequency range as commercial power generating alternators. Consequently 60 Hz falls into the middle of the governed speed range of most locomotive generator / prime mover sets so you are not able to make use of the full horsepower of the locomotive. Locomotive governors are generally not compatible with peaking power controls and without specialized additional equipment you are not able to synchronize and transmit the power on the grid, you can only distribute it locally. There have been "kits" designed to allow you to synchronize, but they are fairly expensive and you usually have to make some modifications to the locomotive. It is more work than you normally would consider for a short time emergency situation.

If you go to most power companies with this one they will not have a clue. This is very much a specialty situation and its usefulness is very limited. A locomotive is about 4X as expensive a piece of equipment as a properly designed diesel generator skid unit capable of equivalent output, so it is very cost ineffective to use of a locomotive in this way except in an extreme emergency.

In the case of a passenger locomotive equipped with Head End Power (HEP), you can use the 480 Volt 3 Phase generated power locally in an emergency, but once again the locomotive generally has no ability to synchronize with other power generators or the grid.

It is possible. Haved used a GP38-2 to supply power for a locomotive shop during a power outage. It does take some planning ahead of time. It is not something that you would do on the spur of the moment.

I doubt your local power company would have any idea how to do it.

Hmmm... I know some folks who work for an electricity supplier and they most certainly would have a clue as to how to do something like that.

Diesel locomotive engine/generator sets do not have some of the protective provisions normally applied to stationary power generators, so if it turns out that they don't know what they are doing, they may find out about it very quickly.

I can follow along with MXDATA, and cost/purpose is definately an issue. However, that being said, I saw, several times, a plant, just outside of Corning, NY, that used (uses?) a Baldwin RF-16, as an in-plant powerplant. the loco was off it's trucks, and it was permanently connected to the building, it was powering. It was running in approximately throttle position 6 (didn't sound like 8th notch, from our viewing/vantage point), and it was sad, to see it reduced to this type of existance, but it was there, as late as 1987, last time a fellow NYSW engineer, from Elmira, and myself, went to see it, so it IS possible. No idea, however, what mods were made, under the hood, to allow it to do this. Regards

If you are going to tie up a retired locomotive permanently as a power generating unit, then there are a variety of possibilities including replacing the main generator with a commercial power generating alternator and installing correct switchgear and protective functions for power generating.

Expanding on the point I was making earlier though, about using a locomotive as an AC power source in an emergency, a typical locomotive control system with AC traction alternator providing rectified DC output lacks any over/under frequency protection for commercial power generating use. The locomotive governor (Woodward PG on EMD's) is very heavily damped compared with power generating governors (UG8 or EGB10 on EMD's) and may respond poorly to sudden load changes. If your external load is frequency critical, this can be a setup for an expensive failure. You do not have proper ground fault protection for commercial power generating, and may not have proper overcurrent protection for the generator at the 60 Hz operating speed. You do not have a proper line breaker either, so if you smell something burning you had better be able to run real fast to hit the EFCO button and shut the unit down.

I'd assume a HEP set could do it, or a train with AC inverter derrived HEP. Therortically, an AC locomotive could provide a few outputs, but sudden load drops, etc could be an issue. Wortst case, I'd imagine an inverter trip followed by overspeed trip.

With a DC unit? Ugh no way unless you had an inverter bank handy...

That said, it's been done before, GM sold EMD's stuff for staionary applications, and it COULD be hacked in an emergency.

Ideal? Heck no. But, what a PR bonanza to have some RR roll up a few dozen AC units to the NOLA area, etc and provide emergency power...

The example in Quebec was after a massive ice storm and was a short term solution to a specific emergency. I think they ran it right off the rails & down the street to where it was needed. They had alot of cold & hungry people

I had drivers in the area shortly afterward. The spoke to each other about the forrest you used to drive thru comming up from the boarder crossing. Said it was reduced to matchsticks & stumps...

Yup, I remember seeing pictures of it on the web. Can't find the site, but I remember the picture... it was an MLW M420W... they lifted it off the rails and "drove" it down the street... it cut deep tracks into the pavement... very cool photo, wish I could find it!

According to news reports mentioned in the Amtrak forum, a P42 that was stranded in New Orleans is in fact being used to provide power to the NOUPT, which is now the New Orleans Union Detention Facility.

No word, of course, whether they're using main generator power or HEP...from the discussions, I'd imagine the latter.