Engine fires and smoke prevalent in modern times.

J

JonMyrlennBailey

Active member
One can find many videos on YouTube of modern-day d/e locomotive fire or smoke scenes taken by amateur people with cameras or smartphones. It seems to be mostly the newer engines that have these troubles.

Are these modern engines on today's American roads more prone to fires than the diesel engines of the 20th century?

Is it due to poor design, poor materials, lack of quality control or low-grade maintenance procedures?

I have never heard of ALCO d/e locomotives, EMD/GM F7's, GP7's, GP9's, GP38's, F40PH's, SD40's or SD45's catching on fire or overheating though some of these may have had dynamic brake failure contributing to the San Bernardino, CA SP freight train disaster of 1989.


Of course, steam locomotives used to commonly explode or catch fire when they derailed or wrecked and tank cars full of dangerous chemicals or flammable fuels used to be a common concern.

Our modern American railroads seem to be plagued with new engines that have "Walmart China" quality. The old GM/EMD locomotives of the 20th century never had these troubles. When is the last time you ever witnessed a Geep up in smoke?












https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2MVQaeUPZg
 
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Well, perhaps. Could it also be that company bureaucrats are forcing engines into service, while restricting costs, to the point that failure is bound to happen? It is probably more cost effective to burn an engine now and then rather than spend the amount of crew time necessary to maintain these units in a way that will generally prevent such from happening.

Just wondering...
 
Yes, money again....RR's are always on the cheap...

It could have just been that back in the heyday of the Geeps and the SD40's they were better-maintained machines.
 
JonMyrlennBailey said:
I have never heard of ALCO d/e locomotives, EMD/GM F7's, GP7's, GP9's, GP38's, F40PH's, SD40's or SD45's catching on fire or overheating though some of these may have had dynamic brake failure contributing to the San Bernardino, CA SP freight train disaster of 1989.

Our modern American railroads seem to be plagued with new engines that have "Walmart China" quality. The old GM/EMD locomotives of the 20th century never had these troubles. When is the last time you ever witnessed a Geep up in smoke?
Click to expand...

This is probably one of the worst observations I have encountered that someone tried to base an opinion on. Hardly anything of the first post aside from more folks being around to video record such incidents is true in the slightest.
 
Why does it seem that there are more videos of cats on the internet than in past centuries? Are there more cats? Has their DNA been altered to cause them to seek out video cameras? Does humanity exist merely to film the feline?
 
As a boy I have lived by railroads near my home. The Southern Pacific lines, at least two different ones in two different California locations. For years trains throughout the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and 1990's pulled by diesel engines rolled by and I had never observed flames nor excess smoke coming out of them. Just normal exhaust smoke. We had radio, television and newspapers back then too. Never was there ever an account of a diesel locomotive fire except in a bad train wreck.

Can anybody here post an historic account of an SD40 or a GP7/9 catching on fire due to mechanical malfunction?

There are still a number of pre-1990's GM/EMD engines active today on American roads all over and I strangely never see any video accounts of those engines burning up. It is mostly modern GE engines that go up in flames. My sneaking suspicion tells me that these newer engines are made like crap.

Screw the Dash 9's and Evolutions, my faith goes to General Motors of the past; Geeps, F7's and SD40's forever.

If I were a billionaire and owned my own standard-gauge RR line, I would only employ restored classic GM/EMD diesel-electrics and Baldwin steam engines as well as classic Budd and Pullman passenger cars.
 
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JonMyrlennBailey said:
As a boy I have lived by railroads near my home. The Southern Pacific lines, at least two different ones in two different California locations. For years trains throughout the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and 1990's pulled by diesel engines rolled by and I had never observed flames nor excess smoke coming out of them. Just normal exhaust smoke. We had radio, television and newspapers back then too. Never was there ever an account of a diesel locomotive fire except in a bad train wreck.

Can anybody here post an historic account of an SD40 or a GP7/9 catching on fire due to mechanical malfunction?

There are still a number of pre-1990's GM/EMD engines active today on American roads all over and I strangely never see any video accounts of those engines burning up. It is mostly modern GE engines that go up in flames. My sneaking suspicion tells me that these newer engines are made like crap.

Screw the Dash 9's and Evolutions, my faith goes to General Motors of the past; Geeps, F7's and SD40's forever.

If I were a billionaire and owned my own standard-gauge RR line, I would only employ restored classic GM/EMD diesel-electrics and Baldwin steam engines as well as classic Budd and Pullman passenger cars.
Click to expand...

Clearly shows how much you know about locomotive design and manufacturing...

GE locomotives have high pressure fuel pumps and lines that are located outside of the engine block. EMD locomotives have theirs on the inside and are patented like that, if memory serves. The vibrations from the engine block sometimes cause leaks in the lines, and the heat ignites the engine. Other causes include the shops not installing new lines correctly, sheering bolts, etc.

As for your claim about EMDs never catching on fire, well:

train-catches-fire-on-the-tracks-480x270.jpg
 
Well, I am no train mechanic by trade. Used to be a diesel truck mechanic and later an automobile mechanic. Set a gasoline engine on fire a couple of times in the auto shop class. Leaky fuel line to the carburetor: yes.

Never had a vehicle fire while working on a car or truck in the field, knock on wood. I had two Oldsmobiles that had leaky fuel lines that I was able to detect by sight or smell before they became a burning issue.

I understand GE locos have trouble with turbochargers a lot and that is why they belch flames.
 
This could also be a maintenance issue, or lack thereof. Guilford again comes to the rescue. Their engines are known to catch fire mostly due to turbo malfunctions, and of course it's as others have said because we have more cameras out catching the trains than before.

But diesels aren't the only engines to catch fire. The New Haven EP-5s would have flash-overs, but they were electric locomotives that used big mercury-tube rectifiers. They were double-ended F-unit-like locomotives built by GE in the late 1950s. I remember seeing these in operation on their New Haven to NY City electric line.
 
A bit of a tangent, but what happens when a train strikes a fire truck which was on its way to a fire? A 46 page pdf.
"USFA-TR-048/September 19893
OVERVIEW
On September 29, 1989, an engine, Wagon 7, of the Catlett (Virginia) Volunteer Fire Department
was struck by an Amtrak passenger train while crossing a private grade crossing in a rural area. The
engine was responding to a vehicle fire and was in sight of smoke from the burning vehicle when
the accident occurred."
https://www.usfa.fema.gov/downloads/pdf/publications/tr-048.pdf
 
JonMyrlennBailey said:
Yes, money again....RR's are always on the cheap...

It could have just been that back in the heyday of the Geeps and the SD40's they were better-maintained machines.
Click to expand...
RR's have always been in the business of making as much money as posible, turning a profit, by cutting overhead costs ... Fortunately you don't have to worry about your Trainz ever catching fire, like the PRR Baldwin Centipedes that were plagued with traction motor and engine defects, that were just like ALCO's (Always Leaking Coolant, and Oil)

They are in it for the short haul, to make money ... and are not just running trains around because they "look way cool"
 
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