Union Pacific Railroad gas turbine locomotives
The Union Pacific Railroad had the world's largest fleet of gas turbo-electric locomotives (English gas turbine-electric locomotive , GTEL ). The first prototype , the UP50 , was built by Alco-GE for transporting goods on the mountain route across the Rocky Mountains from Ogden, Utah to Green River, Wyoming , and put into service at Union Pacific in 1948 . Three more series followed, which were in operation until rising fuel costs made them uneconomical in the late 1960s .
prototype
Union Pacific has always strived to have the largest and most technically advanced locomotives. In the 1930s , the first attempts with two steam turbine locomotives had already been made, but they were not satisfactory. Even before the Second World War , Union Pacific introduced diesel locomotives , which were mainly used in front of passenger trains. To achieve the pulling power of a large steam locomotive, four of these diesel locomotives would have been required. Union Pacific found that the cost of maintaining a locomotive was independent of its drive power and that a few powerful locomotives would be cheaper to maintain than a larger number of weaker locomotives. A drive concept with greater performance was therefore sought. General Electric had experience building gas turbines for aircraft and suggested using a gas turbine to drive a powerful locomotive. Union Pacific concluded that turbine locomotives were best used in front of long-distance freight trains. When traveling at constant speed over long distances without stopping, the turbines could be operated for a long time in an economical speed range.
After Union Pacific expressed its interest, Alco-GE built a prototype, the GE 101 , which was delivered in 1948 . This locomotive was later redrawn UP50 and painted in the Union Pacific colors, although it never became the property of Union Pacific. Unlike most North American locomotive types with internal combustion engine , this locomotive had drivers' cabs at both ends of the vehicle. The cabs were similar to those of the ALCO-FA locomotive family, which was also built by Alco-GE . There were numerous ventilation grilles on the side of the locomotive, which could be opened and closed in various constellations. The axis formula was (Bo'Bo ') (Bo'Bo'). The turbine generated an output of 4,800 PS (3.6 MW ), of which 4,500 PS (3.4 MW) were available as drive power. That was more than twice the performance of diesel-electric locomotives at the time. In addition, a small diesel engine was installed, which was used to maneuver the locomotive and start the turbine. The turbine was started with diesel fuel , after which it was automatically switched to Bunker C oil . The locomotive was over 24 m long and weighed 230 t .
After intensive testing of the prototype, three series of turbine locomotives were built. Union Pacific had the intention of the then retiring from the service steam locomotives of the type Big Boy to replace turbine locomotives.
First series UP51 – UP60
The first series with locomotives 51 to 60 was delivered from 1952 . These vehicles were identical to the prototype except for the missing second driver's cab. The turbine locomotives were almost always used with fuel tenders , with converted tenders from steam locomotives with a capacity of 87,000 l being used. The tenders received continuous control cables for multiple control (English multiple-unit train control , MU ) to enable multiple traction. Unit 57 has meanwhile been converted to propane combustion and has a pressurized gas tank car as a tender. The propane burns much cleaner than oil, but is difficult to transport, which is why the conversion was eventually reversed and no other locomotives were converted.
Second series UP61 – UP75
The second series with locomotives 61 to 75 was delivered from 1954 . Outwardly, these locomotives differed significantly from those of the first series. Covered, laterally open maintenance corridors on both sides earned them the nickname "Verandas". The ventilation grilles could no longer be closed. Turbines and electric motors stayed the same.
Third series UP1 – UP30
The third series with units 1 to 30 was delivered from 1958 to 1961 . These differed greatly from the two previous series: a larger turbine with an output of 8,500 hp (6.3 MW) was installed, and each unit was a double locomotive made up of two firmly coupled six-axle vehicles. The axis formula of each unit was Co'Co '+ Co'Co'. One vehicle contained the driver's cab, auxiliary diesel and other aggregates, while the other vehicle housed the turbine and generator . Both parts of a unit had the same number; To distinguish it, a “B” has been added to the number of the cabless part (cabless booster locomotives are also referred to as B units in North America ).
At sea level , the turbine could generate a maximum output of 10,000 hp (7.5 MW), but the generator was only designed for 8,500 hp (6.3 MW). To date, this turbine is one of the most powerful drives that has ever been installed in a single rail vehicle.
The third series, nicknamed the "Big Blow" because of the noise they produced, gradually pushed units 51 to 75 out of service. Since the older series had problems with clogged fuel filters, these were removed and the fuel instead filtered before refueling.
The turbine locomotives temporarily carried more than 10% of the freight volume at Union Pacific. The fuel consumption was high, about twice that of an equally powerful diesel locomotive. In order to reduce fuel costs, the turbines were therefore operated with cheap Bunker C oil . Bunker C is very viscous when cold. The fuel tenders were therefore equipped with a heater that heated the oil to around 90 ° C. Soot deposits and corrosion of the turbine blades from aggressive residues appeared on all turbines over time .
Retirement
Bunker C's cost advantage waned as the refineries began cracking heavy oils while the plastics industry's demand for petroleum products increased. Rising fuel costs made gas turbines uneconomical compared to other, more efficient combustion engines. The last turbine locomotives were retired in 1970 . The chassis and some other parts were used for diesel-electric locomotives of the GE-U50 locomotive family.
Two units from the last series have been preserved. Unit 26 is in Ogden, Utah and Unit 18 is in the Illinois Railway Museum . Some tenders were converted back into tenders for the steam locomotives of the Union Pacific.
Experimental pulverized coal turbine locomotive
In October 1961, Union Pacific constructed its own experimental turbine locomotive. For this purpose, a diesel-electric locomotive of the type ALCO PA-2 was used as the front vehicle with a driver's cab, a chassis of an electric locomotive of the type GE W-1 bought as scrap from the Great Northern Railway and the (modified) turbine of a locomotive from one of the first two series used. The association was initially given the number 80 and was renamed 8080 in 1965 in order to avoid a numbering conflict with the newly acquired EMD DD35 locomotives . The axle formula of the association was (A1A) '(A1A)' + (Bo'Do ') (Do'Bo'), so a total of 18 axles, 16 of which were driven. A "Centipede" tender (axle formula 2'5) of a Big Boy steam locomotive received a coal grinder to grind coal into coal dust and feed it to the turbine. With this fuel, the turbine generated an output of 5,000 hp (3.8 MW). The retained diesel engine of the leading locomotive generated a further 2,000 hp (1.5 MW). The total output of the combination was 7,000 hp (5.3 MW). Firing coal added to the problems with soot build-up and turbine blade wear. Grinding the coal finely enough also proved problematic; Coal particles that were too large could damage the turbine blades. The experiment was eventually classified as a failure and the unit was scrapped. While the conventional gas turbines each covered more than a million miles in service before they were retired, the prototype coal dust turbine was written off after 10,000 miles.
swell
- UP gas turbine locomotives
- Gas turbine locomotive FAQ
- Gas turbines FAQ - NE Rails
- Union Pacific story 1934-1982 part 3
- Locomotive Engineers Journal; July, 1949
- Don's Depot Railroad Photos
- Color image of UP26 and UP29
literature
- Markus Fleischauer: Giants of the West - The gas turbine locomotives of the Union Pacific . In: EK Aspects 28: Railways in North America (6) . EK-Verlag, 2009, ISSN 0170-5288 , p. 70-87 .
- Thomas R. Lee .: Turbines westward . T. Lee Publications, Manhattan (Kansas) 1975, ISBN 0-916244-01-6 .
- AJ Wolff: Union Pacific's turbine era . Withers Publishing, Halifax (Pennsylvania) 2001, ISBN 1-881411-30-3 .