Never a thrown piston.
Someone was definitely living on the wrong side of the tracks.
Apparently came from here.
Never a thrown piston.
Someone was definitely living on the wrong side of the tracks.
Apparently came from here.
how.
Oh, no. We've thrown a rod.
Is that bad?
Yep.
Knurled. said:how.
GE FDL engine. It's not a 1 piece block, the cylinders bolt onto the crankcase as power assemblies. I've seen mention of that incident before and it was something like a set of power assembly bolts failing which led to rod, piston and power assembly being launched.
The late Bob Smiley blew his XK120 engine at Lime Rock so hard the piston and conrod disappeared. The hole in the block and bonnet was surprisingly small considering
I sold him a replacement engine core, as the cylinder head was damaged as well.
There is a farm field behind the Cummins Jamestown engine plant that has seen all kinds of engine internals sprayed all over from their test cells.
Piston? Pist-off.
Holy berk!
The fun part comes when the homeowner finds out their insurance doesn't cover the damage, and the railroad isn't liable due to some obscure law written in the 1800s.
In reply to boxedfox :
Good one Rog
slefain said:The fun part comes when the homeowner finds out their insurance doesn't cover the damage, and the railroad isn't liable due to some obscure law written in the 1800s.
oooh thats like when your car is broken into and/or damaged while sitting in your driveway. Auto insurance won't cover it because of some obscure law so you have to file the damages under your home owners insurance which likely has a much higher deductible. The only upside is your auto insurance company can't jack up your rates.
I saw the pictures and was thinking locomotive and sure enough it was a GE Dash-9 unit. It's better than the period where the AC4400's were munching camshafts for lunch. I've seen power assemblies popped loose before but never launching a piston like that. I wonder if the injector failed and it hydrolocked.
Just as a prospective, those engines are a 9" bore. It happened a long time ago though. I think 2010.
I used to run the engine development test cell those GE loco engines came through. We never launched a full power assembly out of an engine like that, but it does happen out in the field. And those old things are so tough that it will keep running missing a full cylinder. Everything is modular so if one cylinder goes you don't need to replace everything, just the rod/piston/liner/head and you're back on the rails.
In reply to Nitroracer :
What happens with the crank? Does it ever break it bend? 1 piece? These engineers are fascinating, they are like miniature ship engines instead of large truck motors.
These engines do have more in common with ships than passenger cars or heavy duty trucks. The crank is a massive 1-piece unit, I stole a picture from this thread which calls out some specs: 11 feet long and 4,200 pounds. The locomotive v12 engines weighed around 30,000lb, but the marine v16 I worked on pushed 80,000lbs. The same cylinders can be used to build I6, I8, V12, and V16 configurations depending on the power needs.
https://www.getransportation.com/marine-solutions/marine-engines
lbs.
In reply to Nitroracer :
Did you work out of the Grove City plant? My dad was a lifer for GE trans. He was the field service manager for the UP line and then the Amtrak line and I helped run some of the field modification locations in the late 90's around Dash-8 electronic air brake retro fit programs and then some of mod shops to upgrade the units either due to defect or customer upgrades. We did stuff like the valve train retro fit on the AC4400, the Amtrak truck modifications, and other fun stuff like that.
rslifkin said:Knurled. said:how.
GE FDL engine. It's not a 1 piece block, the cylinders bolt onto the crankcase as power assemblies. I've seen mention of that incident before and it was something like a set of power assembly bolts failing which led to rod, piston and power assembly being launched.
Okay, fine, I'll allow it. But... looking at the damage, that piston didn't fall down from the sky, it hit at a low angle.
If I remember from the pictures I saw of this incident a while ago, the rest of the power assembly landed in the grass not too far from the house. I'm not sure on house to tracks distance for the impact angle.
Found on FB, posted by a guy that works on the RR.
Speaking of throwing blocks, tractor pull guys can relate...
Big tractor dumping the block during a pull:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBF6iZfguF0
Cummins triple turbo on a dyno:
In reply to maschinenbau :
Pretty amazing how they split the block at the crank and shoot the majority of it into the air.
In reply to Toyman01 :
Not really, that's the weakest part of the structure, it's just a thin lattice of cast iron right there.
There are some Serious Builds that through-bolt the cylinder heads right down to the main caps just for this reason.
Nitroracer said:These engines do have more in common with ships than passenger cars or heavy duty trucks. The crank is a massive 1-piece unit, I stole a picture from this thread which calls out some specs: 11 feet long and 4,200 pounds. The locomotive v12 engines weighed around 30,000lb, but the marine v16 I worked on pushed 80,000lbs. The same cylinders can be used to build I6, I8, V12, and V16 configurations depending on the power needs.
https://www.getransportation.com/marine-solutions/marine-engines
You know, with a little time and a grinder I bet we could knife edge that crank. Get it down to 4,180 pounds, pick up a few horsepower on the top end. Should really help in that peak 1,000 - 1,055 RPM range.
In reply to bmw88rider :
I worked at the Erie plant for a few years with a couple trips to Grove City along the way. I've since '''downsized" to 11L and 13L heavy duty truck engine testing for another company. It's funny when one cylinder from the train engine is larger than the entire engines I work with now.
RealMiniNoMore said:Found on FB, posted by a guy that works on the RR.
All the live long day?
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