Spotted: a 3200 HP V16.

[Graham_A_M]

Im sure you guys clicked on this thinking it was some idiotic TT set up for a car, but I thought this was still pretty damn cool. This is out of a locomotive, presumably a whole General Electric made unit...
It's only 3200hp, but being a two stroke diesel, it probably puts out 10,000 ft pounds of torque or around there somewhere.

My dad and I were talking a load of grain to an elevator in our semi, and passed by a rail yard in the town. They had this ginormous two stroke diesel V16 all torn apart. I assumed it was totally done... considering its now sitting out side in the rain. Oddly enough its made by General Electric.... the same company that makes your Hot water kettle & light bulbs.


^ The thickness of that crank is over 13cm/6" in diameter
Total circumference is probably 42cm/18" or more. Possibly closer to 20"





^Thats the output shaft on the back side of the engine.
You can see the vicious soot in the exhaust ports. Im surprised it even ran at all. I thought I took a pic of the bad ones, but the ridiculously huge amount of spent gas to be expelled out of those mammoth cylinders was coming out of a 1" hole on some cylinders. The port is originally big enough to put your fist into.


Here you can see its turbo (which is surprisingly small for what looks like a 100L engine). Those two big tank like things on the top are fluid exchanging intercoolers.

I honestly don't want to know how much a new replacement engine would cost, probably a quarter million at the very least, probably closer to half a million.



For these newer ones, they've increased the power output to around 5,000HP.

How this all works in a locomotive, is you have these mammoth engines which power an equally impressive generator. These massive generators provide power to a 1k hp (++++) electric motor between each set of drive wheels.
Realistically speaking, that's the only way to transmit power to the wheels, since any lateral torque would twist the wheels in circles, and no other drive train can be used since the wheels need to be able to articulate to negotiate turns.

Really cool to see. I thought they used these ginormous inline engine configurations, so this was really cool to see in person. I have NO idea how much this engine weighted, probably 4-5 tons.

[Tik-Tok]

Sure, but is it over 100 hp/l ?

[AndyL]

Ok I'll bite...

But what kind of fuel economy does it get?

Very Cool!

[Zero102]

I've always wondered - why do they have windows into the block for each cylinder on big engines like this? I've seen them on ship and train engines. I assume it is for accessing the rod bolts? Or is it so that you can access the bottom of the cylinders (it does have individually replaceable cylinders right)?

I find the camshaft setup interesting - does it have separate intake and exhaust cams? It looks like one intake and one exhaust lobe on the camshaft in the picture, but then in the cylinder head picture the intake and exhaust pushrods are lined up, not on the left/right sides of the cylinder.

Also, it looks like the middle lobe is for per-cylinder high pressure fuel injectors. How old is this engine? Looks pretty old, yet VW introduced that very same idea on the pumpe duse TDI motors in 2004 (well, a bit earlier in europe but whatever). Sometimes old tech is the right tech.

As for the 100hp/L comment, OP guessed it to be a 100L engine, so 3200hp/100L = 32hp/L, so nowhere near 100, but I bet when you consider torque this thing is a serious contender.


It was mentioned the intercoolers were fluid-air, would they be filled with antifreeze that is run out to separate radiators? Would they run engine coolant through there to ensure consistent intake air temps?... what fluid would be used?

[projekz]

I wonder why they have it just sitting around. It must be worth quite a bit in metal alone.

[schocker]

malex removed it and put in an lsx

[Graham_A_M]

Originally posted by projekz
I wonder why they have it just sitting around. It must be worth quite a bit in metal alone.

What it looks like they're doing is removing the good parts and getting it ready to scrap the rest. When we were there, there was a barrage of big 1" sockets and tools their using to remove all the good parts off of it.
Yeah its probably worth at least a couple grand in scrap metal alone. No I think it was a worth while proposition to save it, they would.

That "GW rail" is a fairly recent start up company. It wasn't financially viable for CP rail to keep operating the lines that serviced these smaller towns. So this GW rail was founded by a co-op of farmers to buy the old rail lines off of CP, and run their own locomotives. Their have their own rail service company and everything to keep the actual rail lines in good shape.
So since a new locomotive is several million to buy new (thats quite an understatement, I have no idea how much but its BIG money) they've just been buying these older used locomotives and using them.
So Im not too surprised after a few years one of their engines tanked, and now its here headed for the scrap yard.

Originally posted by Zero102


As for the 100hp/L comment, OP guessed it to be a 100L engine, so 3200hp/100L = 32hp/L, so nowhere near 100, but I bet when you consider torque this thing is a serious contender.


It was mentioned the intercoolers were fluid-air, would they be filled with antifreeze that is run out to separate radiators? Would they run engine coolant through there to ensure consistent intake air temps?... what fluid would be used?

I know that whole HP/displacement seems low, but what people need to understand is that these engines have to run thousands of hours between major servicing. With our Agri engines, and these huge industrial engines, they're HUGE in size and weight, but they'll last honestly forever with proper servicing. The 14 & 15 liter Cummins & Cat engines we use never require any sort of work, yet they often run at 4/5 throttle for 8-10 hours a day straight, and do so for months during the peak seasons. This is no different at all, try that with a smaller Cummin's you get from a Ram 3500 or anything like what you'd see used in the city and they'd tank in no time with this sort of use & abuse. Sure they put out much the same HP & TQ figures as a big 14L Cummins N14 (475hp & 1250tq), but they sure as bloody hell cant take the abuse of running flat out for any stretch of time while being pushed very hard the whole while.

For the fluid used for the heat exchanging intercooler? I dont know. Thats a good question. We'll be passing by there again today, if I see a tech working on it, I'll ask.

[Tik-Tok]

I was joking guys, the whole hp/L argument has always been ludicrous.

[JRSC00LUDE]

Originally posted by schocker
m.alex removed it and put in a 911

Fixed.

Also, I keep getting confused by your signature Tik-Tok.

[jibber]

Originally posted by Zero102


I find the camshaft setup interesting - does it have separate intake and exhaust cams? It looks like one intake and one exhaust lobe on the camshaft in the picture, but then in the cylinder head picture the intake and exhaust pushrods are lined up, not on the left/right sides of the cylinder.

Also, it looks like the middle lobe is for per-cylinder high pressure fuel injectors. How old is this engine? Looks pretty old, yet VW introduced that very same idea on the pumpe duse TDI motors in 2004 (well, a bit earlier in europe but whatever). Sometimes old tech is the right tech.

Cat engines used this system up until about 10 years ago (This is just from my own experience, I could be way off). They used a MEUI set up where the injectors were actuated by push rods running off of a dedicated camshaft. This was replaced (?) by the HEUI system where engine oil was used as a hydraulic fluid to open and close the injectors. The good (or bad, depends on your view) is it was impossible to run a HEUI engine without oil. No oil, no fuel. I wish I could decribe the looks on people's faces when they have their rather large truck towed, shaft out, into the shop only to be told it required an oil change

[Tik-Tok]

Originally posted by JRSC00LUDE


Fixed.

Also, I keep getting confused by your signature Tik-Tok.

Better?

[JRSC00LUDE]

Perfect.

[Graham_A_M]

Originally posted by Tik-Tok
I was joking guys, the whole hp/L argument has always been ludicrous.

Absolutely, that wasn't directed at you in the least. I just didn't want others clicking on this thread thinking these engines are huge inefficient wastes thinking their HP/Liter is way less then what you'd have with a much lighter duty duramax or whatever.

Nothing more, thats why I compared the two.