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Re: What prevents moderrn locomotives from overheating in long tunnels?
Author: interesting points
Date: 09-07-2018 - 17:17
Interesting points. Thanks.
For electrics, if the tunnel had tight clearances and the load was heavy, I could see a theoretical possibility of overheat after a while. But the clearances probably wouldn't be tight enough, and with overhead wire there would be a fair amount of clearance on top for heat dissipation, and in any case "a while" would be a lot longer than for a diesel. Plus, going downhill, the locomotives would be on regen instead of dynamics, so less heat coming off at the location of the train. Is anybody still around from the electric days on the GN or Milw?
Tunnel motors - were done to avoid overheating quickly, which was killing the normal SD40s. But as noted that did nothing for the other issues. Curious - some GEs at the time looked like they had a tunnel motor-type radiator arrangement as standard (U-series). Were they actually similar to the tunnel motors, and did they work better than normal EMD (at least for cooling; I could imaging the results of typical GE flaming exhausts in the tunnels)?
One of the common complaints in old subways like NY and London is the heat in the stations. The trains generate considerable heat (as to all the people standing around), plus the heat thrown off from train a/c doesn't help any. Stations need a/c now - a few have gotten it if major reconstruction jobs were done.
For electrics, if the tunnel had tight clearances and the load was heavy, I could see a theoretical possibility of overheat after a while. But the clearances probably wouldn't be tight enough, and with overhead wire there would be a fair amount of clearance on top for heat dissipation, and in any case "a while" would be a lot longer than for a diesel. Plus, going downhill, the locomotives would be on regen instead of dynamics, so less heat coming off at the location of the train. Is anybody still around from the electric days on the GN or Milw?
Tunnel motors - were done to avoid overheating quickly, which was killing the normal SD40s. But as noted that did nothing for the other issues. Curious - some GEs at the time looked like they had a tunnel motor-type radiator arrangement as standard (U-series). Were they actually similar to the tunnel motors, and did they work better than normal EMD (at least for cooling; I could imaging the results of typical GE flaming exhausts in the tunnels)?
One of the common complaints in old subways like NY and London is the heat in the stations. The trains generate considerable heat (as to all the people standing around), plus the heat thrown off from train a/c doesn't help any. Stations need a/c now - a few have gotten it if major reconstruction jobs were done.
