BNSF Natural Gas test train.

[wcfn100]

Sorry if it's a bad photo, I can't tell on my phone.  Going to upload a video once I have wifi.



Jason

[Leggy]

They're testing those over Raton aren't they? Any sign of the SD70ACe-P4 demos?

[wcfn100]

Any sign of the SD70ACe-P4 demos?

Didn't see anything else.

Jason

[kornellred]

It just might make economic sense to use natural gas to fuel locomotives, due to the fact that there are so many shale gas wells being brought into service, making enormous supplies available.  Technological development with respect to vehicles has lagged for decades because natural gas must be stored at high pressures in order to gain enough range to make its use worthwhile.  A storage tank for, say, automotive use that could store enough natural gas for an effective range of approximately 300 miles would be too large, heavy, and expensive to bother with.  Yes, there are CNG vehicles about, but they are few and far between and do not get any kind of range.
Railroads could conceivably daisy-chain natural gas storage cars to feed clean-burn locomotives economically and with adequate safety.  It could be ultimately cheaper than Tier 4 diesel emissions compliance in the long run.

[wcfn100]

Here's the video.

Jason

[Smike]

This whole experement ends if one of these goes boom...

[nkalanaga]

The BN tried this before, and it worked fine.  At the time natural gas was more expensive than diesel, so they didn't do more than test the concept.  Most diesel engines won't start on NG, but they run fine on it.  Use diesel for starting, then when everything is hot, switch over.  It's been done for stationary backup generators for some time.

[eric220]

So we're going back to engines with tenders? Nice!

[nkalanaga]

The BN used diesel fuel tenders for several years, but finally gave up.  I don't know why the quit, but probably got tired of maintaining the extra fuel hoses and connectors.

Suggestion:  Put the tender on an old loco frame.  Not only would it be designed to be squashed between two units, but if the leave the motors in, it could serve as a road slug.  Tractive effort would decline as fuel was used, but it would still help, especially when starting, so wouldn't be a total dead weight.

[packers#1]

Norfolk Southern's Altoona Works page just put a picture on Facebook of a slug they're making out of a GP50. What's special about it is it's also a CNG tender for a slug master/CNG engine they're making out of a GP38-2.

[eric220]

Norfolk Southern's Altoona Works page just put a picture on Facebook of a slug they're making out of a GP50. What's special about it is it's also a CNG tender for a slug master/CNG engine they're making out of a GP38-2.

Very interesting take.

Edit: Went and looked up the photos. Very creative solution. Take a loco, strip it down to a flat car with traction motors, outfit it as a CNG tender, connect it to a CNG locomotive, have the locomotive supply power to the tender traction motors.

Under the hood: https://www.flickr.com/photos/lrmyers/14609510585/in/set-72157629091837684

[Ike the BN Freak]

The BN used diesel fuel tenders for several years, but finally gave up.  I don't know why the quit, but probably got tired of maintaining the extra fuel hoses and connectors.

From what I've heard/seen, the frames of the tank cars were getting cracks in them over time. Plus the connections had to be done at the shops vs on the road, so if a loco goes down, they have to keep it in consist until they could get it to a shop to take the consist apart to repair the dead loco.

[Philip H]

Very interesting take.

Edit: Went and looked up the photos. Very creative solution. Take a loco, strip it down to a flat car with traction motors, outfit it as a CNG tender, connect it to a CNG locomotive, have the locomotive supply power to the tender traction motors.

Under the hood: https://www.flickr.com/photos/lrmyers/14609510585/in/set-72157629091837684

Unless I'm missing something, those Roller Bearing Trucks don't have traction motors . . . and my Photoshop radar is going off wildly . . .

[nsbob]

Unless I'm missing something, those Roller Bearing Trucks don't have traction motors . . . and my Photoshop radar is going off wildly . . .
 

[packers#1]

Unless I'm missing something, those Roller Bearing Trucks don't have traction motors . . . and my Photoshop radar is going off wildly . . .

If you need to move a unit in and out of the shop in order to mount the tanks, then wouldn't it make sense to put it on roller bearing trucks?

The page is public, so scroll down a bit and you'll see the unit sitting in primer on its usual trucks.
https://www.facebook.com/altoonaworks