Load Test on a GE U-23B

[@mafarnz]

Sounds a hell of a lot better than modern day GE's.

[@UnionThugg]

That's a little bit weird to say. Wabtec continues to build and service the 7FDL, and there are literally thousands still in service across North America. The newer 7HDL-based Gevo engines are still 4-stroke diesels, the only changes to the sound would be emissions-related. The Cat SD70T4 also uses a 4-stroke 1010 engine that has a similar sound.

[@jrayproductions7790]

I love the sound of modern day GEs but, yeah, nothing beats this

[@ericposey3782]

You gotta love the chugging sounds of an old U-Boat.

[@DASHERU23BGE]

I love the hearing the engine advance to the next notch it remains me on sitting on my grandpa's front porch and watch the train switch the mill in meldrum Georgia.

[@espeescotty]

Such sweet music, and a bit of a pyrotechnics show too!

[@cbsands2072]

eSPeeScotty Kim,

[@ronniecromer1230]

Sounds awesome!!!! I've got a news paper photo of 3973 at Riverton in Front Royal taken back in the 1980s.

[@Trains-With-Shane]

Good old U-Boat. Not many of them around anymore, either in service or preserved.

[@b2major9th]

Always loved the sound of those u-boats

[@daytlov23]

I love the gradual climb in rpm to a full gallop

[@amessman]

I believe the dynamic braking resistors are behind the lower cooling vents on the rear, different to more modern GEs with resistors behind the cab.

[@danielkennedy1524]

Outstanding!

[@CentralJerseyRailfan]

This is dope! Anyone willing to provide timestamps for every notch and notch-to-notch transition? I’m planning to do this into a TS sound pack

[@mercury7590]

I didn’t even know any of these were still around. Could’ve sworn they were all scrapped.

[@nicholasmedovich8691]

High hood solo survivor I believe

[@apmazurka]

She Sounds Great!!!!

[@williammadona7668]

Amigo, show de bola esse vídeo, adoro esse som do motor GE, esses gla gla gla gla gla. Parabéns pelo vídeo.

[@johnmclaurinmclaurin924]

I love that sound

[@Kudlaty771]

Doesn't she sound so happy in run 8? lol. edit: It's never really occurred to me before, but christ, imagine if that thing threw a rod or something. Better hope you aren't in the way!

[@eltoro6688]

Those Ol' GE FDLs apparently run fewer revs than an EMD.

[@NSAaron]

The FDL's are a 4 stroke so they fire every other revolution. They actually are over 1000 RPM at number 8 throttle while most EMD's run about 832 - 900 RPM (950 for some) in number 8 throttle. EMD's are a 2 stroke and fire every revolution.

[@TylersNeighborhoodGarage]

Is that one going to get restored back to SR paint?

[@NSAaron]

With the museum's operating contract not being renewed by the company that owns the Heritage Railroad and right of way, most projects are on hold right now. However, the plan would be to restore it back to Southern paint IF we can get the excursion train going again with assurance we won't loose the contract again.

[@a-lineaficionado1000]

Aaron Beaubien are you guys still looking at the contract or moved priorities elsewhere where there is more support.

[@nicholasmedovich8691]

Only surviving high hood 23B??

[@bradhardy2629]

Not bad . But I prefer the sound of a SD 70 .

[@dumdum7786]

I prefer the sound of a GEVO. U boats gargle more, GEVOs chug more.

[@bradhardy2629]

@@dumdum7786 I was a railroad man for almost ten years for the CP / sooline . The sound of Emds huge turbo chargers and 16 cylinders wide open when your actually at the throttle. Is badass .

[@dumdum7786]

@@bradhardy2629 ok

[@Danvers97]

@@dumdum7786 gevos are trash. Source. I work on them every day.

[@Shane-Singleton]

Thanks for posting this video, Aaron. So tell me about this self load test. Seems to me like it'd be akin to using the generator like an engine dyno. It puts up a reverse load from say the batteries or something to put a load on the motor, kinda like dynamic braking the prime mover?

[@shullreric98]

Shane Singleton they use the main generator to put a load on the engine by puting power to the dynamic bake grids.

[@Shane-Singleton]

So I was kinda right. cool. :)

[@nomon95]

four strokes engine. from notch 6 to notch 7 a visible flame is evident,,is normal the exhaust is short.all is well.the sparks are few. when decelerate is nornal too some transitory smoke,

[@amtrak706]

Is there more of that K5LA in the beginning??

[@NSAaron]

Should be one of my K-5LA audio clips in one of my videos.

[@amtrak706]

Ok. That is an unbelievable sounding horn, what era is it?

[@nomon95]

the resistor banks are outside??is a lot of power to dissipatee ,more than a megawatt.some resistor banks have water resistance cooled or a huge fans cooled,,,some of them turn to orange colour by the huge heat,

[@NSAaron]

Not totally outside, but they are just inside the radiator intake grills on the long hood. Rather than have its own blower motor like later GE's or EMD's it uses the large radiator cooling fan as a means of pulling cool air through the grids. One of the issues with that is also the grid shorting contactors (or extended range contactors as it would be for an EMD) are also located in the fan room for the radiators and with the amount of water that gets into that whole area much of the steel is rotten. The contactors do cycle manually, but we are unsure weather they cycle with an electrical signal.

[@nomon95]

@AaronBeaubien,my confussion begin that i had seen some tests tthat from the electric control panel (contactors main breeakers,etc, the electicians disconnnect some parts and from there a lot of 240mm2 wires go outside to a resistor banks enclosures. these tests are applied to huge electrogen groups,as Cummins or CAT groups,three phase.+N. the most huge i "ve seen was a 2000kw generator with three huge resistor banks . The resistors become red colour and huge fans dissipate heat. i understand if the resistors are in the enclosure of the loco.the loco have huge fans in his roof. thanks for your answer daniel Argentine.

[@NSAaron]

@@nomon95 Hey Daniel! Some locomotives for a self load test require some circuits to be rewired manually to use a set of grid resistors as a load. Sometimes an external set of resistors like you described are used. This unit, however, can be self load through its own dynamic brake grids and has circuit selector that allows for that to easily be done without having do any rewiring. EMD's began being shipped with that feature as well.

[@nomon95]

Aaron Beaubien, Ok,thank you. better using the dynamic brake and avoid rewire the circuits,,thanks,daniel Argentine

[@BenjaminEsposti]

On modern locos they use a resistor bank up to around 3 megawatts. They use flat metal strips, in an accordion pattern so the inductance is reduced.

[@railroadmike6843]

I hope you didn't do this to the unit cold.

[@NSAaron]

We had it running most of they day prior, so the engine was at room temperature. We checked all the the fluids regularly, so it's all good. You bring up a good point, though. Most newer locomotives with microprocessors and such won't allow a locomotive to run above a certain notch of throttle or load level until the engine is warmed up. The older engines you don't get restriction so it's up to the operator discretion to ensure that doesn't happen. The SD45 we got has the start switch by the lay shaft so the assist you give the start with the lay shaft helps when it's cold. However, in the book for it, they say you should not push the lay shaft in that far as to keep the engine from spinning up to run 8 on startup. Also, keeping an eye on the oil pressure gauge next to the lay shaft after engine start is a good idea. If the locomotive is wired up like it should (which some have been monkeyed with) if the oil pressure doesn't come up after a certain amount of time, the engine should shut down.

[@railroadmike6843]

I never load a locomotive until the temp gauge is OVER 100 degrees, preferably at operating temp. Several railroads have a minimum half hour idle time before setting the selector to the run position. This varies with season. There is a very large amount of metal and seal area in a locomotive engine and temp cycling is a huge factor in locomotive health, room temp is cold. I try to convince my associates and customers to install kim hot start or similar block heaters on units that are not constantly on line, you will notice on locomotives that are allowed to cool regularly that they leak fluids mainly oil notably over units that are kept hot. On a daily used loco that is started and used for several hours a day, the electricity used to keep the unit hot is $5000 worth of fuel and oil to warm up per year. Also, I hope you pre lube the unit before starting or you will trash the bearings quickly. That is a very nice locomotive. I wish I knew about GC getting rid of them I would have tried to save one.

[@NSAaron]

It's a little more picky on EMD's with pre-lube. If it sits more than 30 days we pre-lube before we start. We do have several locomotives with hot starts down here. It's helpful, until the power gets knocked out (happened before). Usually by the time we get done with a job briefing and checking bills, paperwork, inspection and getting a route lined, about 30 minutes have passed and usually the first two or so hours of moves usually don't require more than number 3 or 4 throttle. 3965 has been a decent motor and has saved us in times of motive power shortages. She is going to need some work. Having some working dynamic brakes would be NICE, but all the switch gear is located in radiator area and looks rough. I believe GC deactivated them as well. The thing that bothers me the most about running 3965 is once you get above number 4 throttle the load drops down a hundred or so amps every notch you take and takes about 10 seconds to recover. Not good when trying to grab a notch on a hill. Also, like a lot of those U-Boats, the thin sheet metal car body has rusted through in the most inconvenient places (sand tanks). So the sanders don't work. Besides those minor gripes she's has almost always been one that you can start and run if nothing else would.

[@railroadmike6843]

EMD bottom end is much lighter than GE and Alco. Its still wise to pre lube every time, Ive seen plenty of wear from not, even on the 4 strokes. Im not sure why the load would drop when advancing the throttle, maybe an imbalance in the control cards between the axle sensors and excitation panel? Id give it all a good look and see what you find, some times its as simple as dirty contacts. Oh and with the black relay paddles what ever you do NEVER USE ABRASIVES ON THE CONTACT SURFACES!!!! use clean rags and contact cleaner or alcohol, Ive seen locomotives turn into unreliable clunkers just because of this. the big J contactors are different they sometimes need a file. the low voltage stuff is way different and will have you chasing your tail, the tips are silver plated and when its ground off they rust.

[@BenjaminEsposti]

I've heard about that loading issue before regarding the U-type locos. That's one of the reasons why most of them were scrapped.

[@easyamp123]

What do they load them with?

[@infraviolet]

they just put the generator across the dynamic brake resistors and use them as a load

[@crashice667]

Are these 2 stroke or 4?

[@Henry5623]

All GE's have 4 stroke prime movers. U23B's have V-12's as opposed to V-16's like all there bigger more powerful counter parts. However modern day Tier 3 and 4 GE's have V-12's as well.

[@crashice667]

Henry. Aha okay I thought so thanks for clearing that up

[@tedc3895]

She looks just a tad rich...but smoke is good. Lean is bad.

[@pootispiker2866]

Lean is good on a diesel. Rich is bad.

[@cnnw3929]

Sounds a lot like an old 2-cylinder John Deere Model A. LOL

[@harrihiltunen1244]

locomotion scene is fine..

[@AlexTrain5249]

It’s a shame that thing has a silencer on it.

[@Kudlaty771]

you're telling me they sounded even *better* than this? I need it

[@tedc3895]

Purring....

[@camsmith7651]

Noisy engine

[@andyharman3022]

Doesn't sound nearly as good as an EMD. Just sounds like some kind of old single-cylinder putt-putt marine engine pounding away in a 12-foot motor launch.

[@erkinalp]

This is a 4-stroke. Sound is pretty good.

[@floridianrailauto9032]

Misread "putt putt" as butt plug