The History of Fairbanks Morse Engine

History of Fairbanks Morse Engine
Today, Fairbanks Morse Engine is the premiere manufacturer of innovative diesel and dual-fuel engines for marine and stationary power applications. Fairbanks Morse Engine's environmentally friendly Enviro-Design®, FM/ALCO, Colt-Pielstick, and FM MAN engines provide excellent fuel consumption with low emissions and are positioned to meet future emissions requirements in the coming years.

[@richardkilling1791]

Sailed on several sea going tugs that were retro fitted with the 10 cylinder opposed engines that came from early submarines. I was an engineer & spent many hours in the same room with these engines. Very reliable & for the most part, easy to work on. Can still hear them running! 720 max rpm full ahead

[@FL-BEACH-MAN]

We had the same engine on a dredge pump , amazing engine

[@user-xy1lp8jx2h]

I enjoyed the video very much. I know that FM also has a V block version of the opposed piston engine, i think it is called a model A . I would love to see FM re-enter the locomotive business.Back in the early 1960s I get a close up look at an H24-66 trainmaster diesel on the Jersey Central RR at Wilkes Barre Pa. That is one of my favorite locomotives. Loved the way those engines sound,a very powerful roaring droning chant!!

[@dpm-jt8rj]

My grandfather worked for Fairbanks Morse from the 1930s to the early 1960s. I would love to see their factory in Beloit someday.

[@williamsteele8891]

I enjoyed seeing some of your old engines at the Edgerton Thrasharee! My father and grandfather both worked there at one time. My dad would always reminisce about how was sent to Colorado to do some field work on a locomotive.

[@ModelingSteelinHO]

Great engines ! Love the sound,you can always tell just by the sound. Excellently engineered for robust,reliable and lasting performance.

[@reefrunner9]

As a small child I lived 5 Blocks from Fairbanks, the low drone and whine during test runs was a sound , I thought of Winter.....who knew....I worked for the Paper Industry, gut punch killed us , Fairbanks still humming around the Planet...Beloit PMD equipment still out there as well. Beloit was and still is to a smaller degree a Bastion of Gear, Weld, and Machine engineering Heads.

[@gary81465]

I was on the now scrapped ICE Breaker Coast Guard Cutter Glacier.She had ten 12 cylinder opposed piston fairbanks engines in three separate engine rooms. Built in 1953 21,000 shaft horse power.She was the largest diesel electric plant afloat at one time.I worked in one of those engine rooms.There were three fairbanks and a cat 3412 ship service generator.Loud and hot working in there.Never forget that sound.Good times!

[@jlo13800]

That would give me my 2 stroke fix forever.

[@snickpickle]

I had no idea that FM had the Alco line, as well as the other lines mentioned in this clip! Thanks for posting this!

[@mattlf9120]

Yep, the 251 is still in production.

[@shockwave5150]

It's good to see an old titan still alive!

[@MLGVorkScoper]

thats awesome you have Cape May Lewes Ferry in there, didn't expect that1 unfortunately the Twin Capes is gone now, but 2 of the other ships In the fleet still have them. 1 got repowered, but all the engineers say they still like the old engines, and I do too

[@FlatBroke612]

My 1917 model Z still runs!

[@mikelukes1798]

I've ran a 10 cylinder 20 op engine it was also duel fuel very nice and tough engine for emergency power used it for 30+ year

[@dawnbenwell5038]

cooey84 there 10 fairbanks 38d81/8 on my first ship i fell in love with those engines. but we also found the faults of using what i call counterfeit parts.

[@elhigh]

Hot damn! I had no idea that FM was still in business MAKING ENGINES. I know I can't get one of those bad rascals to repower my truck (never find an axle to carry it), but still - it's a great feeling.

[@leverettrailfan5414]

Are you considering re-entering the Locomotive production market? I have read up on the iconic Trainmaster locomotives, and from what sources recount, the main issues with the Trainmaster were not in its performance- it was simply ahead of its time. Railroads were not seeking such giant, powerful units, and the shop workers weren't used to the opposed piston engines. Now, with the contemporarily built, massive behemoths by both EMD and GE hard at work for such Giants as BNSF, CNR, UP, NS, CSX, CPR, and export, plus earlier heavy-duty power like the EMD SD40s still beefing up rosters of all kinds of railroads, all across the U.S., one might think that the FM Trainmaster could serve as an inspiration for a new, even better locomotive, to meet the needs of today's railroads. Although most lines currently have plenty of new power, they will be needing many replacements for older power in at least 5-10 years, so if work was started before too long, a fine locomotive design or two might be developed. Think of what could be done- the power and efficiency of the latest FM engine designs, inside a frame, housed inside perhaps a shroud remeniciant of the fantastic curves and smooth styling from both ALCo and FM's entrancing history. A locomotive produced for the future, out of such remarkable past, would be something truly unbelievable. I cannot say how exited it would make me personally to see something different enter back into the locomotive market, especially considering how boring a world it is, dominated by EMDs and GEs that all look alike, with little to no taste. What ever happened to those rounded roofs? The engine that sounded almost like it was chugging rather than whining or growling, and the unique charisma surrounding some of the most under-appreciated diesel locomotives produced in the postwar era. I will hold out hope and dreams that soon, once more, a great powerhouse will once again ride the rails of mainline roads, proudly displaying a great "FM" and/or "ALCo" nameplate.

[@kellcash6800]

Leverettrailfan I wouldnt be surprised if I saw a rebuild company put an FM OP on a unit. It could spark a new era of OP locomotive prime movers.

[@andyharman3022]

An opposed piston diesel to power new locomotives would be more likely to come from the Cummins-Achates partnership.

[@Cap6302]

Ran and work a few while I was in the Navy. 3 cyl up to 10 ten cly

[@jaswmclark]

In the 1960s when I worked for Canadian National, we were in the process of scrapping CLC/FM locomotives as we found them unreliable in railway service. Lack of cooling would cause the top if the lower pistons to overheat and burn and repairs involved removing the upper crankshaft and piston assembly which made them expensive to repair. Marine applications, sitting in an unlimited supply of cooling water, did not seem to have this problem.

[@TugboatMatt]

fairbanks, this video is a few years old so do yous still make the opposed piston 38d series engines nowadays? on the one tug i work on it has a FM 38d81/8 8 cylinder paired to a FALK reversing reduction marine gearbox from 1958 when the tug was built. shes still going strong.

[@TugboatMatt]

***** over this past winter we did a overhaul on the engine, using all new FM brand cylinders, and pistons & rings (in the past aftermarket parts were used). we have never heard this thing run as good, very clean and smooth running! I am happy to say to you's that we are very happy with the parts and our engine is running fantastic!

[@flemmingrobert4806]

I want to see piston ring's set up for this engine

[@harrimanfox8961]

Rest in Peace ALCO. They stopped making them a few months ago. Guess they couldn't keep selling them in today's Teir-4 only market.

[@PrivatePilot1999]

We had a few of the MEP engines in the plant I worked in a few years ago. When they ran they were great but when they acted up they sucked. We used to call the Multiple Engine Problems.

[@skiiipawbs]

I’m trying to figure out how the fm train master engine works.

[@potatotechs3882]

From what I have seen on the internet an opposed piston engine has 2 crankshafts and no cylinder head as the opposing piston does that and the valves are on the side in center the pistons come toward each other in the same bore to make compression.

[@Kromaatikse]

That's true. The two cranks are actually slightly out of phase, so the combustion chamber moves along the cylinder bore during the moment of maximum compression. There's also the Napier Deltic engine, which also saw railway and marine service due to its exceptional power-to-weight ratio. It was considered particularly valuable for fibreglass-hulled minesweepers, in which minimising the magnetic signature of the ship is crucial to its mission. This is an opposed piston design with *three* crankshafts and three banks of cylinders. One of the crankshafts rotates the opposite way to the other two, and the phasing is 20° between cylinder banks, this being the key insight that makes such a triangular-section engine work.. In early tests it produced equal power to German E-boat engines in half the size and weight.

[@jacquesblaque7728]

No valves on these FM engines. Cylinder ports. Crank phasing opens exhaust ports before intakes, closing them earlier. About resuming production of new OP locos, no mention of meeting emissions requirements- a biggie.

[@UCSPanther20]

FM needs to jump right back into the locomotive business. I wanna see a trainmaster Mark II...

[@mattlf9120]

No, a C-liner

[@andywomack3414]

Fairbanks-Morse also made railway scales.

[@ironhorsethrottlemaster5202]

I think you should re-enter the locomotive Market I remember when I was a kid being told about Fairbanks Morse and trainmasters I knew they had an overheating problem do a general electric didn't make a big flared out radiator from the car body General Electric is literally about ready to go bankrupt from all the debt that they are burdened with I think it would be wise for you as a company to invest and coming out with a very efficient powerful locomotive there's a lot more systems now that would be able to keep the engine at an optimal temperature in a locomotive car body I bet you could figure it out

[@harrimanfox8961]

The FM locomotives failed because the engines ran horribly at high altitude, as the engines where designed to power a boat at sea-level, not a locomotive 1000+ feet above sea level

[@engnrpetev]

@@harrimanfox8961 Anyone else hear that about FM diesel/electric locos? Hard to imagine that FM designers were unaware that UP requires locos to summit Sherman Pass at 8,242 ft with acceptable loss of power. I dont see why, if EMD 567, 645, and 710 two-stroke loco engines and GE FDL and Evolution 4 stroke loco engines could be made acceptable, that FM locos couldnt be boosted to meet railroad requirements. BTW I heard that FM sued GM after GM set a policy with railroads that "Trains hauling GM autos must have GM locomotives on the front". But FM, I think, was just out competed by GM/EMD and by GE/Alco for the diesel/electric locomotive market. Baldwin/Westinghouse was another loser in that competition.

[@madisonvillegirl1]

Does Fairbanks still make real small ones just big enough to run household appliances?

[@brucerogermorgan2388]

If Fairbanks Morse doesn't have what you want, try Kohler. I've had quite a bit of experience with those and they're great. Other good small diesels are made by Yanmar.

[@thruflowvalvedesigns4807]

Thruflow © Valve Designs 1 second ago Petrol Head, using its Thruflow © patent pending inventions can replace all camshafts, valves and valve springs in engines like these! We have a simpler and much lighter design, our invention use less components, it has simpler air, gas, fuel regulation into and out of engines. Petrol Head would love to get into these Fairbanks beasts to help improve there power output even more!

[@mow4ncry]

I run a locomotive with one of their engines an H 12 44

[@johnholden3062]

OK you may talk reliability but on the 3 ships with FM engines on 2 ships they never saw 5,000 hrs between over hauls, very sad engines during my time with them during the 70's & 80's, I wont even mention the constant fuel line leaks

[@FlatBroke612]

John Holden A ship I worked on had four 10 cylinder FBM's through a reduction gear to a single prop and didn't have many problems. Pigs on fuel though! Oh... fuck Pielstick

[@isakjohansson7134]

How much oil do they consume?

[@isakjohansson7134]

@Kevin Krostosky i mean how much oil it uses per hour

[@mattlf9120]

A butt load.

[@johnwallace8556]

8 cylinder 38 8 1/8 ND on USS Mississippi and Uss California

[@WTFIsThisGuyDoing233]

where am i

[@takeadayofff]

In the marketing department. How may I assist you?

[@alhodge4051]

you say still in service on US navy ships and then you show a picture of a coast guard ice breaker???

[@todornicolov1]

Kolev Motors Video Kolev Motors Video.avi Kolev Motors Animation2 Animation2.avi

[@billporter9494]

whaaaaaat?!, learn something new daily, wow!, something like a guppy swallowing a whale. any plans to re-enter the locomtive market?, the old units were some workhorse ledgends, could give the two current big fish a run for the money, get the shop crews used to the engine style

[@mechniack]

All design from abroad nothing USA can make itself

[@jacquesblaque7728]

That "US Navy ship" with the red racing stripe? Nope- US Coast Guard. Extremely obvious, but nice try..

[@marydegroot6368]

And to add to that, the vessel shown is the Polar Star (WAGB-10) which is powered by V-16 ALCO model 251's, not Fairbanks Morse OP engines. See Mackinaw (WAGB-83) and Glacier (WABG-4) for the FM D38 8-1/8 models