12 THE CALL BOARD

NEWSLETTER

OF THE MOHAWK & HUDSON CHAPTER, N.R.H.S.

February 1993

The Foibles of the Early Diesels

By Harold Crouch
The November issue of the Call Board, in the article on the last steam locomotive to leave West Albany, mentioned the tests of the diesels versus steam. The steamers had several strikes against them from the start when these tests were conducted. To begin with, steam locomotive facilities were completely outmoded and would have, in the normal course of events, been replaced except for (I) the Depression and then (2) the intrusion of World War II. Lubrication of the steamers covered the main essentials, with no time for the other lubrication points on them. For example, I recall taking equalizer pins out of centipede tenders at Rensselaer Enginehouse that looked like the camshaft in your automobile (worn so badly that they were no longer a round shaft) - simply because of the lack of lubrication. Also. between Harmon and Chicago there was a very large difference in hardness of the water supply which produced scale in the boilers and so required monthly washouts to keep the scale under control.

NEW YORK

WNTRAL
SYSTEM "
The all that about cables diesels, on the other hand, weren't great. either! EMD hall a lot to learn locomotive construction: Power were run over the sharp edges of

angle irons in the electrical cabinets and so the resulting vibration when on the road soon cut through causing ground relay problems. Also, the power cables were of the old varnished camber type - not the neoprene covered cables we have today. The EMD 567 -series oil engines were a constant problem - the cylinder-to-liner seals always leaked water and at each end of the run head had to be changed out. Furthermore, the lower liner seals were always leaking cooling water into the crank case, diluting the lubricating oil. Also, it should be mentioned the many difficulties with EMD D-7 traction motors and subsequent models with the commutator end bearing seizing - suddenlyi This necessitated taking the gear case down and, with a cutting torch, cutting the pinion gear teeth off so that the axle could revolve - and doing this out on the main line!! Perhaps we can talk more about the early diesels another time.