Is this normal.

Normal for a GE, at least. That's most likely caused by a turbocharger that's stuck open, a common occurance for GE diesels. That happens quite a bit, although usually it's not so well pronounced in daylight. I gotta say, it's quite a show at night, no matter how small the flame! :D
 
I thought they were firing up the bat-train. Oh well, same bat time, same bat channel.........
 
NO NO NO you got it all wrong they are just kicking in there after burners!! Norfolk Southern just cant handle all that power like all the other railroads do. am I right or am I right?
 
Hey charles, I guess you have never seen me trying to install decoders in my locomotives. LOL

I have seen quite a few pictures like that as well. However I was told it is because of the change in elevation and what not. The turbo charger was adjusted at one elevation so when it changes elevations it isn't set right for the area and it does that. I am no expert, but that is what I have heard.

Freelancer
 
It is not common in EMD locomotives because they have a clutch which drives the turbo from the engine until there is enough exhaust gas to spin it properly. GEs lack this feature so when winding up from low speeds they can deposit some unburned fuel in the exhaust system, there is not enough air to burn it completely. As the rpms and exhaust temps rise the fuel is burned in the stack and the result is seen above. The problem is also exacerbated by fuel injectors not working properly and injecting too much fuel.
 
I heard one NS engineer say on my scanner..
You guys kick the wheels and light the fire tonight? You second GE unit is flaming..

The reply:
Well,break out the hot dogs and marshmallows and we will have a Weiner roast. :eek:

So it must be very common with GE units.
 
Just out of curiosity, I have seen stack fires and reports of the same, but one thing I do not recall ever being mentioned is just how long the fire will actually burn before it burns out.
 
I have had a handful of GE's do the flame thrower on me. Of those handful I seem to recall it happening in notch 5 on the throttle. Basically it just shot the flame out for a few seconds and then went back to belching the black smoke.
 
I don't think it was Photoshoped. I used to get that on some GE's when I would back off the throttle. The fuel was too rich for a moment after notching down. Other times it was too rich throttling up and yes some times it can be seen during the day that well.

Greg
 
Well knowing what I know about diesel engine's on semi's that the turbo's can go out. Now the result on one going out is that they will suck the oil strait out of the engine threw the exhaust stack's and all over the place creating a ton of smoke. Now I've never seen them catch fire from this but it could be possible because oil will catch fire and burn at a high enough temp. So I'm guessing because it's so hot in there and friction from the air coming out with it helping it get hotter that this is what happened. Just a theiory but I'll look around and do some research on it.
 
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