A post in the BNSF Forum got me thinking about something I saw about 15 years ago when the Rio Grande was still around. We were eastbound on I-70 in Glenwood Canyon about an hour or two after sunset. We looked over across the Colorado River and saw that we were pacing an eastbound freight moving through the canyon. It was a beautiful sight. :shade: All of the sudden, the second unit, what looked like an SD-40T-2 or an SD-50 (did I mention it was dark?) did something that gave us quite a start. mg: A fireball belched out of what looked to be an exhaust fan about 1/3 of the way down the back of the locomotive. The fireball had to be about 5 - 7 feet across and lit up the walls of the canyon. It did it about 2 or 3 times, belching a fireball that quickly dissipated. Does anyone know what could have caused the fireball? I've never seen or heard of this happening anywhere else. Given that the Rio Grande was known as the Real Grime, could it have been some sort of buildup of gunk that flashed over?
Cases of "fire out of stack" have many cause like bad injector, leaky turbocharger, Etc. Anyways this unit is in need of some TLC from the shop crews. BTW, did that unit spews a big fireball every time when the engineer kicks her up?
The other day I saw a massive fireball belch from a GE diesel's stack shortly after the engineer had "ratcheted up" the consist. After the fireball burned off, that engine's stack gas was still smoky indicating an ailing diesel as SRT-FAN mentioned. This is not an every-day occurance, but hardly rare. BTW, our summer air is clear and un-polluted, coming directly off the Gulf of Mexico on a 5-10 kt breeze.
GEs are usually the ones noted for stack fires. Turbo lag, bad injectors, etc. No big deal as long as it doesn't set anything critical on fire before it blows itself out. A couple of notches up puts on a good show when you've got a flamer, especially at night. A crew deadheading in my second unit once asked if I'd knock it off with the pyrotechnics since the fireballs were blowing back and hitting their windshield. Can't a guy have any fun?
Jerry Debene had a better photo than this of a stack fire in a tunnel but I can't find it right now. Was really dramatic.
I think we can rule that out at least. The train was eastbound, heading upgrade along the Colorado. I'm also rethinking my gunk idea. I remember a Trains article a few years ago about an Alco switcher that hadn't been cleaned in a while. It flashed over, but the smoke was enough to summon the fire department, who just watched it go by as the engineer didn't stop his train. This was not a smokey, continuous blaze like the Alco, but an intermittant fireball. The bad injector idea makes the most sense, especially given that they were probably still accelerating out of Glenwood. Thanks for clearing this up! I'm surprised to hear that it's so common, but it sounds like it's about as bad as a car backfiring.
Kind of wish Alan, from DANS, was a member here! He'd be able to explain the problem nicely! In charge of DRGW/SP/UP Fuel rack at DRGW North Yard! Was telling me about the fireworks the original SP GE's displayed, while heading up Moffat. Said they looked like the 4th of July, in August, in the midle of the day! Flashing, shorting, arcing and more! Liked the photos I have of the exploded GE prime mover, from Burnham Tour about 5 years ago!
I would guess that the injectors were bad. Intermittent fireballs out the stack are usually the result of fuel that did not get burned during the initial power stroke in the cylinder. The unburned fuel is pushed out during the exhaust stroke. It gathers in the exhaust system and once ignited by an ember of carbon or something else, POOF!! An exhaust stack that glows or seems to be shooting constant flame a few inches to a foot or so, out the stack(kind of like a propane torch flame) is the tell tale sign of a turbo that is about to fail. Sometimes the cooling/lubricating oil will leak into the hot turbo creating a fire that is usually pretty spectacular!!! Those type of fires are the kind that shoot out the exhaust stack like water out of a damaged fire hydrant!
That engine looks like a roots blower 567 based unit. Could it even have a bad turbo to shoot flames?
I assume the tunnel roof didn't have wood framing. If it did they must have been well protected from the flames and sparks.
