Spotted the following BNSF locomotive today. Looks like it was the victim of a possible engine fire. Paint has been burned free on both side of the unit. As seen from engineers side: Paint not quite as bad. As seen from conductors side: Then, as I was headed back home, I came across the Longmont Local power being refueled by a portable tank!
IIRC, that was caused when unburned diesel fuel was shot out of the exhaust, and pooled on the exhaust manifold. When it got hot enough, WHHOOMPH!! GE flambe'! I have a video of Conrail's West End that shows a CR GE doing the very same thing- fuel pooling on the manifold, smoking heavily, then bursting into flame. My guess (And I'm not a mechanic) it was a bad power assembly. GEs seem to be the most notorious for this- I don't think I've ever seen an EMD with that kind of damage, altho I've seem some with fuel leaking out the top end of the hood doors............ If anybody who's a RR engineer can either verify this or say I'm full of it (which wouldn't be the first time), I'd like to hear from him/her.
Sometime a leaky turbo seal will give a fiery show due to ignition of lube oil. That GE will need a lot of TLC from BNSF's mech and a Turbo rebuild kit. I think Nick can explain how "fire out of stack" happens better than me.
