U-Boat

Finger Lakes U-Boat #2301. (Photo by the so-called “old guy” with the Spotmatic.)

The other day (Thursday, May 29, 2008) I began viewing my Pentrex old U-Boat DVD.
The U-Boat was General Electric’s first attempt to market a general diesel-electric freight locomotive after splitting with Alco. At that time (1960), most diesel-electric railroad locomotives were from General-Motors’ ElectroMotive Division (EMD). —Now GE dominates the railroad locomotive market, and EMD is playing catch-up.
The U25b was introduced in 1960, 25 being the horsepower (2,500), and “b” being a four-wheeled truck.
Railfans nicknamed them U-Boats following GE’s “U” nomenclature. “U” stood for Utility.
General Electric had built equipment for early electric locomotives, complete export units, and small locomotives for the domestic market (e.g. the highly successful 44-tonner). But the U-Boat was the first GE attempt to counter the immensely successful EMD road-switcher series, the Geeps (“GP”) and SDs (six axle GPs).
American Locomotive Company (Alco) in Schenectady, N.Y. was also building diesel-electric railroad locomotives, but EMD was dominant. Alco eventually tanked.
The U-Boat required a new diesel-engine, the FDL-16 (16 cylinders in a V).
Many locomotive manufacturers were using marine diesels, the engines used in WWII submarines.
They weren’t very successful (reliable). A railroad locomotive frame isn’t as stable as a submarine.
EMD was one of the few builders to offer diesel-engines designed for railroad use. —I remember hearing the chant of a EMD 567-series V16 in a tugboat (what goes around, comes around).
As railroad diesel-engines the EMD diesels were successful until the SD45, which as a V20 had a crankshaft too long (and prone to breakage).
The EMDs were two-stroke and the FDL-16 was four-stroke.
EMD’s two-stroke was the principals set down by Charles Kettering. At the bottom of the cylinder(s) were open ports that the descending piston uncovered. These ports were charged by air from superchargers — the cylinders were in an air-box charged by the superchargers.
Intake air was thereby blown into the cylinders as the pistons descended to bottom-dead center.
At the same time four poppet-valves were opened in the cylinder-head; and exhaust was blown out by the incoming air-charge.
The GM bus-diesel used the same principal, although of course quite a bit smaller than a locomotive diesel (yet larger than a car-engine; but not much).
A four-stroke diesel is very much like a car engine; poppet-valves for both the intake and exhaust. The intake air charge gets blown in through an open intake-valve; then that air-charge gets immensely compressed and diesel-fuel gets injected as the piston reaches the top. It self-ignites in the hot air-charge, forcing the piston down.
A two-stroke diesel does the same thing: compressing the air-charge and injecting fuel at the top of the piston-stroke.
The announcer was making the common mistake of saying the diesels were “throttling up.” Diesels aren’t throttled. The intake-air charge is always the ultimate. The power output of a diesel-engine varies according to the amount of fuel injected. Maximum fuel delivery on a railroad diesel-locomotive is “Run-Eight.” There are eight fuel meterings on a diesel locomotive control-stand, and “Run-Eight” is the maximum. Even GE uses the same eight fuel-meterings as GM.
Bus engines were the same way: for which reason the gas-pedal was called the “accelerator.” Depressing the accelerator increased the fuel-metering. (Only gasoline-engines are “throttled.”)
Two-stroke diesels sound different than four-stroke diesels. Two-strokes roar, and four-strokes chug.
EMD also began using turbochargers to supercharge the intake air — which is the turbocharger whistle you hear.
All railroad diesels are slow-turning because of their immense size, but a two-stroke will cover this enough to roar, whereas a four-stroke will chug for every piston activation.
I guess two-strokes were sloppy; I think EMD had to field a new four-stroke diesel to meet emission requirements. (But maybe not — I don’t pay that much attention anymore.)
Most early U-Boats were retired long ago, although a few still survive; although none are any longer in use on the major railroads.
Most that remain are inactive on display, or in use like the Finger Lakes Railway B23-7 #2301 pictured.
#2301 is originally Conrail #1979, a B23-7; technically not a U-Boat (a Dash-7; which replaced the U-Boat series), but looking very much like a U-Boat.
It’s powered by a 12-cylinder FDL engine, the engine introduced in the U23b in 1968 (to compete with the less intimidating [unturbocharged] GP38 from EMD).
It’s one of seven GE units Finger Lakes has; one of which is a U-Boat (#2201), and all the rest are B23-7s. Finger Lakes also has three Geeps — although I hear one is on its last legs, and may be out-of-service.
All (but 2201) are in the old New York Central lightning-stripe scheme (see pik), which was probably applied to the original NYC U25bs — they had 70. #2201 is painted Cornell red like a Lehigh Valley unit.
The major locomotive manufacturers don’t even market four-axle power anymore.
The major railroads can accommodate six-axle power, but short-lines often have track that would be abused by six-axle power, like tight switches and tight curves.
Short-lines have to find old four-axle power, like the old U-Boats.
A company has gone into business marketing four-axle power, but it’s on remanufactured Geep frames.
So most of what’s on the Pentrex old U-Boat DVD is shortline U-Boats.
“Watch for the fireball out the stack as the U-Boats pass,” the announcer says.
Four filthy U-Boats rumble through a switch, and emit HUGE clouds of black smoke as notched up.
The rearmost one belches a fireball in the dense smoke.
U-Boats are turbocharged. The amount of fuel delivered is appropriate to turbocharging, so if the turbocharger doesn’t spool up fast enough, we get clouds of black smoke, or perhaps even a fireball as unburnt fuel travels out the exhaust-stack and ignites.
I have an ancient video-tape of Conrail U-Boats on the Rochester Bypass years ago, and on one the turbocharger fails, sending a giant blowtorch of yellow flame out the exhaust-stack.

RE: “‘Old guy’ with the SpotMatic.......” —My macho, blowhard brother-from-Boston, who is 13 years younger than me, calls me “the old guy” as a put-down (I also am the oldest). The “Spotmatic” is my old Pentax Spotmatic 35mm film camera I used about 40 years, since replaced by a Nikon D100 digital camera.

“Pentrex” is a marketer of railroad videos.

“EMD” is Electromotive Division of General Motors, GM’s manufacturer of railroad diesel-locomotives. Most railroads used EMD when they dieselized; although many now use General-Electric railroad diesel-locomotives.

The “44-tonner” was a very small switching locomotive, built to meet the union-rule for a railroad locomotive over 45 tons needing more than a one-person crew. A 44-tonner could get by with only one person — although it was too small to move many cars.

“Geep” is the nickname given to EMD GP road-switchers (four axles). “Covered-Wagon” is the nickname given to full cab-units: e.g. F-units by EMD, FAs by Alco.

“Charles Kettering” (Boss Kett) was essentially an engineering vice-president at General Motors, and had an incredible number of engineering patents (over 300), including the Kettering ignition for cars, the self-starter, and better automotive lighting. He was instrumental in development of the light-weight diesel-engine.

RE: “Throttled......” — A gasoline engine has a rotating throttle-plate between the fuel/air mixture source and the cylinders, to restrict the fuel/air mixture intake: a “throttle.” That “throttle” can be fully closed, so the engine idles, or wide-open (full-throttle) for maximum performance — or anywhere in between (part-throttle).

“Conrail” is a government amalgamation of east-coast railroads that went bankrupt pretty much at the same time as Penn-Central, a merger of the Pennsylvania Railroad and New York Central. Conrail included other bankrupt east-coast railroads, like Erie-Lackawanna and Lehigh Valley; but eventually went private as it became more successful. Conrail has since been broken up, sold to CSX Transportation Industries (railroad) and Norfolk Southern railroad. CSX got mainly the old New York Central routes, and NS got the old PRR routes.

“The Rochester Bypass” is the old West Shore line south of the city — it bypasses Rochester; doesn’t go through. The “West Shore” was a line financed by the Pennsylvania Railroad built to compete directly with the New York Central Railroad in New York state in the late 1800s. It was merged with NYC at the behest of J.P. Morgan, who got all the warring parties together on his yacht in Long Island Sound. The NYC got the West Shore for no longer financing the proposed South Pennsylvania Railroad (which was graded but never built, including tunnels, which were incorporated into the Pennsylvania Turnpike). It was called the “West Shore” because it went up the west shore of the Hudson River. It’s been largely abandoned west of the Hudson, although the segment around Rochester became a bypass around Rochester.