Sigma are no longer and the company now trades as Air International. Their
units are reasonably good however the main failures are attributed to flood
damage to roof mounted units that fill with coal dust. Also they fracture the
copper pipes from the vibration within the car body and this allows the
refrigerant gas to escape. Silverton have successfully applied a modified
truck type AC units to the 48s class units that had cab upgrades done by RTS.
The costs of locomotive AC units is extremely high with a roof mounted unit
for an 82 in excess of $35,000 each. This is mainly due to to the odd voltages
(74v DC) on the locomotive. 80 class were the first NSW units to have AC
fitted and these are not very reliable at all. Most drivers will tell you that
the #2 end units never work. If you want any more info re these units contact
me offline.
Cheers
Bob
Aus loco discussion mailing list
I don't know about reliability but Sigma is by far the most popular
brand, it is made in Australia.
80,81,82,90 in NSW fitted from new (not
sure about 85 and 86).
Some 48s and a couple of 422s have been
retrofitted.
Regards,
Chris.
-----Original Message-----
From: John Regan [mailto:reganjd@clear.net.nz]
Sent: Monday, 20 March 2000 1:52
To: Ausloco
Subject: Locomotive
Air Conditioning
Aus loco discussion mailing list
Hi All
I have a few questions regarding locomotive air conditioning systems.
Are all lead unit locomotives equiped with aircon?
Is it reliable or does it fail regularly?
What is the most common faults with a/c units and are they able to be
corrected by train crews?
Are older locomotives fitted with aircon and is it reliable? Was it
built
in new or retro fitted?
Can anyone tell me if there is a preferred brand of a/c unit?
The reason I ask is that we are trying to get Tranz Rail to fit a/c to
our
ageing loco fleet. We are told by the powers that be that
almost 90% of
loco bookings or bad orders are a/c related (sounded abit
far fetched to me
but who knows). We are also told that a reliable
a/c unit has never been
produced for a locomotive which I find hard to
beleive.
I suspect they are just using this as an excuse to avoiding some capital
expenditure.
Any help on this matter would be most appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
John Regan
reganjd@clear.net.nz
Christchurch
NEW ZEALAND
+64 3 338 4260 (home)
+64 21 362 143 (mobile)
ICQ #15462976
"GROWING OLD IS MANDATORY - GROWING UP IS OPTIONAL!"
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