Re: C class's and Belarine Peninsula Railways (two qns)

[markbau1@aol.com (MarkBau1)]

<<<<At the time of purchase , it just happened that the Vic Transport Minister
was 
also a board member of Clyde GM>>>>

He was a board member of Holden/GM, not of Clyde

<<<<<The turbo charged EMD's were, to use a phrase, "highly
strung", even EMD themselves had big troubles when they
first introduced them>>>>>>>

Actually EMD did not have too much trouble with their early turbo's, what they
did have trouble with was the electrical system required to get the power to
the traction motors. Anyhow, by the time the C's came along EMD turbo's were a
tried and true product.

<<<<<<One thing can not be denied, the turbo two stroke can
never be made fuel efficient when compared to the four
strokes, this is why EMD are moving to four stroke.>>>>>>

Poppycock! EMD has moved to 4 stroke because they cannot go up to the next
horsepower plateu with their existing 2 stroke engine. Regarding fuel
consumption, similar EMD and GE models have very similar fuel consumption, in
fact SD40-2's and C30-7's had identical fuel consumption.

<<<<<<this intended operation 
never happened and just about all superfreighters were hauled with 2 X C
class.>>>>>

Not correct! The C's normally operated alone on Jets from 1977 until being sold
to NR. Throughout the 80's down Jets were 1200 tons or under and up Jets were
1400 tons or under. Sure 2 C's ran together sometimes but that was not the day
in, day out "norm"

<<<<<<<<<In their early years on the western line problems were experienced
with bad 
fouling of injectors and to a lesser extent fatigue cracks in the crankcase 
which was ultimately shown to be caused by operating the locos at low output 
power for extended periods of time >>>>>>>>>>>

Where did you get this from? I ran the C's throughout the 80's and ran them
practically every day from 1980 to 1983 whilst at Ararat. They were probably
the most reliable problem on the VR at the time. I was friends with some
fitters and I've never heard of a problem with injectors.

<<<<<<<< Xs were not popular on the Overland due to their 
noise.>>>>>>>

This one causes a laugh! The X's, (any series) were much quieter than B's or
S's. Whilst at Ararat in the early 80's I regularly ran the Overland and most
of the time we had 2 X's, usually 3rd series X's.

Mark.


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