Gosh, Amtrak might lose some customers that way. Maybe next time the conductor can be prepared and wheel in a video player and show the passengers various theme related consoling vids such as this several times to sooth tempers and while away the time... [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQaKMkaY6wM"]YouTube - The Little Steam engine that could[/ame]
Just to clarify, F59PH(I)s have seperate HEP generators, so they aren't always in Run 8. Though I assume those gens feed off the main fuel tank.
I will own up to having run out of fuel now and then. Usually it's because I think I can push it just a little farther. Once it was because I was driving someone else's car and no one had mentioned that the gauge didn't work, so I relied on it. There's a fuel truck that comes to Union Station in Portland to dispense fuel into locomotives. I've seen it several times. The driver has to climb up over a sidewalk to get to the trains, and the weight of the truck has been screwing up the concrete, but that's not the driver's fault. Someone needs to give that man a proper curb cut.
When I was unemployed and in Portland, I ran out of Gas on northbound I405 Bridge! I had to walk off the bridge and then probably another mile or so to find a gas station. Thankfully, someone took pity on me and drove me from the gas station back to the ramp for the bridge so I could walk back to the truck. After that I never let the truck get quite that empty.
Read on another forum it didn't run out of fuel. The fuel filters were clogged. Of course having been a conductor on a few Surfliners, the computer "saw" the problem & shut the engine down even though there was no real problem.
==================================================================== Yup, that'll do it too! Or overheating or crankcase overpressure or overspeed control. Charlie
Out here in the west the SP had a slightly different philosophy [50s-60s] You put the nozzle in the tank, you turn it on, and you go get a sandwich. The tank is full when you have a nice gentle niagra falls gushing down the side of the tank!
I've heard, according to The Battle For Donner Pass DVD, that an SP T-Motor can be topped in about 5 minutes. Using a pump that pumps about 1K gallons/minute. Only what I've heard. Interested in finding out more. Might be able to check with a friend also, and get some current UP specs.
Now that it is alleged to be a clogged fuel filter, that sorta takes some of the guilt away from the crew. Not too easy to tell if those filters are clogged or even borderline. CT
