The white powder on the coupler is part of an electromagnetic testing process to ensure the integrity of the cast metal components in the drawgear. It was known as "Magnafluxing" and was also used on steam locomotive siderods.
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Did you ever hear one of thiose in throttle 8 ? Just curious . I'm a friend of Mike Danneman .
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| Posted by huebi on November 20, 2012 | |
Someone told me, the noise was just like a starting 707!
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| Posted by Dana M. on March 31, 2014 | |
The GE GTEL (Gas-Turbine-Electric Locomotives) were horrendously LOUD! So loud that the crews were instructed to shut off the Turbine when passing through towns on the routes they ran! It is known that on a few occasions a crew would forget, and passing through a town the turbine sound waves and turbo blast would cause windows of buildings along trackside within a block to break and shatter, it was similar to a "Sonic Boom"! Also due to the volume of the Turbine noise, the units were to NEVER be started in ANY rail yards due to the hearing damage they could cause to employees. The crews that operated these "beasts" were also required to wear noise dampening hearing protection while in the cab. The Diesel engine was used in the yards when a switcher was not available to move the unit around, but due to the overall weight of the Turbine Control Unit combined with the weight of a full Fuel Bunker for the Turbine Bunker "C" Jet Fuel, the diesel motor would burn so much fuel that they were constantly refueling the diesel tanks just to leave the yard to couple onto their assigned train. Although they were powerful haulers, in the long run they were too costly in fuel and maintenance costs.
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