FM came up with the OP prime mover, and of course, they did have issues.
Yet, in the UK, the Deltrics were OP's in extreme: 3 "OP" sets in a triangle. So why did that work in the UK, with its increased complexity, and the FM OP did not? Did FM provide any help to the Deltric builders?
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The "OP's" were generally referred to as "The Disaster Class" in England, and were defiantly NOT successful! On the other hand the FM opposed piston diesel engine was EXTREMELY successful for the U.S. Navy in submarines. When used in diesel electric railroad locomotives, those railroads that did not know how to maintain them, had lots of problems. Those railroads that knew how to really take care of their equipment, got very good service from their FM units.
Hot Water posted:The "OP's" were generally referred to as "The Disaster Class" in England, and were defiantly NOT successful!...
Can you provide a reference for your statement? I believe you have the Deltic class confused with a different class of British diesel locomotives which under-performed.
The 3300hp Deltic locomotives had considerable success in high-speed passenger service. 22 units were built 1961-62 and remained in service until 1980-81, displaced by newer faster equipment.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_55
By the mid 1960s the Deltic hauled Flying Scotsman was achieving a 5-hour 55-minute time from King's Cross to Edinburgh with one stop at Newcastle[6] and this was the fastest ever timing, beating the pre war A4 hauled "Coronation" service's 6 hours, and without the priority over other traffic accorded to the earlier LNER train. As the East Coast Main Line was upgraded times dropped still further and by the mid 1970s the Flying Scotsman was reaching Edinburgh in 5 hours 30 minutes, still with one stop at Newcastle.[7]
The ultimate Deltic performance came on 2 February 1978 with a run on the 07:25 from Newcastle to King's Cross. In some respects the run was set up (the driver was about to retire) but the speeds were record breaking. The locomotive was 55 008 The Green Howards, it was hauling 10 coaches (343 tons gross) and on the leg from York to London it achieved a timing of 137 min 15 sec. This included various signal stops and other enforced speed reductions, the nett time is estimated at 115 min 45 sec, an average of 97 mph start to stop. The train achieved 113 mph on the flat between Darlington and York, 114 mph at Offord and 125 mph whilst descending Stoke bank.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Coast_Main_Line
Just after the Deltics were introduced, the first sections of the East Coast Main Line were upgraded to allow 100 miles per hour (160 km/h) running. The first length to be cleared for the new higher speed was a 17 miles (27 km) stretch between Peterborough and Grantham on 15 June 1965, the second was 12 miles (19 km) between Grantham and Newark.[5]
As the demand for higher speed intensified, the Deltics were superseded by the High Speed Train (HST), introduced between 1976 and 1981 ...
The Napier Deltic engine was originally designed for naval service. The triangular design was unique and provided a high power-to-weight ratio. The next link has an interesting animated graphic of the opposed pistons working three crankshafts.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napier_Deltic
This one is on prominent display in the National Railway Museum at York, England. My photo 2007. I got to see and ride behind one in mainline operation in 1978. They sound different !
I saw the picture of how the piston works. It looks ODD! The sounds must have been really ODD!
"While the Deltic engine was successful in marine and rail use and very powerful for its size and weight, it was a highly strung unit, requiring careful maintenance. This led to a policy of unit replacement rather than repair in situ. Deltic engines were easily removed after breakdown, generally being sent back to the manufacturer for repair, although after initial contracts expired both the Royal Navy and British Railways set up their own workshops for overhauls".
This fits right in line with European thinking that doesn't seem to see anything wrong with having to constantly tinker with equipment and spend about as much time maintaining it as operating it. That's why engines like this and the FMs worked well in navy service. There were guys standing watch over them all day to cater to their every need. In US railroading, operators don't even want to open the hood doors for 92 and now even 184 days. A FM is a nice engine UNTIL you have to repair something. Remove a crankshaft to replace a piston? Yeah, THAT'S a good idea..... As for the Deltic, same deal, and now you have THREE cranks to maintain. The fact that they were light is also of little use in railroading where weight is generally an advantage. A total waste of time in a locomotive application when you can have a two stroke EMD. I contend if the world is still railroading 500 years from now, they will STILL be looking for an engine as good as they are.
After reading this thread I sent an email to a UK friend of mine that also happens to be a 3rd generation railway engineer/ driver asking his thoughts about the Deltic. He is also a KM ML400 & Maybach expert frequently flying here to help out with the SP9010 restoration.
Here's his take on the Deltics....
"Yeah Deltics are something else, there is nothing else in the world like them. Everybody knows them and lots of us like them, however if you talk to anyone that drove them or maintained them, they friggin' hated them. Very cramped, deafening and stinking of fuel. However they were so powerful and did the job very well. But they needed so much attention. They were the most powerful production loco's in the world when built, surpassed by my beloved ML4000's then in '64.
They had marine engines that were drastically derated for rail use, but the injectors took a battering due to the massive compression of the 2 stroke opposed piston engines and needed to be changed so often it's unreal. You should google the deltic diesel engines as they're a work of art!
They suffered from flashovers on the traction motors and were instructed not to be given full power over points and crossovers to try to prevent that. The trucks were fabricated and had cracking problems, so they made cast replacements.
They were just awesome machines that got the railway out of the crap, but they were a tiny and specialised class 22 that needed constant pampering.
They worked on the east coast main line from London to Scotland which is a fast long flat line, they replaced the A4's which hold the world speed steam record and early diesels of the time just couldn't produce the power needed. So they went for these knowing they would need pampering but could do the job. They were horrendously expensive to build and maintain but they had no choice!
They sound amazing with 72 pistons screaming at 1500rpm and being 2 strokes they smoked more than Lemmy ☺ Especially after ticking over for a few mins then given full power (check out you tube) Often oil would build up and they would have exhaust fires, they panic about these nowadays but the old boys would just gun them and the engine would blow it out."
Sound of a Deltic :
Sound of a Fairbanks OP: well, 4 of them:
and a "Baby" Deltic:
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