How EVERY TYPE of Diesel Locomotive Works! (Part 2)

In today's video, we discuss the operation of the small but reliable diesel mechanical locomotive. We also discuss fluid couplings, and manual transmissions.

[Southern_Plains_Railfan]

Small mistake on my part. The big red German locomotive that makes a couple appearances in the video is a diesel hydraulic locomotive, not diesel mechanical.

[russellrattys]

Im almost certain i drove an airport tug with this diesel mechanical drive system

Its was hella slow but hella powerful

I never did get to look under its hood, but it had 3 semi automatic gears with a 1, 2, 3 lever

It was like a block of concrete filled with engine block, fitted with monster truck wheels, it was a beast, but you could probably crawl along the floor faster than it drove

One of the querks to this was, you could put it in gear 3, line it up on the centre of the runway, put a brick on the gas pedal, tie the steering wheel to the seat, step out, get in your pickup truck, drive the pickup truck down to the other end of the runway, have a half hour break, and it still wouldn't have got to you 😂 and you could hear it before you saw it, man that thing was loud, you could hear it over the top of everything else on the airfield, it was louder than planes landing

My boss once dragged a 747 with the brakes on with it

It could well have been a hydraulic drive, yano, the gear shifter changing slides in a valve block, and the motor just coupled direct to a hydraulic pump, and a hydraulic motor on each axle?

I dunno 🤷‍♂️😂

[cedarcam]

The class 03 switcher (shunter) you show at Barrow Hill has a 5 speed box and max speed of 28mph. You are right about taking care changing gears, I had a go driving one and was told not to go straight from gear to gear but wait between each change for the fluid clutch to clunk. They use compressed air to shift the collars so you do not feel each gear disengage and engage in the next one.

[royreynolds]

When I was employed on the Huckleberry RR as track foreman, I used a 12-ton Plymouth diesel-mechanical loco with a D8 Cat engine, 4-speed transmission with a clutch, and a forward and reverse. It had 1.1mph in 1st up to 12.5 mph in 4th in F and R. The final drive was No. 200 roller chain from the transmission to each axle.

[MoultrieGeek]

I'm glad I found your channel as I could listen to you discuss trains all day long. Subbed.

[carlwilson]

I was very pleased to see many British locomotives. Especially 10100 "The Fell" diesel mechanical. A machine that I know inside out. 😅

[eddiehimself]

Technically, you weren't wrong saying engineering tolerances are in microns. Although they tend to be given in mm, they're usually on the order of 10 to 100 microns for things like automotive and rail engines and transmissions.

[jadenspires]

Any plans for making a video about gas turbine trains (IE things like the Union Pacific GTEL, English Electric GT3, UAC turbo train, and things like that)?

[laszu]

There was also an example of a locomotive with lever-operated friction clutch used in Czechoslovakia on narow-gauge.

[erikziak]

There are also small two axle shunters without any torque converters. They have a pneumatically operated clutch from a heavy duty truck. The gearbox is 4-speed with a reverse, in order to drive in both directions at the same speed. Such locomotives require skill on the side of the operator, he has to handle the pneumatic clutch lever with care and at the same time increase the engine RPM. Such shunters are not in use anymore, or at least I do not know of any. But there were purely mechanical systems without any fluid coupling. Then there was a electromechanical drive. Electric motors to get the train up to speed, then a clutch mechanism, directly connecting the engines to the wheels.

[bobbysenterprises]

Awesome video. The hyundai pictired likley has an automatically shifting gearbox with a computer controlled autmatic duel clutch. No torque converter or fluid coupling

[StormySkyRailProductions]

Fascinating video, thanks for sharing! (Dave).

[trailwaytH]

Thankyou sir❤️.
Thankyou for given this different with very interested information of mechanism in old Desel Locomotives ❤️

[jaromirandel]

Have you ever heard about locomotive M 290.0, known as "Slovenská Strela"? It has hybrid engine. It have combined the diesel-electric and diesel mechanical engine. At low speeds the train was moved by diesel-electric engine and after it reached around 80 km/h, the engine mode was swtiched to diesel mechanical mode.

[davidleatherneck]

Hmmm, seems that Turbine Wheel is similar to the old Fluid Drive Trans in some of the 1947 Cars. DeSoto for example. But, anyway, I still remember as a kid hearing that Steam Loco rolling thru the night and that whistle piercing the night at the crossings. Miss that.

[joshuaritchie]

In the UK we have some Diesel Mechanical DMUs with top speeds of a 100mph.

[SpencerHHO]

The Bombadier Vlocity VLine trains in the state of Victoria, Australia are diesel mechanical. They are like a metro train with multiple Big diesels coupled to Allison automatic transmissions at each end of the train. Our state still has a fair bit of heavy industry manufacturing that has survived globalisation and free trade. I believe part of the reason diesel mechanical was used is because Kenworth and a few other truck and heavy haul companies have factories nearby and because these passenger trains have been in constant production since 2003 it made sense to use the existing supply chains. The trains being entirely passenger service are also pretty light and they are pretty fast too traveling at 160KMh for much of their journies (100MPH) a lot of people live in the second largest city, Geelong and catch the Vline train into the capital, Melbourne everyday for work and it'sfaster than driving.
They are very nice trains to be on and the fares are now capped at a maximum of $9.20 a day to go between any 2 points of the entire state. You could cover more than 400KM about 300 miles by train in a day and spend less than 10 bucks Australian or about 6 bucks US.

[EthanRailfanProductions]

Nice video! This will help me when I railfan

[teamidris]

DMU diesel multiple units are the big one I guess? Six cylinder Mercedes bus engine (because tilted over) Into a torque converter and clutch-pack gearbox. A drive shaft goes down to the bogie. All the engine stuff is on a removable raft pack under the body. They are very easy to change up to hybrid by popping a motor/generator between the engine and gearbox.

[mariebcfhs]

My dad has driven a bus with an automatic manual transmission. It had 4 gears and no clutch pedal, the gears were switched by pressing buttons from 1 to 3 and a somewhat misleading D gear which was just the fourth gear and not some type of automatic gear. The weird thing is, 1st gear was almost never used, 2nd was used for starting, and the shift between 2nd 3rd and 4th (aka D) were stupidly short. The bus could comfortably drive in 4th at 15mph all the way up to its top speed. So I suspect it used a torque converter before the transmission.