32 volt portable generator

Bad Order · **Joined:** Sun Jun 23, 2013 1:16 pm **Posts:** 231

J.B.Bane wrote:

....my FM catolog and price list from 1947. It is likely a model W32-35-6 rated for 3500 watts, weighs 656lbs. and list price at that time was $895.

Next time I'm around it I'll check the builders plate that's on the generator. Been a long time since I looked at it...but I bet you're right.

Could you scan the page of the catalog and get it on here somehow?

Topfuel · **Joined:** Sun Aug 29, 2004 4:49 pm **Posts:** 529

[quote="Bad Order"]At one time there was an MKT passenger car here in the yards that had been converted to MofW use. Crawling up the stairs into the vestibule a long time ago I remember looking up overhead to the ceiling and remember seeing an electric receptacle... it was about 4 inches wide and about an inch thick.

It had two blades in it....side by side with a divider... kind of what you see on industrial electric forklift charger receptacles.

It sounds like this may have been the standard trainline receptacle that just about every lightweight car had as well as many heavyweights. These were located at each end of each car, just inside of the diaphragm striker plate at the top. A heavy cable with 2 pronged male connectors at each end could be hooked up to an adjacent car in the event of a problem with the car's batteries. The trainline switches in the elec lockers would be closed and the lights and blower fans (but not the air conditioning) could still be operated on the car with the bad batteries from the adjacent car with good batteries. This could be done as long as the adjacent car was of the same voltage - not generally a problem pre-Amtrak but much more of a consideration in the steam heat/DC days of Amtrak with cars from many different RR's in each train.

Bulby · **Joined:** Tue Nov 12, 2013 6:45 pm **Posts:** 258

sbhunterca wrote:

Quote:

Bad Order wrote:

At one time there was an MKT passenger car here in the yards that had been converted to MofW use. Crawling up the stairs into the vestibule a long time ago I remember looking up overhead to the ceiling and remember seeing an electric receptacle... it was about 4 inches wide and about an inch thick.
It had two blades in it....side by side with a divider... kind of what you see on industrial electric forklift charger receptacles.
Was that for an electrical "MU" cable to get DC from car to car....what other two conductor electrical system would there have been. If each car had an axle driven generator, would there actually be a need to MU the cars together?
That was probably for emergencies, if 1 car of a pair had a bad power supply. Possibly, it could also be used if there were more cars in a parked string than shore power connections.
For the very few railroads like CNJ that put an electric generator, often powered from the steam heat line, in the tender or baggage car, the cable for Head End Power would probably be different.

The use of these jumpers between every car in a train was a common practice on Canadian National. No doubt, it went a long way toward equalizing the load, voltage, and battery condition through the entire train.

Some roads may not have bothered.

Steve Hunter

Topfuel wrote:

It sounds like this may have been the standard trainline receptacle that just about every lightweight car had as well as many heavyweights. These were located at each end of each car, just inside of the diaphragm striker plate at the top. A heavy cable with 2 pronged male connectors at each end could be hooked up to an adjacent car in the event of a problem with the car's batteries. The trainline switches in the elec lockers would be closed and the lights and blower fans (but not the air conditioning) could still be operated on the car with the bad batteries from the adjacent car with good batteries. This could be done as long as the adjacent car was of the same voltage - not generally a problem pre-Amtrak but much more of a consideration in the steam heat/DC days of Amtrak with cars from many different RR's in each train.

Illinois Railway Museum used those sockets to power lights off the 32V DC "Waukesha Enginator" on MILW X-5000 during their "museum showcase" night operations, three trailing cars (2 DLW commuter coaches and I think a CGW? combine (was paying more attention to the Dynamometer itself)) and the X-5000 were all powered off the one engine-generator and connected by power jumpers (called "cables" by topfuel above) using the sockets. The X-5000 was the only one with a running generator, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was the only ones with batteries either. The X-5000 itself had 32V bulbs, but the other cars all had 120V bulbs, made for a nice soft glow on the coaches.

I would guess that back in the days of regular operation, they would have been left connected on most railroads to equalize loads and prevent outages, as well as reduce wear and tear.

Bad Order · **Joined:** Sun Jun 23, 2013 1:16 pm **Posts:** 231

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Here's a shot of the data plate....is located on the generator housing.

I think it's 87 amps at 2000~2400 rpm.

J.B.Bane · **Joined:** Wed Aug 25, 2004 9:53 pm **Posts:** 68

The model # is slightly different than I suggested, but notice in the lower left part of the name plate below Fairbanks Morse you can just make out "& Sons" which was the last part of "D.W.Onan & Sons". Certainly an interesting find.

Bad Order · **Joined:** Sun Jun 23, 2013 1:16 pm **Posts:** 231

Right- It was D.W Onan and Sons... I thought I put that in the original comment, but maybe not.

Anyhow.... long ago, when I first got this there was no internet... I tried telephoning Onan to get info... that didn't pan out.

I had to come up with a magneto... and a counter clockwise unit at that... about every other machine in the world that uses a mag uses a CW rotation mag..... but not this thing!

That took a while... then I had to have the local machine shop make a spur gear to match the drive gear on the engine to power the mag....

But, got that installed and half way in time... and it fired right up and made DC.