I am a volunteer at Mid Continent Railway Museum in North Freedom, WI. The generator on one of our business cars has develped some issues with the engine. The current generator is mounted in the enclosed vestibule end of the car. This has been a nuisance with the noise and accessibility issues. It has been decided to look for a different gen-set that can be mounted under the car. I have looked at Stadco, but I am curious if there are other generator manufacturers that have units that would be suitable for such an application. If anybody has a generator that might work for this, you can contact me off list. We are looking for a 30-60kw diesel unit that is capable of producing 120/208 3 phase power. Preferably we would like to put in a 30kw set. Thanks for any information,Ed RippMid-Continent Railway Museum volunteer

Dear Ed, A few clarifying questions:Is this car C&NW 440? When in the car's life was the generator installed in the vestibule area? How will the car be used over the next few years?Tom Cornillie

Ed, you might consider taking a look at the ONAN E-QD 27.5 kW marine generator which is very close to your desired output and is available with a sound housing and all the switchgear and instrumentation. It is designed for heat exchanger cooling but could probably be adapted to radiator cooling with an thermostatically controlled electric cooling fan with a little effort. Output is 120/240 1ph or 120/208 3ph 60 Hz, and sound level is 68 dbA at 1 meter running at 60 Hz. It runs a "dry" exhaust manifold (no water discharge into the manifold) that could be connected right into a muffler, and the water elbow that normally injects water into the exhaust line in marine service could be omitted in a rail installation.

Dear Tom,Yes, this is the C&NW 440. I do not know when in its life the generator was installed on the car. The current configuration of the car is as it was when the C&NW donated the car to the museum for use as a crew car behind the 1385 when it was out running excursions. The configuration of this car has been changed several times over its life before its current configuration. You can go to this link below and see the history of the car. http://www.midcontinent.org/collectn/stlpas/cnw440.htmlEd

Veeerrrry nice crew car! That Onan generator idea above may be a good idea. Stadco is good, but very expensive. Onan may work as well but cost less. Height could be an issue as you need clearance between it and railhead. Otherwise, no reason why a radiator would not work instead of a heat exchanger.