On Monday February 3, we took delivery of the only other existing pair of Krauss Maffei ML4000C'C' bogies. These bogies have the axle gear boxes and intermediate gear boxes that are lacking on the bogies currently under the SP9010. There is a SP9010 web site update available at: http://sp9010.ncry.org and a short video of the event on Youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgaQMz1nLfI One of the bogies only has 2 axle gear boxes and will be used as a source for parts and possibly a display item. The complete bogie will be installed under the rear end of the 9010 where the intact transmission and Maybach engine reside.

Monday was 4 years to the day since we received an email from a gentleman with Colas Rail in the UK advising that their RM63 ballast cleaning machine might be going to scrap and that it had intact Krauss Maffei bogies under it. Monday was also the conclusion of an international effort to acquire the bogies which included several trips to Paris, France by members of our "away team" from the UK and Germany.

We are very grateful to our donors from all over the world who made this acquisition possible.

And now, we will begin dealing with the missing cardan shafts. :-)

Howard

Fantastic! What an achievment. You all should be very proud. I have just one question. Where was the video of you guys popping the cork on the bottle of champagne?

Hal Reiser RMNE
MP30 Hudson Division

Excellent news! Congrats!

But "bogies?" How about trucks? In the U.S. we call them trucks. The Germans might call them fahrwerk or perhaps laufraeder. Only rarely will the Germans call them bogies.

I know, I'm being a stickler and a nit-picker on a minor point, and it wouldn't be an issue if we were living in the UK or Canada or some other Commonwealth country.

Thanks!

Ah, but if they came through a broker in the UK 'bogies' would have been perfectly correct. Just remember that the US and the UK are two countries separated by a common language.

Wow, talk about bringing the proverbial dinosaur back to life!
Nice work and congratulations.

Wesley

But "bogies?" How about trucks? In the U.S. we call them trucks. The Germans might call them fahrwerk or perhaps laufraeder. Only rarely will the Germans call them bogies.


It's because I have been calling them "bogies" for so long in correspondence with the folks in Europe, customs people and shippers that it has become natural. Now that they are here, I will do my best to get back to "trucks". I do know we called them "trucks", I worked for a railroad for nearly 20 years and have rebuilt quite a few.

Howard

Heck, you can call them donuts for all I care, I'm just happy that they'll be back on the locomotive!

I heartily concur!

This is amazing! One thing I might suggest though, when dealing with such rare parts on these trucks, you might want to consider having a crew document everything on how the trucks and gearboxes function, the exact size and shape of each part, etc. in case spares need to be made (or in case the second truck is ever wanted to be made partially operable)

While it's a good idea to document, having those extra parts may allow you to make some more, or have them made.....depending, of course, on what parts are castings and how hard or expensive that might be...maybe you can find someone to fund such a project, like Jay Leno....he might like such a project.

The gear boxes are current production Voith items. The Maybach gear boxes were changed out in 1994 by Colas rail. The only item that is unique is the intermediate gear assembly. We have the Krauss Maffei plans for it.

Thanks for all the good suggestions.

Howard

We are so used to electric transmissions. Are mek-hydro drives in wide use elsewhere in the world?

Steve

I work on aircraft service equipment that runs on rails and all of it is electric motor fluid drive to wheeled trucks. We also have jet bridges that are fluid drive. Why I don't know they are labor intensive and prone to leaks. hocarsandtrains. James French

TRAINS June 1976 had an article about the Rio Grande first gen KM's demonstrating on the NYC.

The railroad found that the maintenance required by the KM's was excessive. NYC realized that the units still were under warranty, but the road nevertheless was concerned about the weekly and semimonthly inspections required for greasing and lubrication and the change of engine oil on a monthly basis — all in addition to the usual monthly inspection. During quarterly inspections, the cardan shafts were to be disassembled, relubricated, inspected, and reassembled; this was an extensive job.

Steve

A number of sources mention problems with diesel-hydraulic drives, at least some of which may be due to such units being non-standard on the rail systems they run on, but the Germans apparently did quite well with them; I wonder if their management simply accepted the inherent maintenance requirements?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diesel_locomotive