In the process of restoring OERM’s 1939 SP SW1, we had to replace the fuel tank. The locomotive was involved in a side-swipe accident before our ownership and the original tank was damaged beyond reasonable repair. When it came time to install the replacement RTO tank we found that the holes in the two brackets mounted on top of the tank lined up perfectly with the holes in the brackets on the locomotive body. Obviously a jig/tooling was used for the original fabrication of the tanks. However, the brackets on the end of the tank were mislocated by at least 5/16” referenced to the body mating brackets. It appears that EMC/EMD had the railroads add the end mounting brackets after the tanks were mounted on the locomotive and in service. Is anyone familiar with the additional brackets that were added to the tank ends? Speculation may suggest that the stress on the two original longitudinal brackets on top of the tank may have cracked or torn the top plate of the tank so end supports were welded on to held relieve the stress. The original tank was on a locomotive operated on the west coast it’s whole life and the replacement tank came from the east coast. Both had the end brackets but were located slightly different. It appears this was a standard modification after the locomotives were built. Did EMD issue a Maintenance Instruction for the additional brackets?

I looked through all the indexes that I have and did not see it. Another possibility is that it was covered in the Field Service News (FSN) which was a proprietary inside the company newsletter covering service problems and management issues. I looked through the issues that I have (which is not a complete collection) and do not see anything there.

PC

Phil
Thanks for looking.
Dave