Our 1912 St. Louis built interurban car, BCER 1225, has 4 CGE 204, 75 hp motors. We are sening them out for inspection and rehabilitation if required. The company we are leaning towards to do the work has asked if the motors contain asbestos. From one experienced person we have heard yes there is some and from another who helped rebuild other CGE 204 motors says he doesn't think so, albeit it was 20 years that he did the work.
So even though this question might come across as rather naive, I ask: Other than stripping the motor is there any other way to check whether it does contain asbestos? Further, if it did contain Asbestos where might it be found?
We did remove the inspection plate and could not see anything that might be thought of as asbestos

Thanks
Robert Ashton
FVHRS

I am thinking most DC traction motors would have little if any asbestos. One area to look at would be the use of 'fishpaper' around the brush holders. This is sort of an insulating material looking and acting like heavy cardboard. It can be soaked and bent into shape. Then it is normally covered with one or more coats of insulating varnish. Any of the dreaded asbestos is virtually totally encapsulated, and by most measures not a risk.

A far cry from blocks of 'snow' under a metal jacket of a steam loco, or wrapped around steam pipes.

Bob Kutella

I've seen asbestos wrapped around wires too - but not often. Like Bob says, not enough to worry about and probably encapsulated.

dave

The most likely place that you'd encounter asbestos on a streetcar or electric motor would be the arc shield on the inside of the motor controller. Usually it's varnished or painted (as previously mentioned) and a minimal risk unless that material is physically damaged.

I concur with Bob, there will likely be little, if any asbestos found in most vintage traction motors. Taking off the comm cover and inspection covers
first and having a look should give you a pretty good idea if any loose stuff is lying around.

Other areas likely to contain asbestos on the average streetcar and interurban;

-drum controller cover liners and arc barriers (dividers) between fingers
-arc dividers and chutes on contactors, line breakers, hood (canopy) switches
-transite board heat shield on top of traction resistors
-blast heater ducting (wall side) and some related items
-main fuse box linings
-asbestos wiring feeding power resistor tubes in enclosures
-cover lining in many air compressor govenors

In the case of drum controllers, we used to paint asbestos cover liners with red Glyptal insulating paint every few years. Arc barriers between fingers and main drum insulating discs are also "Glyptaled".

I now replace the controller cover liners with 1/16" thick, glastic GPO-3, red fibre board, something suggested by the folks in New Orleans. It is very flexible and is simply glued to wood of the controller cover using a good flexible adhesive such as Rub Bub or anything else you might use to hold down rubber or lino flooring.

Asbestos wiring can be replaced by SEWF-2 stove wire and you can even buy it in white so it has a similar appearance.

In Canada, Electrowind is a major supplier to the electrical industry, especially motor rebuilders and they should have or be able to get anything you need.

Gord McOuat
OERHA / Halton County

Hi,


I would ask if this was an inspection only, or is it an inspection to see the condition of the motor and how much work it could take to repair it. If it's a simple clean, dip, bake, balance and re-assemble, I would think you'd be safe. Beyond that, any thing is possible. I believe you'd be better off stating you don't know and it could be a possiblity, since you don't know the history of the motor.

Wouldn't you be ahead if you projected it might contain asbestos, rather say no, and then find it. Depending on the companies capabilty, that might end their involvement of the motor right there and start another issue.

It's around, you just never know. I ran into a issue recently (a few weeks ago) after taking an air tank down, and the beam supporting the grids was wrapped in asbestos. We'd never had known, expect that a hunk of dirt came off and.... So, after sending it out for analysis, it was what we suspected.

Hopefully the company you are dealing with has the proper facility to handle all your matters. The motor shop should be able to tell you what it will cost to make the motor good again, with out major disassembly.

Cheers

K. Johnson

Thanks to all who answered. According to the access covers the motors were manufactured by GE in Schenectady, NY, probably in the early part of the 20thC.
In response to Mr. Johnson, the company that has offered to do the motors is the local
plant of the original manufacturer. As told to us they have heightened their awareness to the asbestos problem. We are now sending the serial numbers to them; hopefully they still have the blueprints or specs and we can then move forward.
If this becomes a major problem then we have talked to another company who did the GE 204 motors on BCER 1207, now operating as part of the Downtown Historic Railway in Vancouver.