Just posted on YT this 14 min film of early diesels by GM and was probably used to sell railroads on buying diesel switchers. I guessed at 1938 as the year for this but it may have been a year or two earlier. Feel free to pass it on. The second part of the film probably sold a bunch of SW units.

I am not offering this one as a DVD. Just enjoy it on YT.

-JH

GM 1938 Diesel locomotive Promo Film
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcRLugr ... e=youtu.be

Classic Jam Handy narration!

YES I'll consider buying a full DVD with the sound on it, too...

The original release of this film had a short title block to start, about 30 seconds, with the image of the semaphore that appears again at the end of the film. It was titled "Diesel's Working On The Railroads".

Around the time of the 1989 50th Anniversary of the FT, it was available as a VHS tape from Mark I. Video.

There is a companion film produced around the same time, with the awkward title "The General Motors Two-Stroke Cycle Railroad Diesel Engine". That film shows the features of the 201A Winton engine, along with action sequences of equipment powered by the engines, and even includes some animated sequences. They didn't get much use out of it in the short time until the 567 engine was introduced. There was a "Power Primer" book written to accompany the film, first with Winton engines, later with Detroit Diesel, Cleveland Diesel, and EMD engines.

However the script of the Winton 201A film was recycled and became "ABC Of The Diesel Engine", illustrated with Detroit Diesel and EMD engines after the demise of Cleveland Diesel, and it went through many periodic updates and was a GM Film Library favorite of high school science classes. One of the last revisions of this film, around 1980, shows an EMD GP40X and an Oldsmobile Diesel automobile. An early version of this film is on YouTube:

Part One: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ryGVEVNy5M

Part Two: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4m-rvvZ9rQo

Notice that this early version of the film shows a combination of artwork with four-stroke diesels based on the previous Winton designs and two-stroke diesels based on the Detroit Diesel 71 Series.

PC

Watching the film, I had to wonder about the scene at the crossing/interlocking where it looked like a "near miss".

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What exactly is distillate? Diesel? Gasoline? I've heard the name for decades but never knew what it was.

Light oil distilled from petroleum; essentially kerosene. It's like diesel fuel without the anti-wear additives. As I recall in the terminology of the day, a distillate engine used spark ignition, whereas a diesel engine followed Dr. Diesel's patents and used compression alone for ignition.

Back in the day, distillate was anywhere between today's kerosene and #2 fuel oil. You started the engine on gasoline and switched it over to distillate after it warmed up. You needed the heat from the exhaust manifold to help vaporize it. A lot of antique tractor guys are familiar with distillate engines.

"Distillate" was the fuel used by the Winton 191 in the prototype UP Streamliner M-10000, which went into service before the first 201A Diesel was available. ATSF articulated motor car M-190 also had a distillate engine, a Winton 194. It probably has an EMD 567 now. Here's a link to Utah Rails discussing distillate.

http://utahrails.net/up/distillate.php

Going back to the EMC movie, note all the shifters have their exhaust pipes offset to the left: they are Winton 201A powered. This would support the 1938 guesstimate.

Phil Mulligan

Cleveland Diesel put together a few promo films as well during the war era that would be great to see.

Has anyone put together a listing of all surviving Winton engines (Hell at this point you can include Cleveland also)? If not, I may..

Unfortunately the Winton records never matched engine serial numbers to a specific locomotive, only that X engine was sold to X railroad, or EMC/EMD stating "Rail Car Engine", with no other details.

I suspect there are a few more Winton and Cleveland Diesel engines (and other brands too) around than we usually recognize to exist in the fleets of railroads, railroad museums, and marine operators. There are entire decommissioned power generating facilities in small cities, obsolete and presently unused engines (including some multiple engine plants) in large buildings in major cities, and even a few engines in active government facilities that are outdated and have been supplemented or bypassed with newer power. There are also at least a few brand new engines sitting in crates at government warehouses. Unfortunately most of these will go to scrap unnoticed when they are declared surplus or the building they are in is demolished on top of them.

A few years ago I was driving through a city in Nebraska and noticed a building with a lot of diesel exhaust stacks. It was a city owned garage, and I asked a mechanic who was working on a city truck whether there was a diesel plant in the facility. He showed me the decommissioned light plant with a variety of Fairbanks Morses of various models. The operating log books for the engines were still sitting on the desk.

PC

Oh, how correct you are! When I was in the Navy, we were invited to visit the newest gator freighter (LHD) engineering plant.

A real proud plankowner (commissioning crew member) was showing us the forward emergency generator room. Had a shiny brand new ALCO 251 sitting in the middle of the room bolted to a 2000kw generator. As she was talking, I walked around it. Brass data plate on the engine block, date of manufacture- March 20, 1969. I called her over and pointed it out. She swore it was a mistake, as she had watched them uncrate the engine and install it herself. It was a zero hour engine, never been installed or rebuilt. The one in the after generator room was built June 10, 1968. So you would be surprised what our government has stored away...

Rumor is there's some unaccounted-for Alco 16-244s that were built for back-up generator use...

CD

This is going to sound like a silly question, but when hooked to an electrical generator for stationary power use, what would they be rated at? I realize that it depended on the size of generator, but I figured there was a range of ratings depending on generator size.

Yes - Local municipal power plants have long been a staple for OLD engines. Quite a few still in use, from old EMD's, to Nordberg Radial Diesels, to every style of Fairbanks under the sun. Unfortunately they are going away fast thanks to environmental regulations.

The same can be said for Maritime use. Until not long ago there were still oodles of Fairbanks, Cleveland, Atlas, Enterprise, etc., powering tugs and such, but those days are pretty much over now as well.

The city of Sturgis, Michigan had 4 Cleveland 16-278A's driving 1000kW Alternators, and a Busch-Sulzer engine installed in 1947. They added a Cooper Bessemer LSV-20 in the 1980's to supplement the Clevelands, and they finally removed all but one of the 278A's 3 years ago. They kept one as a "monument", and cleaned it up and painted it. This particular one served in Destroyer-Escort 278/HMS Kingsmill, which was present for D-Day.