Diesel Locomotive Repair and Startup - 1949 EMD F7A - Topper Machine
Вставка
- Опубліковано 17 лис 2022
- With over 20 years' experience with EMD locomotives, I get a lot of calls for help. This particular locomotive holds a special place in my heart, as it was the second unit I ever worked on.
Having been out of service for 3 years with a bad main generator bearing, we finally got the other contractors together to get the job done. Having sat that long, problems were expected. Nothing I couldn't handle, worst part is waiting for parts.
Topper Machine LLC is an entirely manual machine shop located in Spooner, WI. Our videos will highlight some of our shop work as well as the sawmill we built in the shop and our A.D. Baker steam engine, and others we work on.
Thank you for watching!
Please Like, Subscribe, & Share.
toppermachine.com
For Official Topper Machine LLC merchandise, check out our StoreFrontier:
www.storefrontier.com/topperm...
Support our channel, Paypal donations are greatly appreciated.
www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_...
#machineshop #machinistlife #manualmachinist - Розваги
Crazy how this design doesn't age. Doesn't look modern but not dated either.
I have worked on the Australian version of the SD 40 and they still make the same noises.
It's a handsome locomotive for sure!
The 710 series is relatively the same just bigger inside, electronic controls, turbo blowers. EMD (now Caterpillar owned) are still quite popular world wide and popular in marine engines.
Hm be sweet good ide and to put the engine into day and night excursion service
Roller rocker 1949!
People throw around the word "awesome" WAY too much. A diesel-electric locomotive is absolutely AWESOME.
What an endorsement to the men and women who designed, manufactured, and maintained a machine that, over 72 years, has logged millions of miles of duty and continues to operate as intended. With regular maintenance and care, this machine could last another 72 years or more. If anyone needs a reminder of what made America great, you are looking at it. Thanks to Topper Machine LLC for keeping these operational.
The 423 was the host for my first cab ride! As a kid in the 70's I rode my bike to the Des Plaines (IL) Coach Yard on a Friday evening to watch the guys gather up the commuter F7's to bring to Proviso for fuel and use for weekend freight duty. One of the guys recognized me and asked if I wanted to ride to Proviso. It was a great experience for a 14 year old! We took the crew van back to Des Plaines after dropping the half-dozen F7's at Proviso and I was home before the street lights came on. This was renumbered to 423 by the CNW sometime before the early 1970's, probably when it was converted to commuter service.
Those were days...
I used to live in Bellwood and I used watch switch operations by the yard off of Manheim Rd.
Anything that had a diesel engine in it,I was there.
My Grandfather worked for Yellow freight right around the corner.
I think this is the best looking locomotive ever designed & manufactured.
Agree. I love these old work-horses. An amazing piece of America.
I grew up watching and hearing NY NH&H, Penn central and Conrail f units, I lived 1/4 mile from the north east main. When I dream of trains and it's not steam it's an emd.
I don't know much about trains, locomotives, etc, but I saw the movie "Silver Streak" with Pryor & Wilder in the 80's, and that was the locomotive used.
I'm 80 years old. Have had fascination for Trains all my life. Traveled to every Trolley Museum and Train Museum just to experience these great units. I lived in Uptown NYC and watched the Trolleys in 1940's and the electric change over to Busses. Thanks. peter
not going to lie, but I would love to see more train repairs as I am a massive train nut hah. If you ever do another restoration make sure it's a series!
Keep up the great work :)
Usually when I go work on them, it's a rush to get done. But I am working on one with a video. Might be a while yet, as the railroad it is trapped on has been less than helpful. I will explain in that video, but may be a while yet.
I’m also a train nut!
@@TopperMachineLLC hey man just wondering what do you do for living
Great video JT. I'm not sure how many of your viewers know the extent of your knowledge and skills. The channel just keeps getting better and better. Manual machining, sawmills, trains, welding, fabrication, camping and Rocky. Who could ask for more.
Oh, there is more coming. Something for everyone. I've been working since I was 15 in all the fields I enjoy and continue to seek out the things I like. If you like the channel now, just wait! There will be more stuff coming.
@@TopperMachineLLC.... Great video & channel you have.. love your content & subscribed. Any idea what Month this F7 was built? I was born in 1949 as well.... would be nice to know how close "our" birthdays are. Thanks again for the video and all the others that you've done... always very informative & detailed, yet easy to understand and learn from.
I agree, awesome channel.
@@TopperMachineLLC does this F7A have a hep generator and what horn does old girl have
In my 51+ year railroad career I have never seen a F7 set up with a bench seat set up for the 'fireman' and head end brakeman.
Set up for cab riders. Modern times there are no fireman or brakeman. Just an ornery conductor who doesn't share his seat. Bench works good for napping also.
Very nice to see the old Locomotive restored
I love the looks and sounds of those old locomotives. A piece of history that could have easily been passed by
I was a journeyman locomotive electrician decades ago (running repair and depot back shop) and will never forget the joys of inspecting the main generator brushes and brush holders. The lower (6 o’clock) brushes would often be “pencil whipped “ during routine inspection by previous electricians and checked ok without actually inspecting the brushes. The brushes would eventually wear too short and cause arcing between the brush holder and the commutator. Little problem becomes major problem very quickly.
I had a ground relay go bad , bad coil, wouldn't trip. I was pulling a heavy cut and flashed the generator. Like a shotgun going off in the cab, then it filled with smoke. What an experience that was. Had a traction motor that failed, and never new it due to the GR being bad. Had to stone and undercut the commutator on the main gen, and then start searching for the ground. One armature winding on the #1 TM, had to move the locomotive a little at a time and MEG it until I finally found it. I've seen some weird stuff over the years.
So, that "pencil whipping" is not unique to air force aircraft? Well, always carry a pencil! 😁
@@joehead1294 It is way too common in all lines of work.
This happens on forklifts all the time
@@TopperMachineLLC Had ground fault on class 47 in uk , ground relay didn't detect it due to it been Neg ground on traction motor cable . I had it on load bank for unrelated low power fault , soon as you got 500 amps ground relay tripped while connected to load bank , foreman do whatever you can to get power readings . Screwdriver in relay worked (couldn't trip now) got to about 3000 amps massive bang loco jumped , fire in engine room Ground relay vaporise ,fortunately not much damage to Loco . We found cause of earth fault , looked on wiring schematic , the Neg fault turned into pos ground when connected to load bank (TM links out) we reckoned full traction power went through ground relay coil !
WE MUST CONTINUE TO SAVE OUR HISTORY FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS TO LOVE, ENJOY, AND APPRECIATE.
As someone who was born and raised in New Jersey and a railfan, I do remember seeing this unit in New Jersey in it's original colors.
Excellent. I like the sound of " Full Manual Control " in this age of way too much automation.
Master Level HVACR Tech, 34 years experience.
Star
It is neat to see someone working on diesel locos as opposed to all the steam loco videos. I don't exactly get all the nostalgia for steam. It was fantastic technology for the time, but a huge amount of labor to start up, operate, and maintain. Imagine spending 6 to 8 hours to get a large steam loco fired and ready to go. You did that with the diesel in a few minutes.
What was great about a covered wagon in the old days was that up north you could service them and go through the locomotives without having to deal with snow and ice on walkways and jamming the doors like on a hood unit.
Wow! First time I've ever been "under the hood" on my favorite loco! Sure is dark in there. I do admire your skills for all you know. Sure wish there were more channels that showed conditions under the hood and underneath the F-series locos. I would love to be able to crawl around one of those to see how it's laid out and how it works "virtually." (I'm too old and infirm to really crawl about any loco these days.) Thanks for the show.
Great to see the legacy of these trains being kept alive by the dedication of people like you.
IMO that locomotive has the best styling of anything that has run on rails.
Thanks for keeping this beautiful old girl up and running.
I could listen to an EMD run all day long
"More powerful than a speeding locomotive." Beautiful.
Nothing like a 2 Stroke Detroit Diesel!
Thanks for a look inside of an EMD. My grandfather worked for Pullman in the operating vice presidents office, and later went to Electro-Motive. I must have heard hundreds of stories about trains, but never have had a visual reference. He has been gone 27 years now, I would give anything to hear him tell those stories again.
That last few seconds showing the governor feather the ley shaft when coming back down was pretty cool. Don't think i've ever seen that on video before.
Oh wow, the memories! From retrieving it at Hayward Jct on the dead of winter to its first startup, using the resin chair for a seat, and working with an awesome group of people. Pardon me for a moment, there's something on my eye.
I get something in my eye everytime I work on it. The memories of all the great men I learned so much from. Especially your dad, I have so many great memories of him. Such great times before the FRA started to run a muck! When railroading was still fun.
@@TopperMachineLLC Ah yes, this ole gal brings back some memories. 😀
Got old square hatches. I used to work at CEECO in Tacoma. We were doing 20 cylinder 645 models at the time for Morrison-Knutson line with a contract for 40(?) engines. Turned out 1 a week.
Even we in Austria, Europe, know that the old EMD locos are the best ever built. We had 18 Diesellocomotives Series 2050 with EMD V12 engines.
They were 50 years in service and some of them are Museumslocos in fine running condition.
Some of the Danish MY V16 and MX V12, which look very much like double ended F7's, are still in use by private operators. Norway and Hungary also had them. I love the sound of them
Enjoyed ! Thanks for bringing us along !
I am 72 years old and come from Holland, the capital Haarlem, what my ancestors in your country called Harlem....I drove a truck around 1986 with Detroit diesel 2-stroke (FTF : nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floor_Truck_Fabriek ), unfortunately these engines are almost non-existent in our country (except perhaps at our Railways, an old locomotive).
Nothing beats the sound of a 2-stroke diesel, I wish my Renault with 1.5 DCI-82 hp (commonrail turbodiesel) had a 2-stroke diesel (There is a story going around that Renault is working on a 0.7 liter 2-stroke diesel for Hybrid cars, so purely to charge the batteries).... that's why I watch (and especially listen) to movies from the US of locomotives and trucks. thank you very much for this fascinating video.
Love this video, love the old F units, awesome stuff!!!
Lovely sound! Nice to see it working
I am a merchant Mariner & have worked with the EMD 645s & 710s offshore in the oil fields & towboats on the rivers for the last 26 years after the Navy.
Great video Josh, keep'um coming.
Outstanding Topper !
You can see the high quality design and engineering in this engine, it's no surprise to see it still in service at 70+ years of age. If things were made to this high quality today, the environment would benefit greatly and so would people.
The 567B was not a particularly good engine when they were first made. EMD offered conversion upgrades to 567BC spec to fix the issues with them, provided this one has been upgraded to that standard it will remain in good condition. The modifications and upgrades to fix issues are what makes it good.
@@nzrailmaps very few companies would do that today unless they were seriously compelled to do so.
Thank you for a great in depth look! Love these locomotive videos
This locomotive looks to be in great condition, seems much nicer than some you've shown that are half as old. Thanks for sharing it with us!
Awesome video! I am grateful for people like you who keep historic equipment running!
Cool cool cool!!! Love old locomotives.
Oh man, thank you for keeping these old ladies alive, I miss seeing the VIA RAIL FP9's up here, and here you are fixing up its older cousin from across the lakes.
Very nice. Thank you.
What a beauty!
Love those style engine’s - man the sound of that engine is like music to my ears!!! Keep up the GREAT WORK!!!
I love that air horn, as all train buff should.
I havent seen anybody work on an f 7 not seen the work was very nice to see
That was really great. The EMD is one of my favorites. Thanks for sharing.
Very Cool. Thank you.
runs fine thanks for the video 😊
Awesome! Thanks for the Great Video!!!!!!!!!!
Having been a licensed aircraft mechanic for over 35 years I really appreciate your restorations of older equipment and your attention to detail! I know most people don’t realize how old most of aircraft still flying around today. Most of the ones I worked on were over 30 years old and still in an airworthy condition. I really like that you rebuild the components that are used for those engines and getting back in functioning condition. Thanks so very much for sharing your knowledge and the finished product of your rebuilds! Please keep putting more videos on this channel!
Thank you for your service also. I have always had a love for the Douglas DC3. If I ever learn to fly, that is the plane I want. It's guys like you that keep these old girls in the air. Thank you for watching.
@@TopperMachineLLC I’ve worked on and flown in both a military version of both a DC-3 and a DC-4. The military version of a DC-3 is a C 47. They are still a lot of them flying and are used for hauling freight all over the USA and foreign countries. Best Wishes my friend!
I worked for Honeywell fixing airplane electronics. flight management computer, and other things. 30 years. We still use floppy disk to load flight software. And xt computers to test, windows 98.
@@indybill4 Thanks for your years of service! I’ve always held avionics repairmen in high regards for their abilities and have asked for their assistance whenever I had a serious electrical problem through the years. We always worked together to keep ‘em flying!
oh, yeah- youre the guys who aren't allowed to overhaul propellers. thats when you call me.
These things are amazing, the power that they have an all that, and still running.
dude....so cool, love seeing you work on this beast, thanks!!!
Beautiful sound ❤❤ Its what I call a Diesel Symphony.
Hey Josh, interesting content,thanks for showing.👍
Great and good work. Regards from Poland 🇵🇱.
Thanks for this, I very much enjoyed and appreciated the look inside, - and the lovely sounds of the 567.
Amazing find bro! I love trains! Keep up the good work
love the engine sounds
What a beautiful locomotive. Great work.
Awesome, I love it!!!
Excellent tour. Thanks.
Locomotives repair is the rocket science of the industry.
I love these old locomotives.
thank you, that is a wonderful locomotive.
Such a cool video. Thank you
Nice video. Love covered wagons.
Wonderful presentation and you are an obvious pro!
Hey! Love the tour or the RR engine! I love the mechanics and electrical of all powered things! My railroad friends life ended unexpectedly before he got the chance to give me a actual live tour of engines he conducted.It was on my bucket list.So I'M glad I got to see your tour!Thanks for the rocker arm view! Rockers are always soothing to watch at an idle!
Wow that’s a great looking engine it started really fast thanks for sharing
Thank you!
Awesome 👏🏻🏴
This type of Machinery is so amazing ❤. It's unbelievable.
Great video. Thank you for sharing. Syracuse NY
thank you!
Josh I am amazed at your vast knowledge of things.
Now your expertise includes Diesel Locamotives.
Very impressive.
Maybe some day do a video talking about your history and background.
Very interesting.
Take care, Ed.
LOVE IT My Favorite Locomotive of all time Cheers from Calgary
That is a very cool engine and great video, thanks.
THANK YOU SO MUCH. A TOTALLY AWSOME VIDEO AND EDUCATION. THANKS FOR SHARING.
My favorite locomotive!
That was very cool.
That's so cool to work on.👍😎
I used to write power management software for deep sea drilling rigs. Saw lots of EMD V20s. Good engines.
I love the sounds of those old Emd's!! My family has ran tugboats with the same engines .
pretty cool!!! thanks you can do more of this if you wish!!😁
Thanks for the tour of all the magic that exists under that body shell.
Love the paint colors and the sound of an idling EMD!
Great Northern, Northern Pacific where my flags of interest. Thank you for sharing!
Awesome!!! Hearing it run and watching the valvetrain operate was just too cool.
600V at 800A = 480kW. WOW. And it just starts to push through the brakes. Closing in on 75 years old and still running. Awesome.
480kw? Not even close. These machines regularly operated at over a megawatt continuously. They were built to run wide open at single digit speeds all day. The main generators are constant kilowatt, not a constant voltage or current type, so referencing either doesn't give you a real figure since these might run as low as 100 volts or as high as 900 depending on conditions.
Fantastic video Josh! What a machine, always been interested in the US loco's but never watch any videos. I'm hooked. More please !!!
excellent loved the show.
Lovely machine! And a charming way of presenting her. I enjoyed this video very much!
wonderful job and knowledge you have
I have always loved the look of these locomotives. I remember sitting at rail crossings with my dad in the early 60s seeing one go by on the Milwaukee Road tracks.
I have run GP-7Rs, an FP-7A, and an E-8A on the old KLS&C. I loved that EMD 567BC engine that was in KLS&C 85. Tough and reliable!
Very informative. And very interesting.
Working on the river I've really gotten to love the sound of emds
Bravo.......that looks like a daylight.......cheers