gr@uvacs.UUCP (01/05/84)
Rather than UP, it was SP and D&RGW that experimented with the Krauss-Maffei diesel hydraulics in the 60s. At one point D&RGW loaned 2 of their 3 units to the NYC so that NYC could test them also. NYC ran them between Chicago, Buffalo, and Syracuse and drew several conclusions. The KMs tended to be very slippery and contained a maze of plumbing to transmit the hydraulic power. In addition, the hydraulic oil (200+ gallons) had to be changed every 30 days! Probably unrelated to the hydraulic mechanism, but NYC had bad luck with the KM air compressors - it seems they were belt driven and during cold weather the load proved to be too much. Incidentally, cold weather and snow were the main reasons the NYC wanted to test the KMs - they were having problems with blowing snow grounding traction motors and the like! The KMs were on the NYC for about 3 weeks before being returned to Denver. The Grande later sold all 3 of the units to SP who also expermented with a big hydraulic made by Alco (and thus dubbed an 'Alco-haulic'!), but all were canned and deemed not very succesful. Greg Richardson University of Virginia Computing Center Charlottesville VA (uvacs!gr)