Return to Archive -by date - by topic.
Choosing a new engine is one thing, making sure it is installed properly is the key to success
Of all the companies in business when I joined the railway industry in 1962, Brush Traction, is one of the very few still around in close to its original form. It is that continuity of experience which has just made Brush a key player in the emerging market for Class 43 (IC125 power car) upgrades on a seies-production basis.
To the layman, re-engining might seem to be simply a case of lifting the old engine out, craning the new engine in and connecting up the pipes and wires. But in practice adapting the replacement engine to its new environment requires specific engineering skills.
Take for example, the integration of the engine governor with the traction control system. This determines how quickly full power can be applied to the wheels.
In IC125, the Paxman Valenta can be pouring out all its 1970s technology horses, typically, 14 seconds after full power was applied. But when its successor the VP185 came into service, drivers thought the engine was down on power because of poor acceleration.
However, it was systems integration, not the engine, that was to blame. As the train pulled away the engine could be taking over a minute to come onto full song.
When Midland Main Line found that its re-engined IC125s were suffering from Sluggish VP Syndrome, Brush became involved. New traction electronics, plus the company’s integration expertise - both freshly honed on the Class 57 rebuilds – saw the time to get full power come down from 90 seconds to 16 seconds.
In practical terms this meant that when MML loaned one of its VP185 powered/Brush tuned sets to Virgin Cross Country it was able to keep to Voyager timings between Leeds and Liverpool. Or, on its home territory achieve a 61 minute london-Leicester time.
Then there is the installation itself. Brush was singularly unimpressed by the original VP185 re-engining. In particular, there was no air filtration, which means the tuborcharger discs and valves were being bombarded by bits of flying stuff. The air intake ducting was also convoluted effectively starving the engine of oxygen.
When the decision was taken by Angel Trains and First Group to re-engine two class 43 power cars with the MTU Type16V4000R41 engine for a comparative trial with two current specification VP 185s, Brush won the contract to engineer the conversion.
Complicating the MTU installation was the fact that the Alternator cannot be mounted with direct drive from the crankshaft and has to have an intermediate ‘bobbin’ to avoid fouling the after-cooler. For Brush, as integrator, there was another challenge. The Class 43 has some of the earliest electronics on the railway while the MTU has state of the art microprocessor controlled engine management and electronically controlled fuel injection.
In the Angel power cars MTU’s engine management system interfaces with a new cooler group from Voith. Fitting the cooler group into the Class 43 is a tight squeeze too, but the Brush engineers were able to do it and find space for intake air filtration.
As might be expected, the rapid ramp up of power demanded in the Class 43 came as a bit of a culture shock to the German engineers. But in addition to the microprocessor controlled engine management system MTU also supply what old chaps like me still call the governor. So after a few hours on the test bed the 16V4000R41 was getting the power to the traction motors smartly enough, as was demonstrated in trials on Great Western.
While First Group was committed to the MTU before the comparative trial period (which covered on 3000 running hours) began, GNER approached the re-engining of its 25 power cars with an open mind, considering formal bids from Cummins, MAN B&W as well as MTU. As the more modern engines, the MTU, and, potentially, the Cummins, had better fuel consumption. But the VP185 had proven performance in IC125 fleet service on Midland Main Line.
According to Informed Sources while the MTU costs more to install and maintain than the VP185, the significantly better fuel consumption gave it the edge on whole life costs. And the price of fuel is more likely to go up than down.
With GNER having chosen the MTU too, there are going to be some nervous engineers over the next four years waiting for the phone call from a depot with the news that something has started going wrong. Four years should see the first engines approachinbg their first major overhaul.
Yes, yes, I know that German technology is wunderbar and never goes wrong, but tell that to Mercedes Benz which lost over a £1billion when endemic faults appeared in its new range of cars. With high power diesel engines in the most demanding duties – and IC125 is unique, there will always be an element of suck it and see.
Meanwhile, having engineered the trial installation, Brush was bidding for the series production contracts from Angel trains (for Greater Western) and GNER. And won both.
Angel’s contract, quoted at £10 million is for an initial batch of 26 power cars, with delivery starting in July. The conversion will be to the same specification as the two demonstrators. Contract value is quoted at £10million.
GNER emphasises that Brush is the ‘integrator’ for the re-engining of its 25 power cars. The company has also chosen to fit Brush’s purpose designed cooler group from the range of optional upgrades for IC125 power cars which Brush is marketing (see box). With spares I would expect it to be worth the same as the Angel order.
While a new cooler group increases the capital cost of re-engining, this is outweighed by reduced overhaul costs. In addition the existing radiator panels have been a problem since IC125 was introduced, the fine pitch matrix being vulnerable to clogging with dust, affecting the already marginal cooling ability.
Brush has based its new IC125 cooler group on that developed for the Class 57 conversion. As you might expect it is a robust piece of kit, and, according to informed sources, promises a lower maintenance cost than the Voith unit fitted to the Angel power cars.
So, with 51 power cars to re-engine, 25 Shop at Loughborough is going to hum again. Brush is coy about output rates, admitting only to ‘better than one a week’.
In the glory days of the 1980s, 25 Shop produced one Class 60 a week, so once the production line fills up you might expect the two customers to be taking deliveries in parallel. If Brush can deliver, the pressure will be on to extend the financial benefits of re-engining as soon as possible.
Pimp my 43Brush Traction is offering a pick ‘n’ mix package of Class 43 power car improvements to long term IC125 users. In no particular order they are: Up-dated traction electronics including wheel slip prevention (WSP) |