Shop Rag in Fuel tank a EMD GP-60-B at true tale in Tales of the Jointed Track

An RJ McKay entry and pictures of a GP-60-B at Saginaw TX, brought this to memory.

I was doing power for the Santa Fe in Schaumberg at the S.O.C., I was on the night rotation. It was pretty dead, and Temple, TX was my next call. Barry Holmes was the foreman working the night side. A deep baritone voice, dry humor and wit. He was fun to banter with after the power needs were taken care of.

We had a problem child, it was in the DSF, being troubleshooted, and effect repairs if it can be made. Sometimes it is a simple fix, sometimes it needs a major shop. This “one” was a Sherlock Holmes type of mystery.

Intermodal Power Chicago to LA, Chicago to Houston:

Enter our “star” a GP-60-B unit. A cabless booster, in intermodal service, maybe the 199, 198, 197, 189 or the secondary hotshots, and the return symbols. It started acting funny, it ran like a stripped ass ape, then would begin to fail. Starved for fuel, then back to normal, then die. Well was pulled out as a bad actor. Was it a fuel pump shorting out? Suction filters, bad tank of fuel? EMD Chicago and the other shops were pulling out their hair on what could be causing this problem.

Like this entry, a light bulb came on. Hey this went into the shop for a fuel tank repair, date and location I cannot remember. The tank was drained, cut into, and repairs made. Enter our friend the Shop Rag.

A shop rag was left in or about that fuel tank repair. Filled up to capacity, it happily floated about, doing its shop rag thing. Get close to the tank suction inlet, it wrapped around and strangled the fuel. The pressure dropped, it loosened and floated again, to wreak havoc further down the line. It was more prevalent when the tank was nearing the lower levels.

It was sent to the Topeka shops, and they would give it the once over. The tank was drained, and cut into once again. The guilty party was found, in a sopped fuel soaked mass. Removed, and inspections the breach was welded up. Fueled and it was back into service, without failure.

Odd things that occur on the rails. Thanks for reading