From the post newspaper, 11 Dec 09, page 6:
http://www.1divpost.com/pdf/121109%20Post.pdf
Fort Riley gets first train engine, two more to come
By Shandi Dix
1ST INF. DIV. POST
A new sight to see has arrived to the Camp Funston area with the addition of a bright red and yellow train engine – the first of three engines Fort Riley will be using to provide service to soldiers and units stationed on post.
“The engine will be used to comprise loaded trains, spot empty cars and relocate assets from Camp Whitside to tracks not fully utilized at Camp Funston,” said Richard Wollenberg, installation transportation officer.
This is the first-ever locomotive for the installation.
“Fort Riley has never had a locomotive previously and so we will join a long list of IMCOM installations that do,” he said.
The new engine will be used to meet deployment requirements unattainable with the use of the current lines. “The goal is to load 200 cars every 12 hours and 400 in a 24-hour period,” Wollenberg said. “None of these things can be accomplished without our own locomotives. It will vastly help the installation meet rapid deployment requirements not attainable utilizing the Union Pacific for these purposes.”
The 3GS-21B N-ViroMotive 2100 horsepower road-switcher is powered by three 700 HP GENSET motors that are computer controlled. These engines only operate when needed to provide pulling power for moving railcars around the installation.
“This engine is eco-friendly in that it is equipped with three smaller diesel engines,” Wollenberg said. If the locomotive is traveling along the tracks alone it will only use one of the three engines. If it’s pulling a heavier load the other two engines will fire automatically, he explained.
“The load determines electronically how many of the engines are running at any one time; the smaller the load, the fewer engines operational,” he said.
This feature not only conserves fuel but saves on the emissions it puts into the environment with an 80 percent reduction in nitrogen oxide and particle matters. The locomotive also reduces fuel consumption as much as 40 to 70 percent and uses a friendly fuel.
“They also operate efficiently on the new low sulphur fuel,” Wollenberg said.
The design of the locomotive also should require less maintenance and repairs. An added environmentally friendly feature is the Snyder refueling adapter, a feature which prevents any fuel from being spilled on the ground during refueling.
The first engine arrived in October, and Fort Riley is scheduled to receive another 3GS-21B N ViroMotive engine along with an older rebuilt locomotive.
“We’ve come a long way in the last 15 years with a $25 million railhead, a $13 million classification yard and of course the three locomotives to complement both,” Wollenberg said. “I remember the old days of six earthen docks and grass staging areas and how very painful deployments were from Fort Riley, and we are a million miles from those days.”
[Photo caption]
This bright red and yellow locomotive is the first of two 3GS-21B N-ViroMotive 2100 horsepower road-switchers that Fort Riley will be receiving to provide service to soldiers and units on post. Fort Riley is also expected to receive an older model, rebuilt engine.
