VIA Rail Locomotive catches fire en route to Ottawa

At around 8pm last night, VIA Rail train 46 en route from Toronto to Ottawa, had to be evacuated due to a fire in the locomotive.

Here's the story:

http://ottawa.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/C ... hub=Ottawa

No one was seriously injured, just some minor things and inconvenience.

Does anyone know what locomotive it was that caught fire? And the article doesn't say it, so does anyone also know what the extent of the damage to the locomotive was?

According to a VIA crew member on duty aboard #46, the locomotive in question was P42DC 902.
photo

Ken: This is the second fire this month concerning GE Genesis locomotives-former Amtrak P40 840 now in CDOT service caught fire
on August 7th near Fairfield,CT. See the Metro-North Forum for more on this.
It is good to know that all on board the train are OK but how badly damaged was VIA 902?
I have a nickname for the GE Genesis locos - PERCOLATORS - thanks to the gurgling sound their prime movers make - and it seems to me when something like this happens they are
living up to their nickname...Thoughts from MACTRAXX

I know I have seen pictures of P42 "burn victims" on Amtrak in the past, so it is not a new thing, although obviously a rare occurrence.

I would be interested though in how badly damaged 902 is. It would be a real shame for VIA to lose any of those locos, seeing as they only have 21 on the roster. Let's hope it is in at least good enough shape for a rebuild.

Interesting thing....I was reading one article covering the story online....here it is : http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/cbc/090817/c ... hs_falls_1

The way they set it up, they never mention the locomotive was on fire, simply that "a fire broke out on the train". And then they give the one testimonial from the woman who "smelled something burning, then saw flames".

From the way they set it out, you'd swear the whole train was on fire and the whole thing must have been a truly terrifying and horrific ordeal. I put this out as a good example of bad journalism (and it's attributed to the CBC...any surprise )

There probably is a good reason they only have 21 and decided to rebuild there F40's instead of buy more, these locomotives are POS ans fire is just one of the charming aspects you can expect from these units.

Hmm, will be interesting to see what the cause is? typical GE engine explosion due to broken rod etc? a 7FDL in a covered carbody was probably not a good idea! I know a person who works for GE in the locomotive maintenance management field...he'll tell you any time that an Alco was a far better product!

From infos I've gathered from many forums, loco# is 915, the fire is of electrical origin and an estimate of many many $100 000's of damage. The loco is now resting at the Montreal maintenance facility. Have a look at this french news; you can pretty much make out the loco number...http://lcn.canoe.ca/lcn/infos/faitsdive ... 61506.html

and here's the Ottawa citizen with nice pics and video: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/business/A ... story.html

St-Jean Diamond wrote:From infos I've gathered from many forums, loco# is 915, the fire is of electrical origin and an estimate of many many $100 000's of damage.

No, the locomotive was indeed #902.

Here is a link to two pictures of the burn damage...I think it's pretty obvious this is indeed the loco involved:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CanModelT ... =1&dir=asc

Oops, seems that link will only work if you're a Yahoo! member....

This one should hopefully work....





There we go...That shows the loco, and the damage, very well.

These photos are not my work, and credit is due to Charls of Ottawa ON, Yahoo! username: brs102726.

Wow interesting story im actually glad I was not on board, all the same VIA P42s have been pretty sturdy up until this incident, PS: Im writing this as Im on VIA train 73 headed for Windsor ! VIA (WI-FI) FREE and its pretty good considering its raining. there is a P42 in the lead and were hauling all HEP2 equipment. I forgot my camera but got pics on the b.berry will post later. Im going to report on a cross border experience again as Im head for a final destination of Chicago.

It looks like this is a common enough occurrence on GE locomotives that they would develop a fire suppression system using CO2 that would also be useful in stopping engine runaway when its running on the oil leaking into the intake system from a failed turbo seal. This fire inconvenience the passengers but more ominously could have totally incapacitated the engine crew before they got the train stopped. A fire suppression system would have minimized damage to the engine not to mention the carbody and possible structural damage.

VIA Rail denies that this has never happened before but I have pictures of VIA 900 after a fire at Ernestown, just west of Kingston. The same circumstances as the 902 fire.I wonder if any one has information on VIA P-42 917 and why it was completely repainted? Was it also a fire victim?
Apparently Amtrack has also had this problem with their P-42s.

Lil Red Truck

VIA 917 was brought in at CAD rail in sept 2007 for an alternator changeout and paint job. It was an alternator fire.

FWIK, I would hazard a guess the orgins came from a stack fire. Where I work, we have many a P32ACDM that is throwing a lot of oil from worn power assemblies. The problem is so bad that the oil covers the mid section of the unit around the exhaust. The 902 has a burn area on its hood exactly where blown oil out the stack would settle on the carbody.

amtrakhogger wrote:FWIK, I would hazard a guess the orgins came from a stack fire. Where I work, we have many a P32ACDM that is throwing a lot of oil from worn power assemblies. The problem is so bad that the oil covers the mid section of the unit around the exhaust. The 902 has a burn area on its hood exactly where blown oil out the stack would settle on the carbody.

Yes, but both the 900 & 902 fires were internal. Inside the carbody and I don't think that the VIA P-42s are in that bad condition yet!
Lil Red Truck