wheels of fire

back in 1993 I filmed this, always wondered what was going on, any suggestions
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjibKqrFB20

 

jammed brakes on fourth axle is my guess

 

but sparks were coming from the front as well

 

Difficult to be certain but having looked at the video a couple of times and the fact that the locos were slowing down, I would suggest that there was a fairly heavy brake application on the 47, hence sparks from more than the 4th wheel - not unusual to see sparks from brakes of 47's on heavy brake application, not sure that 4th axle is just a seized brake though it might be

Hope that helps a bit

DH

 

was running under power and green lights....and went past sbox with no probs, just a cloud of smoke

 

Certainly appears that the brakes were on - dragging?? - on more than one set of wheels and much more severely on 4th axle - other than that sorry cant help!

DH

 

dont suppose it was an early version of rail scrubbing? if not how was it allowed to run in this condition

 

In the US they sometimes fit abrasive brake shoes (and adjust them to be tight) to takeout minor wheel flats while the loco continues to run - but the sparks on the 4th axle look a bit extreme for that. The brake shoes would have to be very hot to throw that amount of sparks. I think it has to be a brake problem though as the shape of the sparks thrown suggest the wheel is still going around.