Fascinating! So what was the advantages (if any) of the Deltic vs a straight or "V" block diesel?I The disadvantages (again, if any)? Are Deltic diesel engines still being made and used?
A lot more power in a much smaller space. NYC used one in its' super pumper. Disadvantages was it was a lot more complicated mechanically, and a real pain for mechanics to maintain.
It was designed for fast attack boats , torpedo boats for the royal navy replacing gas powered Rolls Royce Merlin and Grufon engines as it burned the same fuel as everything else in the navy
As a boy i lived a mile or so from Welwyn North station, on the Kings Cross (London Line) line, no Deltics stopped at Welwyn North but the engines would come howling out of the tunnel at the north end of the platrom and through the station at 80mph+, the sound of them was addictive especially when amplified through the tunnel, i spent hours days week at the station often up in the signal box where the signalman appreciated a slice or two of the lovely apple pies my wonderful mother baked, and i still think there's no better sounding engine 60 years later than a two stroke Diesel in full song.
Mack Trucks built a Super Pumper fire truck for New York City in the sixty’s, using the Deltic. Cost was one million dollars at the time. It would pump 8800 pm. First time they tried to use it, they actually sucked the water main right out of the ground! They could only use it where four mains came together or the harbor. The thought was a pumper that could put a fire stream high into skyscrapers, but the water fell apart not much further than a regular stream. Never built another one. A very interesting concept that just didn’t work.
I know the engine in the video was rather old but, my God it was smoking. That’s worse than most two-stroke diesels of its time. That being said, I wonder how small of one of these Deltics could be installed in a “newer” Diesel Electric? You’d have to modernize the fuel delivery and materials though and of course some overly complicated CAN BUS system just to make things more confounding.
Fascinating!
ReplyDeleteSo what was the advantages (if any) of the Deltic vs a straight or "V" block diesel?I
The disadvantages (again, if any)?
Are Deltic diesel engines still being made and used?
A lot more power in a much smaller space. NYC used one in its' super pumper.
DeleteDisadvantages was it was a lot more complicated mechanically, and a real pain for mechanics to maintain.
It was designed for fast attack boats , torpedo boats for the royal navy replacing gas powered Rolls Royce Merlin and Grufon engines as it burned the same fuel as everything else in the navy
DeleteAs a boy i lived a mile or so from Welwyn North station, on the Kings Cross (London Line) line, no Deltics stopped at Welwyn North but the engines would come howling out of the tunnel at the north end of the platrom and through the station at 80mph+, the sound of them was addictive especially when amplified through the tunnel, i spent hours days week at the station often up in the signal box where the signalman appreciated a slice or two of the lovely apple pies my wonderful mother baked, and i still think there's no better sounding engine 60 years later than a two stroke Diesel in full song.
ReplyDeleteLew
Mack Trucks built a Super Pumper fire truck for New York City in the sixty’s, using the Deltic. Cost was one million dollars at the time. It would pump 8800 pm. First time they tried to use it, they actually sucked the water main right out of the ground! They could only use it where four mains came together or the harbor. The thought was a pumper that could put a fire stream high into skyscrapers, but the water fell apart not much further than a regular stream. Never built another one. A very interesting concept that just didn’t work.
ReplyDeleteI know the engine in the video was rather old but, my God it was smoking. That’s worse than most two-stroke diesels of its time. That being said, I wonder how small of one of these Deltics could be installed in a “newer” Diesel Electric? You’d have to modernize the fuel delivery and materials though and of course some overly complicated CAN BUS system just to make things more confounding.
ReplyDelete