Fairbank-Morse


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Posted by Brian in Oregon on Thursday, June 07, 2001 at 0:57AM :

In Reply to: MEP. posted by Jim in Ok on Thursday, June 07, 2001 at 0:39AM :

You were looking at a Fairbanks-Morse engine originally designed for the US Navy for Submarines. Correct - two crankshafts and pistons that nearly meet each other in the cylinders. The USN found them to be very powerful for their size, and very reliable.

Fairbanks-Morse also built locomotives after the war using these engines. They were very powerful for their day, moreso than most of their competition. But most shops were familiar with the GM diesels and the FM's suffered from neglect and improper maintc. (And not just FM, but Baldwin, Alco and others as well.)

One design flaw of the FM is that when a piston liner gets scored or damaged, you have to remove the upper crankshaft to get it replaced. On a GM, you pull the individual head, rod and piston and swap out the cylinder sleeve. Days of work vs hours. GM won out by virtue of simplicity, not power. As for quality, it was comparable.

FM diesels were built by Fairbanks-Morse in the US and by CLC - Canadian Locomotive Works - in Canada. Even though the locomotives were discontinued in the early 1960's, the diesel engines were still built for power plants and foreign sales until the early 1970's.



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