At 05:04 PM 8/7/00 -0700, Jim Thompson wrote:
>Can anyone explain to me, in fairly simple terms, what a "gas distillate"
engine
>is? I am trying to understand what its origins were and why UP opted for
it over
>a diesel engine as Mr. Budd did.
"Gas distillate" engine is a regular spark-plug gasoline engine (vs.
compression-ignition diesel, which was called an "oil engine" at the time).
In the M-10000 vs. Pioneer Zephyr case, UP chose the distillate version
because it was ready several months before the diesel version that 9900
used. They only planned to use it as a stop-gap to get the City of Salina
on the road before the Pioneer Zephyr came out. Ralph Budd chose to wait
for the more-efficient diesel engine to be finalized and do a "proper" job
with PZ.
If I remember right, GM had two of the diesel engines powering generators
at their display at the Chicago fair, and this was in part what convinced
Mr. Budd that the engines were "ready for prime time".
Disclaimer: to the best of my memory, reading historical documents. I
wasn't around at the time.
There is a picture of PZ's engine at
http://americanhistory.si.edu/scienceservice/010002.htm
Best regards,
Randy
Randy Gordon-Gilmore ,----.___________ ______________ _________________
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