Russ,
EMD did not have their own power plant. However, they did have a
large coal fired steam and air generation plant that used tons of
coal for heating the facility and generating air for manufacturing
activities. The plant was located toward the rear of the property and
to the right of the main manufacturing plant as viewed from 55th
Street. Locomotive test, the Engineering building, the old Parts
building and the fabrication building were all to the right of the
steam plant. There was a tall stack and huge coal piles adjacent to
the building. Coal was brought in regularly by hopper cars and
spotted inside the plant gate at the IHB tracks. One of the plant
switchers would then position the hoppers for unloading. EMD did all
of their own in plant switching. The coal plant was in operation
until the early '90s. It was torn down went main plant was demolished
in the late '90s.
EMD purchased electrical power from Commonwealth Edison, but also
produced some power from internal facilities. Some of the power came
from the engine test cell generators, while the rest came from a
stationary power generation site north of the locomotive test
building. Among it's other products, EMD built stationary power
generation units for various purposes. They used the same engines as
the locomotives (both 16 cyl. and 20 cyl.), but the most popular was
the 20 cyl. version. The engines drove an AC alternator about the
size of an AR10 locomotive generator. Many are still in operation.
The power units were built inside a steel building about 10' x 60'
with an "I" beam frame and were semi portable. They were usually set
up in a five unit set which, I believe, could generate about 5000 kw.
These plants were used for base load service in foreign countries,
like Viet Nam, for peaking power where power lines were subject of
"brown outs" like some detroit Edison service, for cranking units to
provide power when starting up a shut down coal plant and as
emergency power for atomic power plants where there only purpose was
to power water pumps to flood the reactors in case of a major failure.
The five unit site at the EMD plant was often used for component
testing purposed where exposure to long hard service was desired. The
test units were often run under overload conditions to simulate
extended service for engine components. The power from these engine/
generator sets was used in the plant as needed and any excess power
was sold back to Com Ed.
Bill Barber
On Sep 20, 2007, at 7:51 AM, CBQ@yahoogroups.com wrote:
> Re: Change of Subject
>
> Posted by: "Russ Strodtz" borneo@19main.com thevlbg
>
> Wed Sep 19, 2007 10:32 am (PST)
>
> Charlie,
>
> Did EMD ever have it's own power plant and get coal
> by rail? I have a lot of coal going to McCook in 1959
> and I can't figure out who was getting it.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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