Sutton's Locomotive Workshop British Railways Sulzer Type 2 Operating Manual - page 8
Engine and Accessories
The engine is the Sulzer 6LDA28, pressure-charged, six cylinder, four stroke in-line
engine rated at 1,160 hp at 750 rpm with a testbed one-hour rating of 1,276 hp at
750 rpm. Five of the engines of the 30 locomotives are being supplied from Sulzer
Brothers Works in Switzerland, but the majority are being built to Sulzer orders at
Messrs. Vickers-Armstrong’s Works at Barrow.
The design needs little further description. The crankcase and cylinder block
with their cast steel transversals welded to mild steel top and side plates and the
crankcase and engine generator mounting as an integral structure, are well known.
The forged aluminium pistons are fitted with oil cooling channels behind the
rings in order to ease their working conditions. Precision bearings are fitted in the
crankshaft main bearings and big ends. These are of a trimetal type developed by
Sulzer Bros. and consist of a steel backing, coated with copper lead with a top layer
of soft bearing metal. This top layer is think enough to last the life of the bearing.
Shims are not used in these bearings and no hand fitting or adjustment is required.
C.A.V. fuel injection equipment is fitted. It has been made in consultation with
Sulzer Brothers and the Sulzer double helix type plunger, by which means both the
injection point and the cut-off can be controlled, is retained.
Accessibility of the engine components has always been a prime Sulzer
consideration and the British Railways engines incorporate improved fastening
arrangements for all covers to reduce the work entailed in releasing them, whilst
retaining the characteristic oil tightness and cleanliness of the engines.
Cooling water circulation, lubricating oil priming and fuel transfer pumps
are all driven by a single traction type auxiliary electric motor. Thus they can be
operated independently from the engine, enabling circuits to be primed before
starting the engine and providing even cooling of the water jackets, pistons and
bearings after stopping.
Lubricating oil is cooled in a Serck heat exchanger by the cooling water. The heat
exchanger fits closely and neatly to the engine and thus no major oil piping leaves the
engine. The main advantage of heat exchanger cooling is, however, quick warming
up and good temperature control.
Tanks are fitted under the radiators to drain the water from the panels as soon as
circulation ceases, and in this way freezing of the elements in cold weather is avoided
and quick warming up by complete bypass of the radiator is possible.
The air filtering scheme is described earlier in this article. Detailed attention has
also been paid to liquid filtration. Besides Knecht fine wire wound self-cleaning
strainers in both the fuel and lubricating oil system, there is a full flow Purolator
paper type fuel filter and a high capacity Fram waste packed bypass lubricating filter
taking approximately 20% of the total flow to keep the oil in good condition.
SLW Class 24 Operating Manual
Page 15
Page 14
SLW Class 24 Operating Manual