Will Your Rail Line Be Ready For Winter?

Jump Start Your Locomotive Preparations

With winter weather right around the corner, now is the time to review options to maintain optimum performance for your locomotives when the cold weather hits. Will your rail line be ready? Cold temps mean increased fuel costs, maintenance and continuous idling of locomotive engines, and that’s a direct hit to your budget and bottom line. Take action now and consider alternatives to help decrease costs and increase performance. Consider the PowerHouse™ Idle Reduction Technology from Power Drives, Inc. Compact, economical and rock-solid, the PowerHouse doesn’t reduce idling — it eliminates it.

The units are designed to significantly reduce the fuel wasted through locomotive engine idling, saving fuel costs, emissions and engine noise. As noted in a previous post from December 2014, Buffalo Southern Railroad is a good testament to the power of the PowerHouse:

The PowerHouse 120V Idle Reduction
Technology from Power Drives, Inc.

Buffalo, NY – The “Snowvember” storm that plagued the Western New York region in mid-November wreaked havoc across counties and businesses for nearly an entire week.

And when it was over, we were pleased to receive an interesting story from Patrick Connors, Chief Mechanical Officer of Buffalo Southern Railroad about the PowerHouse DWS-120 unit installed on one of their locomotives:

“As you are probably aware, Buffalo was pounded with as much at seven feet of snow over a four-day period in November. Our leased-out locomotive #93 sat just inside of that white wall of snow and no one was able to reach it for the duration of the storm,” he stated. “The customer that leases it transloads aggregates from lake to rail there and was awaiting their final shipment of the year.” Patrick continued.

“I stopped to check the locomotive on Monday afternoon just before the snow started. Once the snow started, it (the locomotive) disappeared,” he said. “The customer had a crew in on Tuesday morning to begin clearing snow, which became a lost cause. Even their massive bucket loaders were no match. In fact, they ended up being stuck in the area for two days. One snow blower crew passed the locomotive on Thursday and he commented that there was no snow at all on the top of #93!” He went on to say.

Power Drives is appreciative of the valuable feedback Patrick provided on the test of the PowerHouse unit against the elements. “Finally by Friday afternoon,” he said “I received a call from the customer stating that #93 still had fuel and the heater was running. When I made it down there over that weekend amongst the mountains of snow, there was no snow around the locomotive! The PowerHouse operated flawlessly throughout the whole storm. We are very happy with the PowerHouse unit.”

An installed PowerHouse 120V model.

Power Drives will exhibit the PowerHouse Idle Reduction Technology at the 2015 Railway Interchange Show in Minneapolis, October 4 – 7, Indoor Booth #3237 and Outdoor Track Exhibit #316. Please stop by and allow us to demonstrate the power of the PowerHouse for your rail operations.