While my real interest is Alaska Railroad prototypes, we cannot take the hobby of model railroading too seriously. E18 Number 3401 is a freelance answer to the demand for a green locomotive for a specific purpose as explained below. 3401 is shown here going down grade through Pack River, providing dynamic brake control on the end of a coal drag. All photos byPatrick Durand

Traffic over the Alaska Northern Railway has boomed over the past 5 years as a result of the Alaska Rail Link reaching into Canada forming the Northern International Transcontinental. There are some locations on the ANRy which have come under stress as the result of sharing trackage rights with the ARL and the Alaska Railroad as well as others demanding access to the Far East.

The Apex tunnel between Pack River and Durand is not ventilated and crews have complained about the bad air and actual equipment shutdowns as a result of heat. Tunnel motors were not the answer. In spring of 2010 the Alaska Northern Railway received orders from the FRA and EPA limiting transits through the tunnel until a solution and implementation plan was developed.

The Alaska Northern has limited engineering staff and turned to the Alaska Rail Link, where their reputation for problem solving with design and build and operate capabilities, is well established.

The solution to bad air is "STOP MAKING BAD AIR". Environmental air quality was directly related to the volume of traffic and the profile of the line with grades ranging from 1.5 to 2.5% between Johnstown Yard and the summit in APEX Tunnel. Standard practice was to run many short trains up the grade or add pushers at Johnstown that had to go all the way to Richland Yard before they could make the return.

Several events crystalized to dictate a winning design solution.

1. The motive power used in the tunnel needed to be clean GREEN and efficient. Bi-directional running would be a great asset with a cab on both ends.

2. The Alaska Rail Link had recently acquired the assets of the abandoned BLEU PILL MINE open pit operation, specifically all the electrification used by the pit mules.

3. The ARL shops had been tinkering with the remains of two old E9 units and already had them on a single frame with a cab on both ends, with the intent to use it to service the remote sites on the international link. Following UP prototype the crew had installed a Turbo 645E in one end but had not gotten around to the HEP unit in the other end when the project was sidelined. The crew was pulled off to work on the Czarina Ludmilla double ender project.

4. Alternative energy money was being showered on "Green Projects" by the feds. Unfortunately there were no "bungling bundlers" on the staff with any of the three railroads that would benefit from a green solution. Then from out of DC came an unsolicited grant award for $450 big ones (can't count the zeros) with a note, "Trying to save face here at the DOE. Just make it work!" Deadline for spending the grant is October 1, 2011.

The Alaska Rail Link shops sublet the project of assembly to Durand Kit Bashers International to build a 1/87 scale prototype and test various operating scenarios on the Northern Lights Model RR Club track which duplicates the Alaska Northern Ry profile.

Durand has delivered the Alaska Northern Ry #3401, E18ACEDB Hybrid locomotive. E18 =9+9, ACE designates AC electric (in this case 3600 volts), D for dual power and B for bi-directional.

Electrification from Pack River through the Apex Tunnel to Durand has been completed, with helper pockets at both ends under wire. Until more E18 units are brought online #3401 will be used as a helper from Johnstown Yard up the hill to Pack River where the wire will be engaged. At that point all diesels in the consist will go
to idle and the #3401 will push the consist through the tunnel. When in diesel mode the dynamic brake will waste braking energy going down hill, but while under wire it will go right back on line. When future E18ACEDB locos come on line, their movement under wire upgrade, can be phased to benefit from the energy
supplied by downgrade locomotives.

#3401 is equipped with a Kato pantograph and will apply up to 600 volts to each of her 6 traction motors. The former A-1-A trucks are now CC Bipolar designs using state of the art super conducting electronics conceived in the ARL shops and custom built in a Korean garage shop.

To ensure smooth power delivery to the electrical system on board the latest FLASH CAPACITORS are in line right behind the overhead circuit breaker. These devices load and discharge in milliseconds into a lithium Ion Iron Iridium battery bank or IIIIBB for short. Under wire the single E18ACEDB is testing to be 92% efficient, and in phase with a down grade sister unit should reach 97%.

So where does the 3600 volts AC come from? Some 80 years ago a 28ft Pelton water wheel was installed at the APEX waterfall to power an air compressor providing air for a dozen or more mines in the Pack River area. The huge wheel delivers over 6000 shaft horsepower and has been repurposed and connected to electrical generation hardware to service the needs of ARL electrification and feed the local power grid. Not only Green, but the nearest thing to perpetual motion the DOE will ever achieve.

For full specifications on the E18ACEDB contact the builder at sewtrain@mtaonline.net
Exclusive to the Harrisville Daily Democrat
by One Eyed Jack, single eyed witness to railroading in the North