1.3.
ENGINE
A diesel engine is an internal-combustion, oil-burning engine using compression ignition. Such
an engine gets its power from the burning of a charge of fuel within a confined space called a cylinder.
Ignition occurs when the fuel is ignited solely by the heat of compression, caused by injecting the fuel
into the highly compressed air in the cylinder.
The engine is supported by the bedplate, mounted on the locomotive frame, which serves as a
housing for the crankshaft and as a reservoir for the engine lubricating oil. The main structural part of
the engine, the cylinder block, is shown in figure 1.2. Between the inner and outer walls of a cylinder is
space for a water jacket containing water that helps to cool the engine.
Figure 1.2. Cylinder Block.
All diesel-electric locomotive engines have essentially the same parts and work the same way.
The major difference among them is in the arrangement of the cylinders. The three most common
cylinder arrangements are the V-type, the vertical in-line, and the horizontal. Figure 1.3 shows parts of a
V-type engine, so called because the arrangement forms a "V"; it is used in the most powerful
locomotives. The vertical in-line arrangement is used
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