Fuel Shortage

[rd4man]

San Diego-bound Amtrak train runs out of fuel SAN DIEGO. It was the
little engine that couldn't, the Associated Press reports.

A quick train trip down the coast turned into a long haul for dozens of
stranded Amtrak passengers when their train from Los Angeles to San Diego ran
out of fuel late Sunday night (Aug. 24).

Amtrak spokesman Cliff Cole says the train sat for about two hours in the
Sorrento Valley neighborhood in northern San Diego before another engine came
along to push it to its final destination. It arrived early Monday morning.
Cole says a train running out of fuel is "an unusual occurrence" and Amtrak
officials will be looking into how it happened later Monday.

(This item was distributed by the Associated Press Aug. 25, 2008.)

[SD50]

You mean, like, they didn't just have everybody get out and push?

[Jim Prower]

It didn't happen in a tunnel, did it? If so, fuel may not have been the problem. ;)

((Sorry, the Pushing comment reminded me of the Sad Story of Henry.))

Okay, but it is unusual. May have been a slow leak, but I'm betting the pumps at the fuel depot weren't working right.

[rdamurphy]

I'm betting some Federal Unionized Amtrak Employee just pencil-whipped it so he didn't have to get out of the Break Room early after his 4 hour morning coffee break...

Robert

[jac_murphy]

Word on the wire says that the F59s have extremely unreliable digital and sight fuel gauges.

Well, I guess we can just thank God it wasn't an airliner. :)

-Jacques

[CBF]

Did have that happen on a military aircraft. Refuelled in Thule iceland where they certified we had correct fuel, both by volume and preasure. Found out later that one fuel cell in the outer wing was frozen closed and just about ran out of fuel after a 20 hours flight back to Greenwood Nova Scotia. Murphy's Law - What can go wrong will go wrong!

Cheers; Chuck F.

[xgsft]

Did have that happen on a military aircraft. Refuelled in Thule iceland where they certified we had correct fuel, both by volume and preasure. Found out later that one fuel cell in the outer wing was frozen closed and just about ran out of fuel after a 20 hours flight back to Greenwood Nova Scotia. Murphy's Law - What can go wrong will go wrong!

Cheers; Chuck F.


Sounds like what happened to us last winter. We stopped in CLE to drop off some cargo one bitterly cold night. During the stop, we took on some fuel. Well, when the left engine was fired up, it was found that the line between the main fuel tank to the filler tank was frozen. So, we put the bird in the hanger and slept it off while it thawed out.

[SD50]

Let's see, the LA basin. Could it be that they just ran into a bad neighborhood, and somebody siphoned out the fuel? They should be glad the wheels weren't stolen as well.

[MasterChief]

The AMTRAK rep on the news here said that they only put in enough fuel to just make the trip from LA to SD. Their claim is that this saves fuel.

Can someone explain how just putting in a little gets you better gas mileage than filling the tank (with the exception of what used carrying around the extra fuel, of course)? :-)

They ran out just up the hill from the Sorento Valley station, and coasted back down to the station. Passengers said that they were there over 3 hours, although AMTRAK says it was only an hour or so.

Somebody's got some 'splainin to do...

[CBF]

If they were going up hill, the reason for fuel starvation could be the position of the fuel outlet in the tank. I had a Chev that ran out of fuel when going up a long upgrade. The gas station was at the top of the hill and couldn't make it even though I thought I had enough fuel at the bottom of the hill. If the people who allocated the fuel did not take this into account the result would be fuel stavation. Chuck F.

[rdamurphy]

Couldn't you just turn around and back up the hill?

Robert

[CBF]

Not easily done on a multi lane highway! Chuck.

[rdamurphy]

That's true. I guess that's when you have to resort to the LPC's.

Robert

[SD50]

Can someone explain how just putting in a little gets you better gas mileage than filling the tank (with the exception of what used carrying around the extra fuel, of course)? :-)


The rationale being that carrying less weight means the engine(s) don't work quite as hard, thus getting better fuel economy. Apparently, nobody thought to build in a reserve. At least it was a train and not an airplane.

[Grimace780]

The AMTRAK rep on the news here said that they only put in enough fuel to just make the trip from LA to SD. Their claim is that this saves fuel.

Can someone explain how just putting in a little gets you better gas mileage than filling the tank (with the exception of what used carrying around the extra fuel, of course)? :-)


The only way I can see this practice as saving fuel is the vehicle weighs less without the extra fuel and therefore theoretically gets better mileage. Other than that, there is no benefit.

[Jim Prower]

I wouldn't think the impact on mileage that big...this isn't an airplane or Formula 1 car. a little extra fuel aboard shouldn't hurt anything.