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Mark Gleeson · 11-07-2006, 13:24

Sounds like a repeat performance of the connecting rod failure

Back in the early days the 29000 had a serious design flaw in the exhaust system where the engine didn't get enough oxygen which lead to a thick exhaust made things look bad. What did happen in Skerries was a failed connecting rod in the engine which led to a piston being thrown out what was actually seen was hot exhaust gases which probably did ignite for a moment or two, its the equivalent of getting a flame out the exhaust of a high performance car. If you do a full emergency stop without the hydraulic retarders you get a really horrible burning smell since the brake disks heat up. The radiator system was holed in Skerries so there was a lot of smoke from the cooling water. The fire suppression system did not trigger, the driver did not manually activate it and he didn't empty the hand fire extinguisher either. If the fire system triggered anyone trackside would have been knee deep in foam, no foam was reported. The train didn't go on fire, it suffered a well understood mechanical failure most people are sheep and don't understand the facts and will make it sound much worse

No photos or credible evidence of a real actual fire, if there was a real fire the fire suppression system would have been triggered or manually activiated. Its operating policy to request the fire brigade attend just in case the previous post suggests there was no fire since there was no hurry, I've seen what a real fire does to a train and there wouldn't be much left of the coach if it had gone up

11-07-2006, 13:24	#7
Mark Gleeson Technical Officer Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Coach C, Seat 33 Posts: 12,669	Sounds like a repeat performance of the connecting rod failure Back in the early days the 29000 had a serious design flaw in the exhaust system where the engine didn't get enough oxygen which lead to a thick exhaust made things look bad. What did happen in Skerries was a failed connecting rod in the engine which led to a piston being thrown out what was actually seen was hot exhaust gases which probably did ignite for a moment or two, its the equivalent of getting a flame out the exhaust of a high performance car. If you do a full emergency stop without the hydraulic retarders you get a really horrible burning smell since the brake disks heat up. The radiator system was holed in Skerries so there was a lot of smoke from the cooling water. The fire suppression system did not trigger, the driver did not manually activate it and he didn't empty the hand fire extinguisher either. If the fire system triggered anyone trackside would have been knee deep in foam, no foam was reported. The train didn't go on fire, it suffered a well understood mechanical failure most people are sheep and don't understand the facts and will make it sound much worse No photos or credible evidence of a real actual fire, if there was a real fire the fire suppression system would have been triggered or manually activiated. Its operating policy to request the fire brigade attend just in case the previous post suggests there was no fire since there was no hurry, I've seen what a real fire does to a train and there wouldn't be much left of the coach if it had gone up Last edited by Mark Gleeson : 11-07-2006 at 13:27.