Introduction

Abstract

The American Society for Testing Materials and the railroad industry have enjoyed a relationship of mutual benefit for many years. In the case of certain individual railroads, this association has been for periods of over fifty years. Because of this close relationship, it was a particular pleasure to organize and assemble a series of technical papers on materials of major importance to the railroads for presentation at the Second Pacific Area National Meeting of the American Society for Testing Materials held in Los Angeles, Calif., on September 16 to 21, 1956. These papers were presented at two sessions and were devoted to the subjects of diesel fuel and cleaning materials. The papers contained in this symposium on railroad materials deal with the use of residual type fuels in railroad diesel locomotive engines. As the cost of fuel represents a major portion of the operating expense of these diesel engines, the utilization of less critical fuels in these engines without offsetting operational and maintenance problems is, of course, of vital interest to the railroads. The papers contained herein deal with research work conducted by railroads, petroleum companies, and engine builders into the use of residual type fuels in diesel engines, including experiments with a dual fuel system on locomotive diesel engines.