It took Lakeland Electric two weeks to retrieve a 310-ton engine off CSX railroad tracks.
How bad is it?
David Holdener, Lakeland Electric’s project manager for the (RICE) reciprocal engine plant, said employees from the German-based manufacturer MAN are on the ground assessing the extent of the damage to Engine 1 and whether it’s recoverable.
Immediately after the derailment, CSX sent its equipment out to the area and wanted to use it to pull Engine 1 off the rails. Holdener said Lakeland Electric stopped it in hopes of recovering the engine.
“We already have schedule issues that we are dealing with in plant construction,” he said. “We want to preserve any chance at all to recover the engine and put it on its foundation.”
MAN has already begun assessing the extent of damage to Engine 1, which wound up falling and laying on the B cylinder side. Every single one of the engine’s nine heads has been destroyed, according to Holdener, and the weight fell on the camshaft cover, causing misalignments and raising other concerns.
Holdener said if the engine can be recovered, the city will be seeking an extended warranty on the unit. German-based MAN is a sister company to the more widely known automotive manufacturer, Volkswagen.
“It’s becoming a financial decision,” he said.
The company has identified a stock engine that it has offered to strip down and ship over the short block for Engine 1. This process could take three to four months, according to Holdener, causing it to arrive next March or April.