Narrative:

We'd left the gate on time and had a short; routine taxi out. We were cleared into position and immediately thereafter cleared for takeoff with a mention of traffic of final. Simultaneously with our clearance for takeoff; we experienced failure of the left generator. We told the tower we needed to cancel the takeoff and depart the runway to determine the extent or our problem. Upon taxiing clear of the runway; I glanced down at the engine gauges and noted what appeared to be a failed engine. I did not study it carefully yet; as I was concentrating on the unusual taxi routing we'd been given. I was concerned about not having heard him correctly and that I might end up on a ramp or dead end. About that time we noted the left oil pressure descending toward zero. I felt this was normal since the engine had failed. After having turned a corner; and still working on getting to a good stopping point; we noted the left engine egt climbing into the red. I immediately closed the fuel shut off valve which reversed the egt rise. About this time the controller told us it looked like we had a fire. He made that statement hesitatingly; as it seemed he was squinting to be sure of what he really saw. I directed the first officer to ask the flight attendants to tell me what they saw from the back. We did not have a fire warning in the cockpit. Immediately the controller (or it seemed a different voice) corrected that statement by saying that there did not appear to be a fire; but he may have been looking up a red tail pipe. We slowly made our way back to the gate and wrote it up accordingly. We eventually swapped for a B767 and the flight was completed safely.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B757 experienced a generator off line followed shortly by an apparent engine failure. The aircraft is taxied clear of the runway where the EGT was climbing into the red. The engine was subsequently shut down and the crew returned to the gate.

Narrative: We'd left the gate on time and had a short; routine taxi out. We were cleared into position and immediately thereafter cleared for takeoff with a mention of traffic of final. Simultaneously with our clearance for takeoff; we experienced failure of the left generator. We told the Tower we needed to cancel the takeoff and depart the runway to determine the extent or our problem. Upon taxiing clear of the runway; I glanced down at the engine gauges and noted what appeared to be a failed engine. I did not study it carefully yet; as I was concentrating on the unusual taxi routing we'd been given. I was concerned about not having heard him correctly and that I might end up on a ramp or dead end. About that time we noted the left oil pressure descending toward zero. I felt this was normal since the engine had failed. After having turned a corner; and still working on getting to a good stopping point; we noted the left engine EGT climbing into the red. I immediately closed the fuel shut off valve which reversed the EGT rise. About this time the Controller told us it looked like we had a fire. He made that statement hesitatingly; as it seemed he was squinting to be sure of what he really saw. I directed the First Officer to ask the flight attendants to tell me what they saw from the back. We did NOT have a fire warning in the cockpit. Immediately the Controller (or it seemed a different voice) corrected that statement by saying that there did not appear to be a fire; but he may have been looking up a red tail pipe. We slowly made our way back to the gate and wrote it up accordingly. We eventually swapped for a B767 and the flight was completed safely.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.