[N&W] Re: Hagerstown

[nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org]

[Rick Morrison wrote:]
 >The 1960's brought a lot of unit coal trains on the scene, with frequent
 >helpers.  This was not so much for horsepower needs, but to prevent
 >slack action from pulling the trains apart.  The Shenandoah Division
 >has a sawtooth profile, and slack would run in and out of lengthy trains
 >breaking knuckles.

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     Did a Shenandoah Div. employee tell you this first hand or is this just
your pure conjecture?
     Coal trains out of Roanoke would usually cut the pushers off at
Greenville if there was power in Shenandoah to push with. If not the pushers
would continue to Shenandoah. Due to tonnage trains with 80 cars or less
might cut the pushers off at Ashby. 100 car trains would usually take the
pushers to Hagerstown. Other things that contributed to where the pushers
went was, time on duty (did the pushers have time to get back to Shenandoah)
and if the power was needed in Hagerstown to bring a train south.
     To push a train just so it won't get a knuckle is nonsense. I've seen
doubles get a knuckle even with a pusher.

Jimmy Lisle