Well.....how about diesel fuel!!

[nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org]

Not that it owuld be in any way relevant but the UP has local fuel oil suppliers fill the Challenger when it is on excursion runs. I have seen it done....
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org 
  To: nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org 
  Sent: Thursday, March 30, 2006 9:22 AM
  Subject: Re: Well.....how about diesel fuel!!


  Jim:
  My impression was that fuel oil ran out quicker than the sand did.  Of
  course, I'm talking about those days when engines had a 1600 gal.
  tank.  At outlying points, it was not unusual for the railroad to deal with
  the local fuel oil distributor.  One of the assigned duties of operators was
  to check fuel on the engines laying over and report to the dispatcher the
  amount of fuel remaining.  The gauge on the Baldwins didn't show gallons
  (e.g. 400 gals, 1,000 gals, etc.), but one had to count the bolts holding
  the gauge on to estimate fuel remaining.   Calling the fuel oil distributor
  was left to my judgement.  At one time, I called the distributor at
  10:30 PM and asked him to put 100 gallons on an engine.  He said he'd
  do it that time ONLY and that with there was no profit in making a 
  delivery for 100 gallons.   In service, it required 400 gallons to get an
  engine back to Norfolk.  That was the gallons remaining  in the
  gauge for the engine headed back on the local.  I gambled. Well, it ran
  out of fuel entering the yard and I heard about that.

  Fueling from trucks still exists today.  At Danville, Ky., NS used fuel
  trucks to top off the tank on the Chgo - Jacksonville trains (and others).
  It was NS's goal to make 8 round-trips Jacksonville-Chgo before sending
  the engine to the shop.  Then there was the Vicker experiment -- NS fueled
  through freights from tankers at Vicker until leakage became a concern of
  the locals. There is a pipeline that runs through Montvale and NS parked some
  tanks on the siding at Thaxton, six miles away,  and had tank trucks from the
  tank farm fill the tank cars for distribution over the system.

  NS has computerized estimated fuel remaining on engines in service so that
  it can be determined whether or not the engine needs to be brought to the
  fuel platform.  "Garbage in; garbage out" the computer wizards say.  The unit
  on a Chgo-Norfolk train ran out approaching Portlock.  Fifteen seconds later
  the second unit went down.  Kinda wonder if the crew was left with the train
  hanging out over Bridge 7.
                                                                      Harry Bundy


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