"Bottling the Air"

[NW Mailing List]

On Mon, Oct 25, 2010 at 2:35 PM, Harry Bundy wrote:


>

> *The cars going down the slope at East Yard had been bled, meaning the

> only way to stop*

> *them was by hand brakes tied up by the car riders.  At the east end, they

> left 25 hand*

> *brakes tied up on each track. The outbound crew would couple to one

> track, then the*

> *engineer would pump up brakes and test air.  After that the brakeman

> would begin to knock*

> *off the hand brakes.  Then the outbound crew would double to a 2nd track

> and go through*

> *the same procedure.  Believe it took three tracks-worth to make a train

> for Roanoke.*

>


Didn't they add (and still have?) yard air in Bluefield? Once the train was
made up and the power was on the east end, then an air line from a
stationary compressor in the yard would be attached to the brake line at the
west end, charging the system from both ends at a faster rate. Or was that
done just before the train was made up? How would you tell the system was
fully charged in a made-up train -- have someone on the yard crew wait for
the brake to release in the middle of the train? Someone with the knowledge
please explain how this works.

Bruce in Blacksburg
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