Operations along the Valley Line between Stuarts Draft and Hagerstown from 1979 and 1981

[NW Mailing List]

Thank you all for such great responses. I'm learning more and more from
each one! Now that my first question has been cleared up,  time for
another. I have noticed in photographs through my research, that there
seems to be a few auto racks scattered through out certain trains. Was
there any TOFC as well?

-Brandon
On Mar 29, 2013 10:32 AM, "NW Mailing List" <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
wrote:


>  On 3/28/2013 10:29 AM, NW Mailing List wrote:

>

> but on those unit coal trains going up the Shenandoah Div.,

> to Hagerstown,  it wasn't unusual to exceed the ratings by as much as 1800

> tons.Taking into account

> the load meter, I think it's known as "operating in the red".

>

> Harry,

>     I know of only one time that the over tonnage was actually mentioned,

> although you could tell many a time the train wasn't pulling as it should.

> Many a time those old GE's would just crap out with "Hot Diodes". You would

> have to stop on the hill, let them cool down and then go a little farther.

> It wasn't unusual to have to stop two or three times between Pkin and

> Lofton to cool down the diodes. We were glad when those things went to the

> scrap yard!

>     I have probably mentioned this before, but, the one time that I know

> we were way over tonnage was on a double coal train with a set of three

> SD40-2's. It was a bit slow, however, those engines never slipped a bit and

> over the hills we went. On arrival in Shenandaoh, the clerk asked if we

> knew how much tonnage we had? We had no idea. I can't remember the exact

> figure, but, the clerk said it was between 2000-2500 tons over. That was a

> good set of units!

>     I know of another time when a coal train didn't even make to Four Mile

> Crossing. That day it had been raining to beat the band. The crew had

> struggled with the train past North Roanoke and looking back going down

> through the dip at Tinker Creek they could see water sloshing out of the

> tops of the cars. They stalled out before Four Mile Crossing and had to

> back into the yard to reduce tonnage.

>

> Jimmy Lisle

>

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