Them Ol' Steem injines

[NW Mailing List]

OOPS! I was thinking about a single train. I forgot about having a 
pusher back there. In which case, Ed's explanation is correct.

Jimmy Lisle

On 8/17/2015 10:40 AM, NW Mailing List wrote:
> On 8/16/2015 10:53 AM, NW Mailing List via NW-Mailing-List wrote:
>> Ed, how did they manage to get those trains started using slack in 
>> their favor??
>
> Dave,
>     The same way that you start one of today's trains on the mountain. 
> First of all you have to have good traction. Good sanders are a must! 
> And, we can all see from old photos of all of that white sand on the 
> track on the Blue Ridge grade that the engines must have had some 
> pretty good sanders. Today's diesel powered trains may be even harder 
> to start than one with a steam locomotive. The reason being is that 
> the axles of a diesel are not interconnected like those on a steam 
> loco. If one axle begins to slip, then the unit starts dropping its 
> load and if you are up against the tonnage limit, you have to stop and 
> start over again in order to get the power back to the rails. I have 
> had this happen many a time. If you know you are going to have to stop 
> on a heavy grade, it is a very good idea to stop on sand so that when 
> you do try to start the train, it is there when you need it...not 
> inches or feet away.
>     The other thing is easing into the power. You can get away on the 
> mountain without taking slack. You just have to be patient, easing 
> into the power in order not to slip the drivers.
>     There were a very very few times in the rain when the sanders were 
> out of sand or they were not putting much sand on the rail, that I had 
> to use a small amount of engine brake in order to keep a lead axle 
> from slipping in order to keep from stalling the train. How that was 
> done is one of the little tricks that I kept in my "Book of 
> Experience" and not something to be tried by the casual engineer.
>     And, while I am on the subject of keeping a train from stalling, 
> there were many times when traction was a hard thing to come by that 
> easing off of the throttle was the way to get over the hill. Even with 
> a tonnage train, you can usually get over the hill in the 6th notch 
> and I had to do that when the conditions warranted it.
>
> Jimmy Lisle

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