Es- was rough ride from the Burlington side

[okt@j...]

For those that don't know, Joe ran Es on the RI from Waurika OK to Ft
Worth.
This is in response to a message about the SDP40Fs being overly heavy at
the front and causing derailment problems.
Terry


--------- Forwarded message ----------
From: TRAINJTR@a...
To: okt@j...
Return-Path: <TRAINJTR@a...>

Terry:
This all sounds logical; however, remember the passenger "E" units were
set 
up this way with the steam generators at the rear. The difference was
that 
the E's had two power plants (engines) and generators, which added a
little 
more engineroom weight to the over all frame. The move to use a single
prime 
mover motor and generator was an economy move on the SDP's to get away
from 
fuel use and moving parts. Another factor was that in the E's, the two, 
12-cylindered engines were mounted face to face (governor end to governor

end) which meant that with respect to the overall E carbody, the two
engines 
rotated in opposite directions ... one clockwise, one counter clockwise. 

This provided a "gyroscopic" stability to the E unit frame. All in all,
they 
were dandy passenger units and did their high speed job well with sure 
footedness.

It's just amazing what we go through at the expense of trying to
economize, 
isn't it?

Joe