Ed & group,
I knew 65 mph was about the max for all the Q's locomotives except for
the E's and the SD-45's- but I'll bet the engineers had the GP's pushed
right up to the thresh-hold when they were used in passenger service and
wished they had an E unit instead. Once in awhile I would see SD-9's
substituting for the usual E-7 or E-8's on the Billings- Denver trains but
with a 59 mph limit for passenger trains it was never a problem. I used to
imagine the engineer with reigns in his hands holding back those E units on
trains 29-30 while they were slogging along at 59 mph on the Billings-Denver
line and would chuckle to myself that if he ever dropped them- he would
arrive in Denver 10 hours early! Those E units liked to run! Our Lines West
operation was a lot different from what I used to see when I visited my Aunt
in Stoddard, Wi. on the Twin Cities mainline. I was pretty young- but I
still remember when the LaCrosse Division was one of the fastest stretches
of track in the U.S. and the 90 mph max. authorized speed for the TCZ, EB
and NCL ran most of the way from just south of St. Paul to Aurora.
One other thing while we are on passenger service. On page 196 of John
F. Strauss' Northern Pacific Pictorial Vol 4 (Four Ways West) he shows the
1951 equipment for the CB&Q's passenger trains in and out of Billings. Under
CB&Q's "Yellowstone Park Special" it lists "E- Series Locomotive,
Baggage-Express Car, Billings-Cody, Coach, Billings-Cody, 10 Sections- 1
Compartment-1 Drawing Room Sleeping Car, Chicago-Cody via Twin Cities which
transferred in Billings to and from the NCL. Does anyone else have any
documentation that shows E units running to Cody? I grew up and lived in
Powell, Wy. (from 1955 to 1966) which is on the Cody branch but passenger
service to Yellowstone had ended by 1955 (I think 1952 or 1953 was the last
year). The thought of E units running through my home town made me sit up
and do a double take and I would love to find more information on this.
John Olson
Jim's Junction
Billings, Mt.
----------
>From: Ed DeRouin <PIXELS@A...>
>To: <BRHSlist@egroups.com>
>Subject: Re: [BRHSlist] Locals
>Date: Thu, Dec 7, 2000, 11:15 AM
>
>> Not to mention the fact that it was also 90 MPH territory. I'll bet the
>> GP-7's were hard pressed to make time with passenger trains on that segment
>> of track and those traction motors must have really been screaming at
>> Redlined Max. RPM's!
>
> John:
>
> The GP7's, as well as other geeps and SD's of that generation had 65 mph
> gearing. I suspect if they even approached 90,the traction motor armatures
> would be in the process of uncoiling........
>
> Ed DeRouin
>
>
>
>
>
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