Hi Karl and Folks:
A agree with you. I'd rather handle a mile-and-a-quarter of coal, than a
half-mile of freight. When I first went braking out of Edgemont, they were
using the ore cars to haul ballast for the 6th. Sub. (Orin Line)
construction. The ore jimmies were a real joy to deal with, especially
lining air in the Winter. Next to the drawbar, the wheels stick out
furthest from the car end. If the hoses are really stiff from the cold, you
have to squeeze your shoulders in between the wheels to to make the hoses.
When we were ballasting with the ore cars, we had quite an assortment of
power on the trains. Every version of GP-7, GP-9, and SD-9 was on the
point, some of the Geeps had swinging, steam loco-type bells. You'd get the
various styles of #6 air, and even some #24. One night, I was braking on an
Eastbound mty., with a forced Sheridan Engineer. She was "getting her rest"
at the meets, and had left the train set up with #6 air while we sat at
Osage making our meets. After the last one passed, I lined the switch and
walked back up to the motor to wake her up and tell her we could "go now".
She sat up, kicked off the air and widened on the four or five SD-9's we
had, and pulled the drawbar right out of the first car. She was more used
to #26, that didn't leak down while it was set, and there was probably no
air left in the pipe when she started the release....even the first car
hadn't thought about releasing when she started pulling :>)
Another time, after I got set up, one of our Engineers was having trouble
starting a set of loaded ore cars, with the usual assortment of power.
After a while, the Dispatcher called Gillette, and the Trainmaster came out
to show him "how it's done". The TM (Flip Wilson) took slack on the train,
came out to about 4, and not only got the drawbar, but also the draft gear
and the whole end sill assembly. Everybody got a kick out of that....except
the officials :>)
Mike Decker
----- Original Message -----
From: <BRHSlist@yahoogroups.com>
To: <BRHSlist@yahoogroups.com>
> From: "Karl L Rethwisch" <karl5631@a...>
> Subject: Heavy Trains.
>
> Ore (Taconite) trains are very heavy. Coal and potash trains are very
heavy. Long freight trains of mostly loaded cars are, or can be, very
heavy. All heavy trains have the same, or very similar, handling
characteristics. (W)RONG !!
>
> By their very nature short, heavy trains can be some of the most difficult
to handle
>
> Karl
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