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As you might expect....Leo's comments invoked a story of an actual event in which I was a vital participant. It was a bitterly cold night at Blue Island in the wanning days of Rock Island passenger service...Either 1963 or 64. No. 9..the Corn Belt Rocket was due out of LaSalle St. at 10:00pm..That night on the rear end was business car No.98 occupied by VPO O.W. Limestall.
I was in the plush Trainmaster's office at Blue Island listening to the railroad radio and listening on the Tower line intercom. I heard 16th St. Tower report 9 by about on time.
A few minutes later over the radio came this call: "Rock Island No. 9 calling the Blue Island Trainmaster...it was Road Foreman Louie Lonegran who was riding the head end of No. 9 as was always the practice when a business car was on the move. I answered the radio. Louis ID' himself and said..Would you go over to the roundhouse and get a can of alcohol and meet No. 9 at the depot. We've got a "froze up" trainline.
I immediately sprung into action...Ran downstairs...jumped into the company "jeep" and raced over to the roundhouse..The RH foreman had heard the call and had one of those cans with a spout like you used to see at old time filling stations used to put water in car radiators filled with alcohol.
I grabbed the can...set it on the floor and raced down to the Blue Island depot just as 9 was stopping arrayed in a great cloud of steam and brake shoe smoke. I grabbed the can and ran over to the rear end of the third unit just as the fireman and Louie ran back. Somebody climbed in between the nose of the rear facing A unit and uncoupled the airbrake line. Somebody else grabbed the can and started pouring the alcohol into the brake pipe on the head end of the first car. I think at least part of the stuff got into the trainline, but a good portion went on the ground.
There I was...me with a college education...standing on the ground in my suit, fedora hat and overcoat (standard railroad official's uniform in those days) freezing to death watching the utter chaos taking place at my feet.
After emptying the can...it was handed back to me...The air coupled up...brakes tested and away went No. 9 with...hopefully working airbrakes.
I took the can back to the roundhouse and repaired back to the TM's office thinking...Did I really sign up for this much fun???? when I hired out.
Well, as one old time railroader once said and which I often not only retell...but endorse..."What we endure with hardship, we remember with delight"...If that little incident hadn't happened on "my watch" I would not have had the pleasure of regaling you guys with it here and being able to provide a practical illustration of the reason for an "after cooler" which removed moisture from compressed air and thus minimized occurrences such as described here.
Pete.
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From: qutlx1@aol.com [CBQ] <CBQ@yahoogroups.com> To: <CBQ@yahoogroups.com> <CBQ@yahoogroups.com> Sent: Thu, Feb 11, 2016 8:01 am Subject: [CBQ] was NW1/NW2 question,now condensation,winter freeze ups I'd like to expand on Petes comments in the NW1/2 discussion about condensation and winter
Freeze ups. On the operations side these were real concerns. Back in the late 60s when I spent Sunday's at Eola roundhouse (see Zephyr 65), one step in the refueling process was to open the valve on the air reservoir tank to drain off any accumulated condensation. There was usually some in every tank. In winter one could actually feel and see the moisture in the air when train lines were parted. It was somewhat routine for mechanical forces to add chemicals to train lines in deep bitter winter weather to decrease condensation. A "good" trainman,switchman or carman would tap the glad hands of snow covered air hose glad hands together before coupling the air in winter to avoid adding more moisture to the air system. While at the moment I can't recall a particular incident; I have read of cases where trains lost their air brakes while in route due to an ice blockage in the air lines. At the last Mendota BRHS meet Bill Greenwood gave a very nice presentation about working at Mendota in the 50s. One story was about the eastbound California Zephyr engineer who realized he had no air when trying to slow for the big curve in town. At least one of the domes actually scrapped the tower as the train passed. Yes it was tilted to that degree. The engineer finally got the train stopped out near the "electrics" at the east end of town. He and the fireman got down and sat on the rail in front of the loco. While regaining their composure. Leo Phillipp __._,_.___ Posted by: jpslhedgpeth@aol.com __,_._,___ |