August 24, 2017
Group - This is as good a description of operating diesels in helper
service that I've ever read. I hope this is picked-up by the BRHS and expanded
with images for an article in either the Bulletin or Zephyr. This is exactly the
kind of Q operations history that needs to be preserved for future
generations.
I would think that any Q steam locomotive engineers experienced in
helper service on Lines West are long gone to the big roundhouse in the
sky. However, may be a Group member having Q rule books and/or Sheridan
Division employee time tables might find some useful data on
how steam helpers were used.
Also, keep in mind that diesel helpers weren't tied to coal chutes and
water tanks as their steam predecessors were. If by some miracle a Sheridan
Division steam era engineer can be found to share his memories, now, that
would indeed be an interesting addition to this thread. Best Regards -
Louis
Louis Zadnichek II
Fairhope, AL
In a message dated 8/23/2017 2:10:36 P.M. Central Daylight Time,
CBQ@yahoogroups.com writes:
A recent thread
asked about handling _steam_ engine helpers. I didn't hire onto the RR until
1968 so my experience is with diesels but I thought some might be interested
to hear about how we ran helpers. I worked for the Penn Central and for
BN/BNSF for 40 years. I ran A LOT of helpers at many locations, helping trains
distances of less than a mile to 215 miles. Most of this post took place on
former CB&Q lines but during the BN era so if Moderators feel it is off
topic go ahead and delete it.
I hired out in '68 on the NYC side of the
new PC and we did use helpers on heavy trains getting out of Cincinnati,
usually coupled to the front of the road power but occasionally shoving on the
rear. But most of my helper experience was for the BN on former CBQ lines at
Crawford Hill, Angora, Belle Ayr, and Sheridan Helpers.
Every
where I worked it was required by rule that the train air brakes be hooked up
to the helper consist, whether the helper wa s on the front, in the middle, or
on the rear of the train. That was so the helper engineer could tell by
watching his air brake gauges when the train engineer was setting the brakes.
It was also so the helper engines would go into emergency if the train
brakes were put into emergency and vice versa. Imagine if you were on a
rear-end helper traveling at speed and your helper derailed. Yes it happens.
Without the air brake hoses connected to the train there would be no way for
the helper engineer to put the train into emergency to stop it. Before radios
were common you'd be in real trouble as the train dragged you helplessly along
behind it. With radios you better hope they worked well, and even then there
would be extra delay between the time your helper derailed, you contacted the
train engineer and he understood what was going on, and he put the train into
emergency from the front end.
When diesel locomotive air brakes go into
emergency it trips the Power Contro l Switch (PCS) which causes the locos to
stop producing power and return to idle. Thus the train engineer can 'shut
down' rear end or midtrain helpers by putting his train, and thus the helpers,
into emergency. And similarly the helper engineer can put the train into
emergency and 'shut down' the train's lead locos by doing the
same.
When coupling helpers to the rear end or on the point the rules
required an air brake test before departure. This was not always done.
For
very short assists of only a mile or 2 often the train air was not coupled to
the helper. This was against the rules but crews took their chances and as
long as nothing happened the officials tended to ignore it. An example would
be shoving a train out of a yard and over a short but steep hill, as is the
case at CBQ/BN Sheridan WY 1.6% grade departing eastbound. Or if you were
waiting at a siding to meet a train coming up a hill and that train stalled on
the hill, you'd cut y our power off your train, go down the hill to where he
was stalled, knuckle onto his front end and by 'double-heading' pull him up
the hill stopping between switches. Cut your power off and duck in behind your
own train to let him pass. Then come out and run around your train to get back
on its head end and proceed.
Where I worked when helper engines were
added to the front of a train, how they were connected and handled depended
upon how far the train was going to be helped.
If it was only a few miles
then usually only the train brake pipe would be connected, the train engineer
would cut out his brake valve and the helper engineer would control the train
air. Each engineer would control the throttle on his consist (double head).
If the train was to be helped say 20-110+ miles then the helper engines
would be fully MU'd to the train's locos, the train engineer would run all
locos and the train from the former helper unit while the helper engine er
just went along for the ride.
After the help the helper units would be cut
off and the helper engineer would run them light back to the terminal or help
another train.
With helpers on the rear of a train a good helper
engineer made a lot of difference in how the train engineer handled the train.
With a good helper engineer who knew what he was doing almost no radio
communication was needed between the two. The train engineer when ready to go
might call up the helper engineer and say something like "Here comes the
release, lean on 'em". From then on there would be almost no communication as
the helper engineer knew when and where to ease off topping the hills or small
humps and when to leave 'em in 8. But with a newbie or doofus helper engineer
there was a lot of radio chatter between them as the train engineer was
constantly telling the helper when to shove, when to notch down to #6 or #4 to
prevent getting slammed with slack the helper shoved into you,
etc.
Usually our helpers shoved on the rear of trains. The train air
would be coupled up and cut in to the helper units. At the end of the shove we
almost always cut the helpers off on the fly. This was somewhat dangerous but
I don't know of anyone getting hurt doing it. The conductor and brakeman were
not allowed to ride in a caboose while it was being shoved so they would ride
in the last helper unit to keep an eye on the track behind and the helper
engineer would run from the unit next to the caboose. Near the end of the
shove the conductor & brakeman would walk up through the helper units and
while still moving cross over the gap between the helper unit and the caboose,
usually by swinging from loco steps to caboose steps. One of them would lean
in and reach around front of the helper loco from its steps to close the
anglecock and then close the caboose anglecock from the caboose platform. They
would pull the coupler pin and the helper engineer would gradually throttle
down a notch at a time until the caboose pulled away from the helper. The
helper engineer would immediately set the independent brakes and
stop.
After too many cabooses derailed at the newer longer switches
(low angle frogs), we had to use 'drawbar blocks'. These were steel devices
that fit over the top of the caboose drawbars and had small steel blocks that
fit between the side of the drawbar & the caboose frame. They limited the
amount of caboose 'skew' when it was being shoved. When uncoupling helpers on
the fly the rear end crew also had to remove those drawbar blocks from both
ends of the caboose and toss them onto the deck of the helpers.
We also
began to get too many hotboxes from shoving on cabooses with brass bearings.
So an edict was issued that we could no longer shove on brass bearing
cabooses. The helpers had to be cut in just ahead of the caboose. This
obviously ended the practice of cutting off on the fly since we had to switch
out the helpers and recouple the caboose to the train. This was accomplished
in several different ways depending upon the terrain where you cut off.
1.
If the terrain was down hill the train would stop just past the siding switch,
the helpers would shove the caboose backwards past the switch then get into
the clear. The rear end crew would then roll the caboose down to a joint on
the train using the handbrake to control it. A variation of this method was
for the rear end crew to uncouple the caboose from the helpers on the fly just
before reaching the switch. That way when the train stopped beyond the switch
the caboose was already clear of the switch and the helpers did not need to
shove it back, they just got in the clear and the caboose was rolled onto the
train.
2. If the terrain was flat or slightly uphill where the helpers cut
off and the caboose would not roll onto the train then after the helpers got
into the clear the train could ba ck up to couple onto its caboose.
3. If
the terrain was such that neither of the above methods would work then the
helpers had to run around the caboose through the siding and come up behind it
to shove it back onto the train.
Having to pull a brass bearing caboose
when shoving a train was a PITA. Luckily we could still shove on roller
bearing cabooses thus eliminating all the cutting in and switching out of the
caboose, and still permitting cutting off on the fly.
When the use of
cabooses was discontinued we soon got 'Helper-Link' which is a device attached
to the air hoses of the helper engine. In effect it 'couples' the train air to
the helper units via radio signals between it and the train's FRED rather than
actually coupling up the air hoses. With Helper-Link the helper brakes follow
the train's brakes and it will put the helpers into emergency if the train
goes into emergency. The helper engineer can also put the train into emergen
cy if needed. The Helper-Link can also be commanded by radio to pull the
coupler pin. Thus now the helper engineer can cut off on the fly without ever
getting out of his seat.
Several decades ago there were occasionally
some odd, and mostly 'illegal' helper situations.
For instance I have
assisted a stalled train up a hill taking my own train with me and then
cutting off on-the-fly at the top.
I have also snuck up behind and coupled
NON-STOP onto a struggling but MOVING train ahead with my own 110 car empty
coal train and then shoved him several miles over a hill where we cut off
on-the-fly.
In either of these cases, had the train being shoved gone into
emergency it could have been messy.
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Posted by: LZadnichek@aol.com
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