Thank you! When I first moved to Wausau Wisconsin (in the 70’s) I would from time to time watch what had to be a almost daily routine - a straight drop. It dealt with a facing point switch. It was to deliver cars (usually just one) from the Milwaukee Road to the CNW. Just watching it, there seemed all kinds of thing that could go wrong. But it was constant and I never saw any issue. When the term "Dutch Drop” showed up I wondered if that was what I watched. In fact one online source I found illustrated a straight drop but called it "a dutch drop.” Here is that source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXlEQL6gaSw From what you explain very clearly below, that is NOT what I saw. A Dutch Drop with its reversal of engine direction looks truly scary. Thank you for your excellent explanation - and from experience.
I will say that when there are fewer crew members - like cases in which one person throws the switch and then gets on the rolling cars to brake them - even a straight drop gets a bit tense to watch.
Doug Hosler
I have done a heck of a lot of Dutch Drops in my 41 years. Mostly on the Penn Central but also some on the BN and BNSF (where it was against the rules). The difference between a (straight) Drop and a Dutch Drop is that the former is performed at a FACING POINT switch while the latter is performed at a TRAILING POINT switch. In both cases the point of the operation is to get the engine onto the other end of the cars where there is no run around track.
For the straight drop you simply pull on the cars to be dropped to get them moving at a reasonable speed(5-12 mph depending upon terrain), then slam on the locomotive brakes for a second to bunch the slack between the loco and the first car so the pin can be pulled, then make a full throttle rush ahead so the loco out runs the rolling cars. As soon as the loco passes over the facing point switch the brakeman throws the switch for the other route. The engine is braked to a stop just clear of the fouling point as the cars free roll into the clear on the other track. Note that neither the loco nor the cars change direction during this movement.
For the Dutch Drop you are at a TRAILING POINT switch. You start the Dutch drop same as a regular drop. That is, pull on the cars to be dropped to get them moving at a reasonable speed then slam on the locomotive brakes for a second to bunch the slack between the loco and the first car so the pin can be pulled, then make a full throttle rush ahead so the loco out runs the rolling cars. As soon as the loco passes over the TRAILING POINT switch the brakeman throws the switch for the other route. The engine is quickly braked to a stop just beyond the switch POINTS as the cars are still rolling towards the loco. Now comes the difference. The loco must change direction to MOVE TOWARDS the oncoming cars and get into the clear on the other track! While the loco is getting into the clear & braking to a stop, the brakeman again throws the switch so the free rolling cars (now passing by the loco which is on the other track) can pass over the switch. Once the rollings cars are beyond the switch points they are hand braked to a stop and the switch is thrown a 3rd time to permit the loco to come out and couple to the cars.
Doing a Dutch Drop requires that you start the operation 2 or 3 times farther from the switch than you'd do a regular drop. That is because once the loco is cut away from the rolling cars it must have more time to sprint much farther ahead of the cars so the loco has time to stop and reverse and move towards the cars to get into the clear before the rolling cars get to the switch!
If all of the crew members know what they are doing (and thus when to abort if your timing is bad) then doing Dutch Drops is no problem. In all the times I was the engineer while performing Dutch Drops I never once had a collision, side swipe, nor injury to anyone. Switch engines and most single unit EMD road engines were OK for Dutch drops. Don't try it with 3 or more units because it takes too long to get them over the switch and then reverse into the clear. And don't try it with a slow loading GE road unit.
When I worked the Penn Central's Middletown Ohio paper mills switch job, doing Dutch Drops several times each night was the only way to switch half of the plants. There simply was no other way. You get pretty good at it. The last time I did a Dutch Drop was on the BNSF's former CB&Q at Kiewit Wyoming (6 miles west of Sheridan) in 2008. Yes it was against the rules but saved us a 4 mile 10 mph run around move. I had an SW15 that was equipped with a "Kick Switch" that really let it bolt from a dead stop.
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