H-6, H-8 and R4-RL Brake Valves on Engines

[NW Mailing List]

First, as far as I know there was no such thing as an H-8 brake; there was
an 8-ET which was on lots of N&W engines.  N&W was continually seeking more
efficient methods of bringing loaded coal trains down mountains.  The use
of wrought steel wheels minimized the necessity for stopping at the foot of
grades to cool wheels, but stops or slowdons to handle retainers was
still necessary.
Westinghouse developed the 24RL brake which had pressure maintaining which
meant that you didn't have to worry about leakage decreasing the brake
application.  I personally liked the 24RL better than the later 26L because
it made an application quicker.  I never workedon the Radford Division but
Hank Kinzel told me that he and his engineer  used to have contests about
who co train uld bring a coal train down from Christiansburg with the least
brake pipe reduction.  I think ten pounds was about the least they could
do.
The railroad disliked stopping at the bottom to turn down retainers.
Westinghouse developed a new 4 position retainer with a slow direct release
position.  N&W bought 40000 pf tjese retaomers fpr cpa; cars' Their use
meant that coming off Alleghany Mountain you could  kick the air off around
Shawsville and they'd release coming into Elliston.
N&W bought 157 sets of 24RL brakes witht e maintaining feature; 100 for the
2100s, 43 for the As and 140for the Js,
Contrast this with the Wabash ad NKPboth of which had Geeps with the 6BL
brakes.  Of course, they didn't have any mountains to bring col trains down.
Hope this helps.
-Ed King




On Mon, Jul 29, 2024 at 9:23 PM NW Mailing List via NW-Mailing-List <
nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote:

> Mr. King is probably the only man on this List who can answer these two
> questions...
>
> 1. Did not the N&W add the Pressure Maintaining feature to its schedule
> H-8 brake equipment on passenger engines, when pressure Maintaining came
> out ? Or did they just immediately convert some steam engines to the 24
> brake, in order to get Pressure Maintaining?
>
> 2. Were any of the first few N&W Diesels delivered with the old H-8 brake
> valves? I have seen lots of H-8 valves on the Diesel engines of other
> roads, but cannot recall clearly about the early N&W RS-3s and GP-7s.
>
> Thanks.
>
> -- abram burnett
> Turnips Reimagined !
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