Them Ol' Steem injines

[NW Mailing List]

On 8/16/2015 10:53 AM, NW Mailing List via NW-Mailing-List wrote:
> Ed, how did they manage to get those trains started using slack in 
> their favor??

Dave,
     The same way that you start one of today's trains on the mountain. 
First of all you have to have good traction. Good sanders are a must! 
And, we can all see from old photos of all of that white sand on the 
track on the Blue Ridge grade that the engines must have had some pretty 
good sanders. Today's diesel powered trains may be even harder to start 
than one with a steam locomotive. The reason being is that the axles of 
a diesel are not interconnected like those on a steam loco. If one axle 
begins to slip, then the unit starts dropping its load and if you are up 
against the tonnage limit, you have to stop and start over again in 
order to get the power back to the rails. I have had this happen many a 
time. If you know you are going to have to stop on a heavy grade, it is 
a very good idea to stop on sand so that when you do try to start the 
train, it is there when you need it...not inches or feet away.
     The other thing is easing into the power. You can get away on the 
mountain without taking slack. You just have to be patient, easing into 
the power in order not to slip the drivers.
     There were a very very few times in the rain when the sanders were 
out of sand or they were not putting much sand on the rail, that I had 
to use a small amount of engine brake in order to keep a lead axle from 
slipping in order to keep from stalling the train. How that was done is 
one of the little tricks that I kept in my "Book of Experience" and not 
something to be tried by the casual engineer.
     And, while I am on the subject of keeping a train from stalling, 
there were many times when traction was a hard thing to come by that 
easing off of the throttle was the way to get over the hill. Even with a 
tonnage train, you can usually get over the hill in the 6th notch and I 
had to do that when the conditions warranted it.

Jimmy Lisle