What Shall We Discuss?
- Thread starter brakie
- Start date
What about M.U. ing? I've seen shots of F units, both A and B, that run like one, single articulated engine with two cabs at either end, and otheres where one F unit's nose is to another's backside. I'm just currious about why the latter is used.
Actually our locals was assembled by the yard crew.We just coupled the engine,pump the air and left the yard at normal yard speed.
Those old conductors would rearrange their train into working order at a out laying yard after all there isn't anything as messy as a unworkable train.
A early quit on a local? What's that? Never had a early quit in my 9 1/2 years of railroading.I recall one time we made good time switching out industries on a urban industrial branch in Columbus but,spent 2 hours waiting on clearance to enter the main and when we did get that clearance we was held by the operator at C&O's LM tower(now called Scotio tower) so he could run trains across the diamond.We was held roughly 45 minutes(if memory serves) so no early quit for us even though we had a short local and finish our work in good time as I mention..
As far as work time none of those old birds will tell the DS he would finish in X amount of minutes.After all those old birds was set in their ways and didn't like those "shiny fanny" office railroaders(dispatchers) that had little or no knowledge of "real" railroadin'.
It doesn't matter which way trailing units in a consist face. In the transition era, an A-B, A-A, A-B-A, A-B-B or A-B-B-A set of cab units would be treated as one locomotive and rarely uncoupled. Over time, this view declined, and cab units were used almost at random, mixed with hood units.
Well I was definitely no "old head". I only was on for 6 years, so I never became an old head either. I had my ways though, and it worked. I was working Jessup (maryland) yard about this time and Jessup was Known for early quits. Jessup had 4 locals, 2 placed and pulled auto racks, the other 2 were over the road turns. I was able to hold these jobs during the winter, when the weather turned nice I usually got bumped to the extraboard.
Surprisingly I spent my last 2 years on the Richmond-Philadelphia Inter-divisional Pool and had enough seniority to not get bumped.
Dave
Say I have a branch line with 15 industries and 2 small interchanges.
Would a line that small have a yard? Or would all the car shuffling be done at the interchanges and industry tracks? And what about servicing the loco. How would that be done?
Loren
Would a line that small have a yard? Or would all the car shuffling be done at the interchanges and industry tracks? And what about servicing the loco. How would that be done?
Loren
If I was building a layout with those specifications, depending on the amount of space I had, I might have a single track for [light] engine servicing -- fuel, sand, water, whatever -- and no yard or a small "branch line" sized yard. If you have interchange tracks, they would be your connection to a bigger world "off the table" where the larger engine facility and division-sized yard could be.
One of the things taken into consideration would be the tonnage rating of the locomotives available. This is something that you can duplicate on your layout.
You need to make a "test train", which can be a random selection of the rolling stock that you normally use, or it can be a train of similar cars of similar weight. I use the latter - a number of Athearn 34' two-bay hoppers, all with "live' loads, giving a weight of 8 ounces per car, plus an Athearn caboose, which weighs four ounces. I assemble a train of any reasonable length, then attempt to run it up the steepest grade on a subdivision of the railroad. Chances are I'll have to remove some cars before the loco can take the train up the grade with little wheelslip. When the loco is able to do so, I count the number of hoppers, then multiply that number by the weight that I've arbitrarily assigned to these hoppers, which is 70 tons (20 tons tare, and 50 tons of cargo). The caboose is another 70 tons, for simplicity's sake.
If a loco can move 6 hoppers and the caboose up the grade, then I rate that loco, on this particular subdivision, at 490 tons. On another subdivision with a steeper grade or one with more curveature, the same loco might be capable of handling only 4 hoppers and the caboose. Therefore, its tonnage rating on this division would be only 350 tons. Not all of my trains are composed of loaded hoppers, and I've developed other formulae to account for lighter "general freight" trains, but the idea is similar.
So, using the examples above, if I need to move 10 hoppers and the caboose up that second, more severe grade, (a train weight of 770 tons), I'd need three locos like the one in the test example to do so. On the less-demanding grade, two locos would be sufficient.
To use this system of tonnage ratings, you need to actually test each of your locos, rather than rely on the fact that a prototype GP60 can pull more than a prototype GP9 - both of the models may pull the same amount. Once you've established your tonnage ratings, you'll be able to deploy your locomotive fleet more effectively.
Wayne
You need to make a "test train", which can be a random selection of the rolling stock that you normally use, or it can be a train of similar cars of similar weight. I use the latter - a number of Athearn 34' two-bay hoppers, all with "live' loads, giving a weight of 8 ounces per car, plus an Athearn caboose, which weighs four ounces. I assemble a train of any reasonable length, then attempt to run it up the steepest grade on a subdivision of the railroad. Chances are I'll have to remove some cars before the loco can take the train up the grade with little wheelslip. When the loco is able to do so, I count the number of hoppers, then multiply that number by the weight that I've arbitrarily assigned to these hoppers, which is 70 tons (20 tons tare, and 50 tons of cargo). The caboose is another 70 tons, for simplicity's sake.
If a loco can move 6 hoppers and the caboose up the grade, then I rate that loco, on this particular subdivision, at 490 tons. On another subdivision with a steeper grade or one with more curveature, the same loco might be capable of handling only 4 hoppers and the caboose. Therefore, its tonnage rating on this division would be only 350 tons. Not all of my trains are composed of loaded hoppers, and I've developed other formulae to account for lighter "general freight" trains, but the idea is similar.So, using the examples above, if I need to move 10 hoppers and the caboose up that second, more severe grade, (a train weight of 770 tons), I'd need three locos like the one in the test example to do so. On the less-demanding grade, two locos would be sufficient.
To use this system of tonnage ratings, you need to actually test each of your locos, rather than rely on the fact that a prototype GP60 can pull more than a prototype GP9 - both of the models may pull the same amount. Once you've established your tonnage ratings, you'll be able to deploy your locomotive fleet more effectively.
Wayne
Sure would..Where else would you place your overflow cars(cars that can't be spotted at the industry due to siding capacity)? Then how about your home road empty cars for loading when called for?
Of course some short lines doesn't have a yard so the "yard" could be a former passing track or the interchange IF there is more then one track.
As far as engine servicing that would depend on era.The steam era would have a small coal tower,a watering tank and maybe a one stall engine house.
In more modern times a local fuel dealer could refuel the locomotive and there may be a single track sanding tower or 2 laborers from the engine terminal could add sand to the locomotive by hand.