Drama on Mullan Pass 3/26/23 

It looked as though he sped the video up.

Thank you for watching. Glad you enjoyed it.

Glad you enjoyed the show!

Oh it was definitely an experience. Slack action caught me by surprise a couple times.

Thank you. This was filmed on the East slope of the pass at 2.2%. The West slope is 1.4%.

Man I would love to bend your ear about the good ole days.

Glad you enjoyed the show and thank you. As time allows, I get up on the pass as much as I can.

Thank you. I have been very fortunate a couple time up on the pass.

Wow I did not know that.

Thank you very much. My Grandfather is originally from the Netherlands.

Thank you. I am glad you enjoyed it.

As someone who's run Tehachapi for more years than I care to think about, going up is the easy part, put it in 8 and stay awake. Going down, well that depends.

$$$

I told you the slack action was hard!

That was no joke!

Thank you.

I am sure MRL colors will be around for a while.

Where are they going?

@@repro7780 BNSF has bought out MRL. Eventually they’ll go away but it’s not like they’re going to do it tomorrow.

@@DieselTech8 I found this online: The former MRL will become the MRL Subdivision of BNSF’s Montana Division. BNSF has pledged to retain all of MRL’s 1,200 union and non-union employees in their current jobs, with similar pay, benefits, and seniority, and has reached agreements with the labor unions representing MRL employees.

FNBS LMAO. Not a fan eh?

I live in Helena. When is the Railfair?

@@DieselTech8 30 April at the Civic Center. I will be on the main floor in the NE corner, as usual. Livingston's show is the 22nd of April at the depot.

@@BadlandNP awesome, I mill make sure to mark my calendar.

@@DieselTech8 Sounds good, look me up! I'll be wearing a black stetson.

My thoughts exactly.

Some weak knuckles you can not find until they break.

I think 3 are running

@@nigelslade5276 nope only the 4300 is under load.

@@DieselTech8 Hi ! Do you know why they dont use all the locos at end of the train??? All this power will push this train uphill in a hurry :)

@@Ferrosteph There are rules on how much lower a train can have and too much power on the end can cause the train to derail.

@@DieselTech8 Yep. We were on MRL with an AAPRCO special with 11 cars and 1 + Amtrak locos and stalled out. I say 1+ because the second one was having problems when it got to Denver and they took the one we were to have and stuck us with the bum one. We were already on the cars generators to get the load off the locos as our speed continued to drop until we stalled out. MRL had added an extra SD-40 on the front of the following freight in case that happened. The crew of the freight asked if they could just cut all the head end locos off their freight and come up and push. The dispatcher made it very clear that they were only to take the lead SD-40 and come up to push. We went up the grade after that doing 40 MPH with the SD-40 shoving on the rear car which had been cleared of all passengers. We were mid-train so got a good view of everything going on on every curve. Been over 20 years ago now but the curve in the beginning was very familiar. The fun of mountain railroading.

It is due to the tonnage of the train that depends on where the helpers are placed.

I had the radio close to the camera but the wind was drowning out the chatter.

Only one is running.

Finished lumber.

That's exactly what I said. That's like having 1.6 million pounds roughly just sitting there not helping at all

It all has to do with allowable power by the FRA

Sometimes power needs to be moved too.

Uniden BC125AT with a Diamond RH77CA antenna.

@@DieselTech8 105$ that's not too bad.i was actually thinking on heading up there this Friday,do some poking around a bit and see what's there.i do a lot of chasing the Milwaukee railroad stuff normally but railroad passes are always cool

@@MontanaDirtRoads I am a big fan of the Milwaukee Road as well.

@@DieselTech8 ya I've chased it from Baker all the way out past butte lol, been on many of the sidings ,crossed many bridges and in some tunnels, gonna go from st Regis to st Marie Idaho on the grade this june

Not gonna make it up, kids where not deserving to go.

When the head end rolls past the camera in reverse, you can hear the Dynamic Brakes engaged. The trains wheels turning actually generates electricity through the traction motors and is used to slow the consist. The extreme heat that it generates is dissipated through the cooling fans you see on the top of the locomotives.

Wheelslip? Idk

I guess.

When should I except you?

Mid July would be great, thats roughly our plan to pass through

If you have too much force pushing on the rear of the train, you can derail lighter cars at the rear of the train. Think of it like trying to push a piece of string.

@@DieselTech8 That much I did know, Austin but it seemed like most of the weight was at the rear. Thanks for the info though.

@@mostlyinterested1016 your welcome. There are also FRA rules on horsepower placement in a train etc.

@@DieselTech8 Again, a great answer. Not my area of expertise. I appreciate the info.

Pulled knuckle is another term used to describe a broken coupler.

Notch 8 is notch 8. Not really any more stress on the unit unless you’re stalled out, and not like it’s 100 degrees out here right now either.

@Jack Norman have you operated trains on a mountain grade before?

Something tells me that there is a very tricky balance of very heavy stuff going on here. In engineering, everything is a spring. My guess is with trains, everything is a string. Being pulled and pushed from both ends, uphill and down hill. Try pushing a string uphill without buckling it. And when the lead engines crest, they need to start decelerating while the helper engines are still accelerating. Don't bend or break that string! Thanks!