Pretty interesting scene I was able to witness while railfanning at Irondale in October. This tough yard slug set took this big train and with a whole lot of smoke and racket got it going again. Enjoy!
That's proper engine sound! From the smoke from the second SD40-2 you can tell that the engine governor is working to keep up with the load regulator stepping up.
I'm a retired engineer. I started out as a student engineer fro PC NJ Div. in 1974. I quit in '78 thinking CR was going to wipe out everything. I got an engineers job with ATSF in Denver Aug. 78. The unit coal trains averaged about 15,000 tons.About 85% of the trains were BN trains, then the rest was our own trains. You get The train moving, then notch out! Stand on it! Red line it, Jimmy's can take it! Lay down the sand. That's what I did working helpers, keep that slack in, scare those guys in the caboose!
Those SD40”s are tough customers ! I watched a train come South from Linwood Yard uphill from the Yadkin. Was led by a newly painted and rehabbed GP38-2 and followed by 3 Sd-40 high hoods. Those 40”s were music to my ears as they blew smoke and hauled about 75-100 hoppers of ballast rock. I got a chance to talk to the crew at 11th street while they waited on an Amtrak. Engineer told me that the newly worked GP rode the best And had AC. He said the 40’s were nasty old dinosaurs that in concert together had amazing power. He liked the old SD”s better then any GE product and the new EMD stuff
At low speeds a typical engine produces much more power than can be transferred effectively through their wheels. For that reason up to about 20 mph a slug is effective at using that excess power and transferring it to the rails, producing extra pulling force at low speeds with that excess engine power = force from electrical power that would otherwise be in 'excess' of what can be applied to the rails through the locomotive's own wheels. For trains that encounter frequent hills it would be wise to introduce a slug for every 2 locomotives, thus reducing the risk of a stall on a hill.
Major catch! Intrigued: at the end of the clip, the consist appears to slow down, presumably to stop and uncouple the rescue units - surely it would have made more sense to uncouple on the fly to maintain momentum? Subbed for slugs and other good stuff - keep up the good work!
if the train has 12000 feet long (3656 meters)sure is a very heavy train,at leat 200 wagons,and the weight approx 9000 tons.If a little gradient is here,the traction force may be more than 100 tons. If the locos dont genetate this traction force the train dont move.Mneed some aux locos. The other issue is a probably slipping with worse consequences.
It also depends on how they order them. As far as I know bnsf is the only railroad that uses the 2 traction motor setup on their locomotives. That design was their own.
Railroads back east really refuse to use rear end DPUs, huh? BNSF and UP don't have this issue out west, because the DPU, and not lazy 2X1 setups. 3x1, 3x2, etc
