Friday, November 1, 2013

Because It's Friday

UP 844 pulls a train without a diesel "helper".

4 comments:

  1. I've always been annoyed seeing an F, E, SD, or GP cut in behind (or, quelle horreur, sometimes ahead of) a steamer. In many of the videos I regularly see, they explain it as needed to help with dynamic braking, but I wonder how they managed those same grades back in the old days before the diesels. I understand that almost all those really heavy iron ladies were built after the advent of the diesels, but still.

    As to this vid, with only a five (or seven, depending on whether you count tenders or not) car consist, and only one a true passenger coach, I'm not surprised there's no aux power, if that's the reason they use them so much. I guess the other explanation is the heating/cooling/electrical requirements of the consist, necessitating the diesels for head end power.

    Another thing that annoys me is that UP has never painted their auxiliary tender(s) black to match the power. I don't care about the marking of the rest of the rolling stock, but the head end would look so much better all black.

    By the way, the chase cam must have had a steady mount. I've never seen such stable shots in pace. All the vids I've seen from Mark I and TSG tend to be on the shaky side. Most of them seem to be from the '80s or '90s, so maybe technology hadn't caught up for them, yet.

    LRod
    ZJX, ORD, ZAU retired

    ReplyDelete
  2. One explanation is that if the locomotive has to dump fires for any reason, the diesel can cut in and quickly clear the main line. On private excursions, the railroad can get rather shirty if the main line is fouled for any length of time. For the UP, it's their loco, so they may be willing to run the chance now and then.

    ReplyDelete
  3. multiple reasons, Engine failure is always a risk. Total load is a risk sometimes as wear and tear means more maintenance. The reason I"ve read most is a lot of the non UP engines are not up to standard for radios and signaling systems plus some cannot supply the needed power or air (or the correct levels) for the load they are towing.

    UP is an exception as they have a full maintenance staff and location plus they have continuing experience to know what is reasonable and what could be a big problem/risk. Knowing what the locos were designed for wand what they did with them for 60+ years allows for better decision making. That and large locos with the right gear and full equipment allows them to run manifest if it makes sense.

    Doesn't hurt if you also own the track!

    Eck!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ahh, that's a mellow whistle. :)

    Misfit, this an off topic note, but here's a link for the "napalm sticks to kids" you have listed up top.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpsaLApA2eQ

    ReplyDelete

House Rules #1, #2 and #6 apply to all comments. Rule #3 also applies to political comments.

In short, don't be a jackass. THIS MEANS YOU!
If you never see your comments posted, see Rule #7.

All comments must be on point and address either the points raised in the blog post or points raised by commenters in response.
Any comments that drift off onto other topics are subject to deletion.

(Please don't feed the trolls.)

中國詞不評論,冒抹除的風險。僅英語。

COMMENT MODERATION IS IN EFFECT UFN. This means that if you are an insulting dick, nobody will ever see it.