Re: Doodlebug on the C&TS

You bet Ed.

The car is 60ft in length, 8.6 wide, 12ft from the top of the rail to the top of the roof. 74,000 lbs. About 15,500lbs of tractive effort. The propulsion is two 160 hp diesel engines, each with a hydraulic pump. Three powered axles by means of hydraulic motor mounted in each truck, sprockets on the drive shaft of the motor and double 120 roller chain to transmit power to the sprocket on the axle. The two inboard axles are powered. The third hydrostatic motor is mounted in the front axle, of the front truck. This third motor is normally "off line" and can be brought "on-line" in case a problem with one of the other motors, or it can be brought on-line along with the other two. With the two powered axles the capability of the car is to maintain 25 mph up a 3.2% grade, top speed on level track is 30 mph.
We unloaded the car Friday morning and friday evening we went out about 6 miles. Same on Saturday afternoon. Sunday we ran all the way to Sublette. At Lava we stopped at the bottom of the switch back so we could try going up a 4% grade from a dead stop. Walked right up and got to about 19 mph by the time we got to the top and had to slow down for the switch. Pleased to report that on all test runs we had no breakdowns. We do have a few items to tweak and adjust, which we are in the process of working on. Nothing major, some computer program changes, different set up on the air pressure regulator on the hydraulic oil resv tank. Just a few items. We had the Parker Hydraulic and Cummins reps with us as well. HVAC worked well..especially the heat. The car has controls on each end of the car. It will be possible to MU up to four cars together. Seating for 60 passengers, pantry and water closet.