Re: NNG - SLRG's busy and "interesting" weekend.....
| September 22, 2009 05:29PM |
That is a very interesting story and the fun of railrailing. To add to the fun, maybe this could lead to some questions that might not be pleasant.
Is there an opening for a “New Trainmaster”?
Were all of the 22 empties of the urgent nature that a few might have been left for the next trip? Will there be a repair of the sanding valves to control it to a very light flow so they can climb the entire grade without depleting the sand boxes? Can the sand be used from the head unit only first until that runs out and then open the sand on the second unit?
And to really push the envelope, will you carry a tow bar on #18 which is built with two holes in each end, just the size of the coupler pins, remove the two knuckles, and link and pin the engines together and have a goose–neck hose to hook the air line? This is legal as the Safety Appliance Act required automatic couplers on “Cars in interstate commerce” and it did not apply to locomotives. And, all in the know, have seen split knuckles in couplers of many locomotives, and they were not all prior to 1903. Often in very heavy re-railing pulls, my car department inserted a very heavy tow bar between two coupler pins to pull the car when you could not coupler to it. Once, a pin broke out of the coupler as the coupler casting broke apart at the top of the pin. Always stand clear. Tow cables were most often used and wrapped around the shank of the coupler.
At Antonito, on Sept. 27, 1970, we coupled #483 nosed into the snow plow front end of another dead engine by finding in a tool car, a pair of two couplers welded together and dropped that over the two couplers. The 483 ran backward to Lava where it was turned and the tender coupler to the dead engine that was dropped at Big Horn, and exchanged for other engines being relayed to Chama. That size of unit would be too hard to handle out on the road, but a heavy bar link could be in the tool box of #18 for such a situation, and save time.
Even the dead head move of #18 down to the stalled train and return to Fir might have helped them as it could have sanded the rails for their following advance.
Regardless of all the question for the fun of it, that was an interesting save and I'm sure everyone felt they received fine return for their fares. More entertainment than they expected.
Is there an opening for a “New Trainmaster”?
Were all of the 22 empties of the urgent nature that a few might have been left for the next trip? Will there be a repair of the sanding valves to control it to a very light flow so they can climb the entire grade without depleting the sand boxes? Can the sand be used from the head unit only first until that runs out and then open the sand on the second unit?And to really push the envelope, will you carry a tow bar on #18 which is built with two holes in each end, just the size of the coupler pins, remove the two knuckles, and link and pin the engines together and have a goose–neck hose to hook the air line? This is legal as the Safety Appliance Act required automatic couplers on “Cars in interstate commerce” and it did not apply to locomotives. And, all in the know, have seen split knuckles in couplers of many locomotives, and they were not all prior to 1903. Often in very heavy re-railing pulls, my car department inserted a very heavy tow bar between two coupler pins to pull the car when you could not coupler to it. Once, a pin broke out of the coupler as the coupler casting broke apart at the top of the pin. Always stand clear. Tow cables were most often used and wrapped around the shank of the coupler.
At Antonito, on Sept. 27, 1970, we coupled #483 nosed into the snow plow front end of another dead engine by finding in a tool car, a pair of two couplers welded together and dropped that over the two couplers. The 483 ran backward to Lava where it was turned and the tender coupler to the dead engine that was dropped at Big Horn, and exchanged for other engines being relayed to Chama. That size of unit would be too hard to handle out on the road, but a heavy bar link could be in the tool box of #18 for such a situation, and save time.
Even the dead head move of #18 down to the stalled train and return to Fir might have helped them as it could have sanded the rails for their following advance.
Regardless of all the question for the fun of it, that was an interesting save and I'm sure everyone felt they received fine return for their fares. More entertainment than they expected.
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488 stops for water at Los Pinos tank on closing day Oct. 1979. Photo courtesy Don Richter
The NGDF was started by Don Richter and is currently operated in his memory by Nathan Holmes and others. Others who have contributed to the upkeep of this board are (in no particular order): Charles McCandless, Everett Lueck, Ted Wilton, Cole Adams, James Bane, John Moellmer, Jon Bentz, Linn Moedinger, lloyd lehrer, Rod Jensen, John Craft, Steven Forney, Herb Kelsey, Bill Ramaley, Russ Sperry (El Russo Loco), Josh McNeal, John West, Jim Armstrong, Bob Bergstrom, Greg Scholl, Blake Forbes Doug van Veelen and Mark Fuller.