Re: Braking down grade with steam... (also D&RGW Steam Brake?)

Chris,

I am probably not the best one to answer these questions as I was CMO and never had time to qualify as an Engineer at C&TS. That having been said I did make lots of trips as fireman during which I ran, and brought light engines down the hill on more than one occasion with only another mechanical dept employee.

1. The hill flattens out at Coxo, and at Laboto. It basically ends when you come out of the narrows (still down hill but not steep).

2. I always used the Johnson bar like a big old hand brake varying between a little back of center and al the way in the rear corner. Its kind of a seat of the pants thing.

3. The valve was a ball valve. Usually when using it I had it all the way open but sometimes I would throttle it. The drifting throttle was also useful when trying to spot a light engine in the shop because you didn't get the big build up of steam in the superheater units.

4. Less than 10 mph but with out speedometers thats mostly an educated guess. The working in reverse trick works well at low speeds but not so well at higher speeds.

5. I only used this method on fairly heavy grades.

In the old days at Georgetown opposite motion was the preferred method for taking the train down the hill from Silver Plume.

John Bush