Re: nng - Up the hill with #18 - video

Earl is right.

The books say not to catch a slip with sand, but in reality, if you want to get your train over the road, it is impossible to always avoid it. Catching violent slips should be avoided, but if you're in a situation where you are slipping frequently and having difficulty maintaining momentum, backing the throttle off for every single one will certainly cause you to stall.

The books are full of standard practices which have exceptions in real life. A good engineman doesn't just know what the book says, but also understands the reasoning behind it and uses his judgement to know when an exception is necessary and appropriate.

I wasn't around to hear what road foremen taught on this subject back in the day, but from my own practical experience I can only imagine that if every engineer shut off for every slip every time, many railroads would have ground to a halt.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 07/01/2010 12:51PM by flatcarwillie.