Re: Stack talk

John West Wrote:
=======================================================
> Some years earlier a friend and I rode one of the
> regular trains. Earl was the engineer. I don't
> know how the tonnage compared to the charter
> freight, but I sat back in open car, closed my
> eyes, and just listened. Non stop from La Veta to
> the summit. It was an impressive bark, easing off
> slightly only for one or two flat spots.
>
> JBWX
>

La Veta's grade is best described as "unrelenting". Once out of town and passing the siding, throttle goes into the tank and unless the engine slips, it stays there for the next hour and 20 minutes. There are some roller coaster hills for the first 3 miles where you wind up every last ounce of speed you can and hit the grades hooked as high as she'll run and you might hit 28mph, only to be dragged down to 12-13 when you top the hump, then down you'd go down into the sag getting all you can get out of her to charge up the next one. Finally, you settle into the long slog up the hill. Unlike Cumbres which has lots of little sags and steep spots, La Veta is pretty constant. There are only 2 sags of note, one above Occidental Siding where the loading spurs for the Occidental Coal Co. went off the main, and another about 2 miles from the top where the track turns back on itself at MP 205. In both cases, the throttle stays wide open, and as the speed begins to come up, the Johnson bar gets hooked up higher and higher to reduce the power created. In both cases, one gets pretty close to the highest notch the engine will run in, then the grades stiffens again and you start dropping her down again until your back into the grind up the hill.

It was a cool gig.