Re: WW&FRy 2016 Sping Work Weekend Pictures

I agree, the grade seems a lot steeper than 3%, at least on foot, and it only seems to get steeper the farther down you go, which as luck would have it is right where the curves start. Descending the grade safely going northbound is what worries me, much more than climbing it southbound, and I see why Jason is insisting we go to automatic vacuum train brakes rather than just vacuum engine brakes plus hand brakes on the cars.

Linwood Moody had a great story in The Maine Two-Footers (page 216 in the 1998 2nd edition; I don't have the 1st edition handy to check the page number in that) of a northbound freight that was going down The Mountain "when a boxcar suddenly set up a galloping gait". The train was stopped and the crew found a "washtub-size boulder" lodged under one of the trucks, where it was rolling in the gauge of the track like a ball bearing. "Ties were badly mauled for half a mile back, but as soon as the boulder was removed, with the help of a jack and a crowbar, everything was ready to go" (!). That rock must still be there somewhere, and I wonder if we'll find it as we continue to work our way down.

-Philip Marshall



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/03/2016 01:06AM by philip.marshall.