Re: Diesels and the C&TS - I remember that day

Seems to me we did some work on 488 and wanted give it something to pull. There was a work train called for the 19 and I was running it, so we let 488 drag us up to Lobato, where 488 cut off and went home while we motored forth with the 19. I recall being towed to the bottom of the 4%. I opened up the 19 wide.... and with the exception of making a bunch of noise and smoke, 19 provided absolutely no usable power at 12 mph.
19's trouble (as is already known) is lack of horsepower. It has a bunch of tractive effort and is great for moving stuff slow. 19 will take 3 loads of ballast up the hill at the same speed it takes 2 - 6 mph. At that speed it is simply a tractive effort battle. It takes horsepower to move a train at speed, and 360 HP isn't very much.