On a photo shoot in the interior of Mexico, my assistant & I took a Fiat
Railbus to our final destination. It did have a steering wheel, though
unused. It wasn't that far from Heimberg's gas electric--we traveled
about as fast as traffic on a parallel 'freeway'. I would assume the
engineer would have been called the driver.
I like your description of bringing in your train. I've never had too
many privileges of riding in engine cabs on assignments, but I did put
in several hours in a MP/UP yard here in Houston. It's a flat yard with
only a slight bowl. They run 4 sets of double 1500 switchers--two sets
from each end. I can understand why people get run over as the cars are
almost silent as they are kicked loose and just drift by.
Bob Werre
PhotoTraxx
On 9/27/12 9:36 PM, Andre Ming wrote:
Tsk, tsk.
We RUN engines, not "drive" them... unless you're in Europe. Then
you're a Driver and you "drive" a train. But over here in the good
ol' US of A, we are Engineers and we "run" engines and trains.
:-)
Now, as for Alco's breaking down... I wouldn't know a thing about
that. ;-)
(Did I tell you about the one that exploded out the stack once? Ah
well... another story left for another time.)
Okay, in all seriousness:
The Alco's I run daily were all made in the early-mid 60's. The fact
that they are still gettin' it done in 2012 is... well... pretty
amazing, really. They are some darn tough engines, built like the
proverbial brick poop place. (For example, the EMD's I have run
from the same vintage had plastic controls and lots of plastic in the
control stands. These Alco's are all steel and cast metal. There is
NOTHING plastic in a mid-60's Alco.)
The Alco C420 I'm currently using on my switch job (A&M #52) is a darn
good engine for switching: Loads fast, stops good, pulls its guts out
when I ask it to.
Just today, while we were switching in the yard, the radio
crackled: As soon as we could, we were on our way to meet a train and
take tonnage off of it for Fort Smith. Once there and the train
arrived, I got ahold of 30+ cars, many of them loads, and starting
from a dead stop, got a run at a fairly formidable hill. #52 knuckled
down and got with the program and I topped the hill at the allowable
(20 MPH in this case). Not bad at all.
In a few minutes the radio crackled again:
"Did you make it over the hill?" (the TM knew it was going to a hard
pull... figuring we may have to double into the yard.)
"Stormin' your way." was my response.
Surprised, he said he would get his radio and meet us in the yard.
Once in the yard, in about 20-30 minutes we had the train broke down
and re-classified for tonight's runs. Oft times kicked cars (and
cuts) would be drifting down three different tracks at the same time.
Yup... sometimes I get aggrevated at these old Alco's... but really...
they're doing pretty good to have been in service for nearly 50 years.
Andre Ming
*From:* Jamie Bothwell <mailto:[email protected]> Bud,
I was thinking more like good, stout string for EMDs and a sort of
fine thread for Alcos. Simulates Alco's propensity for breaking
down. (So I've heard. Not to argue with two guys who actually
drove them!)
Jamie Bothwell
Bethlehem, PA
