| Author |
|
lakota
Moderator Group
Nissan Frontier Forums Moderator
Joined: Feb 14 2005
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1815
Member's Gallery:
View Gallery
Location:
U.S. - Texas
|
| Posted: Nov 22 2019 at 3:20pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
..
Here are a couple more old railroad locomotive facts
How do you steer a locomotive
Most steam locomotives had a pilot (cow catcher) with foot boards and a knuckle
coupler all fastened to the main frame. It was reported in the early days that hitting
pigs was responsible for derailing many locomotives. The ’cow catcher’ helped in
removing many types of objects from getting under the wheels.
Steering is not a problem with locomotives designed for low speed they tend to stay
on the track at those speeds. These are normally 0-6-0 and 0-8-0 yard switchers. The
faster a locomotive is operated the more centrifugal force resists the engine going
around a curve. So the faster locos were equipped with ‘pilot trucks’ of two or four
wheels. These trucks were spring loaded in a way that helped start the powered drivers
into the direction of the curve.
The two or four wheels trucks following the drivers can stabilize the drivers in the
curve and also help carry the weight of the larger fireboxes. In a very few locomotives
a trailing booster truck under the firebox was steam powered.
Some locomotives were equipped with flange greasers. The larger engines with more
driving wheels created the problem of flanges rubbing the inside o the rails in curves.
Flange greasers had to be designed such that the lubricant did not get on the contact surface
of the drivers and/or rail tops.
Locomotives designed with many powered drivers had no flanges on some of the
drivers in the middle of the group of the powered wheels. Removing the flanges of
these wheels not only aided traveling through the curve but reduced wear and
tear on the rails and the locomotives such as the side connecting rods.
Double-heading steam locomotives meant the railroad could pull longer trains only
adding an engineer and fireman but still only two brakemen
and a conductor. I’m sure the railroads quickly thought that connecting two
locomotives together as one would stop the need for the second engineer and fireman.
BTW,… I made and have been selling a video of a Cumbres and Toltec triple header I shot in 1990.
Over the years there were several types of articulated steam locomotives.
There was the Santa Fe 3000 class. Today the Union Pacific still runs the steam
articulated Challenger and Big Boy. These have a ridged frame and boiler but
the front pilot, pistons and drivers can move into the curves before the main frame
with a second set of pistons and drivers and cab.
Have a good one.. Don S..
__________________
PLEASE >>> A SIG similar to mine can be VERY HELPFUL to all the members!
'99 4x4 3.3 Frontier Se KC Auto, 48,000 miles
'76 4x4 401 Wagoneer QT
'04 FWD 1.8 Sentra '08 FWD 2.4 Camry LE
Fort Worth
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
lakota
Moderator Group
Nissan Frontier Forums Moderator
Joined: Feb 14 2005
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1815
Member's Gallery:
View Gallery
Location:
U.S. - Texas
|
| Posted: Nov 26 2019 at 2:08pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
..
The humming and swaying of the diesels could make many sleepy.
One long night after about 120 miles on an eastbound close to Shattuck Oklahoma
we had a nice EMD F-7 four unit diesel. The cab unit F-7 had three very comfortable
captains chairs in the cab. The drone and swaying of the diesels could make anyone
very sleepy.
As head brakeman I had the center seat and my job was to get up and look
back at the train while going around curves looking for ‘hot boxes’ (over heated axle
journals smoking or on fire) and other problems. Near dawn I caught myself about to
doze off in my seat. I quickly looked around at the fireman and engineer. Both their heads
were bowed and sound asleep!
I checked the tattle-tail speedometer and we were doing a legal fifty five miles per
hour with good track conditions for the speed. Quickly the next ‘CTC’ (centralized
traffic Control) signal came into view. Lucky for all of us the signal was green! I called
out the signal as we were suppose to do and that woke the other two up. They didn’t
know whether or not I too had dosed off. We had no trouble staying awake after that!
Many of these diesels were equipped with a “Dead man’s foot peddle”. This was a
spring loaded device that had to be held down to the floor or the train brakes would set
up stopping the train. The foot peddle made the job of running the locomotives a
little more difficult. Some engineers would wedge a flag stick on the peddle to hold
down. One example is it virtually impossible to change which crew member was
running train while it was moving. I previously posted about the engineer and
fireman both needing to go back and work on one of the units while I ran the train.
There just wasn’t much to do most of the time in the diesel locos. The steam engines
were a joy to work with. There was the jingle, rumble and the roar. There was
always an adjustment to be made, needed or not, trying to operate at
peak efficiency.
Even working for 16 hours how could one fall asleep?
If they do fall asleep they may have a cornfield meet!
BTW,… It’s time for my nap now.. Don S..
__________________
PLEASE >>> A SIG similar to mine can be VERY HELPFUL to all the members!
'99 4x4 3.3 Frontier Se KC Auto, 48,000 miles
'76 4x4 401 Wagoneer QT
'04 FWD 1.8 Sentra '08 FWD 2.4 Camry LE
Fort Worth
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
lakota
Moderator Group
Nissan Frontier Forums Moderator
Joined: Feb 14 2005
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1815
Member's Gallery:
View Gallery
Location:
U.S. - Texas
|
| Posted: Nov 29 2019 at 3:14pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
..
The Hot Boxes
Hot boxes were a sure enough plague before the new roller bearing journal equipped freight trucks
replaced the babbitt bearings.
Whenever possible trainmen were to look over passing trains for problems.
Problems like Broken brake beams dragging under a freight car dragging on the track, open reefer doors
and what ever. The main thing to look for was a hot box. One example is if I was the head brakeman
and the train I was on took the siding and it stopped for a meet with another train I would walk
over to the other side of the main line. This way the engineer and fireman could see one side of
the passing train and I could see the over side. A hot box can be detected by four things. Fire,
smoke, odor and rarely noise.
The signal for spotting a hot box was holding one hand up to the nose… The P U or stink sign.
The Santa Fe had men we called ‘Oilers’ that worked in the yards. Their job was to pull open the
journal box lids, stir up the packing that wicked the oil up to the journal and add oil if needed. I
believe certain freight cars like gasoline tankers and the green fruit iced reefers got inspections
and maintained better than other types. I don’t recall ever seeing a hot box on these freight cars.
Delaying a green fruit express means an extra stop for the train to be re-iced or the fruit would spoil….
A gasoline tank car with a fiery hot box… Well doggies…
I only once did I see a brake beam dragging. I didn’t know what the signal for it was so I gave a stop
sign and acted like I was dragging something on the ground.
The Hobo
There were always hobos but they really thrived during the 1930’s depression.
In those days hobos crawled under a box car. They would get on the truss rods below the frame. The
rods could be tightened to prevent the frame from sagging when a heavy load wad carried. This
type of travel became known as 'Riding the Rods'.
Hobos were not a big problem for me. My step dad even with two years of collage had to become
a hobo. This was before he met my mom. If that good a man can become a hobo it made me
aware most of those people are not the bad guys.
BTW… My step dad (rip) became a Lt. Cornel, served in WW-II and was an auditor in the U. S. Air Force.
However there are do’s and don’ts!
One night in 1956 we were racing along at 55 mph on a west bound with empty green fruit express
cars. Our four unit F-7 200 class diesel was equipped with a radio. We were notified by the station agent
in Hereford Texas that there was a reefer door swinging open about mid train. This was a very
dangerous situation. The reefer doors swung outward when unlatched. We had to stop the train and
it was exactly in the middle of nowhere. I had to walk back a half a mile to find and latch the door
shut. The good thing was I knew it was on the north side of the train.
The hobo was lucky that I shined my lantern to check inside of the reefer and saw him trying to
hide. I was a might pissed and told him to find a box car to ride in. Our train was all reefers. If I
had latched the door from the out side he might not have survived his joyride to California.
I jogged back the front and when I got close to the rear F-7 unit I high balled the engineer and
hopped aboard. This delayed the train about 40 minutes. As I look back at this if the caboose had a
radio the rear brakeman could have accomplished closing the door then letting the train pull past
him at five to ten mph for him to board the caboose. It would have shaved a few minutes off of the delay.
Time has always been an expensive commodity…
When you are well over 80 you begin the think about it!.. Don S..
__________________
PLEASE >>> A SIG similar to mine can be VERY HELPFUL to all the members!
'99 4x4 3.3 Frontier Se KC Auto, 48,000 miles
'76 4x4 401 Wagoneer QT
'04 FWD 1.8 Sentra '08 FWD 2.4 Camry LE
Fort Worth
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
lakota
Moderator Group
Nissan Frontier Forums Moderator
Joined: Feb 14 2005
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1815
Member's Gallery:
View Gallery
Location:
U.S. - Texas
|
| Posted: Dec 01 2019 at 2:03pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
..
Hitching a ride home
One evening I arrived in Waynoka Oklahoma on a hot shot BKX. I was wondering
what to do with myself. I walked into the drugstore and sat down at the soda fountain.
The young lady behind the counter ask what I’d like. I said I’d like a vanilla milk shake. She
ask would I like an egg in it. I ask what was the differents, I’d never heard of an egg in a
milk shake. She replied it’s a nickel higher, 20 cents. Well I didn't want her to know I was
stupid and didn't know anything so I said OK but stir it with your finger,... wait for it,
because I like my milk shakes sweet. Did I mention how good the milk shake was?
Next I was notified my crew was to deadhead on the next freight train headed back west
to Amarillo. I worked the extra board and was not a regular member of the crew I was with.
The quicker I got back the Amarillo and marked back up on the extra board the sooner I’d
get another job. Since I was in Oklahoma I thought it would be OK to be a sooner! The freight
train was yet several hours away when a passenger train arrived at the depot and headed for
Amarillo.
I didn’t have time to buy a ticket. So I hot footed it across the tracks away from the bright
lights of the depot. As the passenger train pulled out I managed to catch the last diesel unit
of the set of 4 F-7’s as they went by.
I crawled into the brakeman’s chair. It’s Up hill out of Waynoka to the west and the hum of
the diesel quickly sang me to sleep. I slept about 120 miles straight.
Suddenly with a tremendous roar that nearly blew me out of the chair I was awakened!
I thought the train had wrecked or something. As it turned out it was only the fireman
from the head unit that had opened the door to the engine room and the diesels were running
wide open in run 8. Did I mention just how loud that was?
The fireman came to warn me that some one had seen me jump aboard the passenger
locomotive in Waynoka and reported it. He said there would be a “Railroad Bull” (police officer)
waiting in Amarillo to pick me up! Now this was not exactly a happy thought. The fireman and
engineer were both wonderful old time Santa Fe men and decided to slow down just enough in
Pampa Texas for me to bail off ‘a running’ so I would not get caught.
The train crews bidding in passenger jobs required the highest seniority. I would guess some
passenger engineers to have had over 30 years of service operating Santa Fe locomotives.
The thing is the fireman and engineer knew somehow I was a Santa Fe brakeman. They decided
to slow down to let me ‘escape’ before seeing me eye to eye.
The engineer was running a risk by slowing down to about 15 mph in Pampa. He should have
been at 40 to 60 mph. I’m sure the CTC dispatcher in Amarillo would have noticed the speed change.
BTW I’ve read that Bat Masterson and a few other famous gunslingers of that era were Santa
Fe railroad bulls in Dodge City! Shades of ’Gunsmoke’.
So I walked though Pampa as the sun was coming up and started thumbing a ride. I’d
never hitch hiked before. Most people could tell by the way I was dressed and carried
my bag and railroad lantern I was probably a good guy. I got two rides. Both were ranchers,
growers or farmers. OK, so they could have been chicken wranglers or even chicken rustlers
because both pick-ups were loaded with sacks of grain. Yup, They could have stolen the grain!
Soon I was 50 miles down the road at the northeast wye with highway 66 in Amarillo.
I had a piece of pie and phoned my wife to please come pick me up.
I guess what I did was against the rules. They probably would tell me I could have got hurt
while trying to jump on and off the locomotive. But dear hearts… I’m paid to jump on a off
of moving locomotives. So anyhow from then on I did my deadheading correctly. One time
they gave me a two way passenger train tickets to deadhead to Waynoka for helper service!
And another time they gave me a deadhead ticket to La Juanta Colorado.
Before time runs out...
I’m still trying to learn the lessons of life.. Don S..
__________________
PLEASE >>> A SIG similar to mine can be VERY HELPFUL to all the members!
'99 4x4 3.3 Frontier Se KC Auto, 48,000 miles
'76 4x4 401 Wagoneer QT
'04 FWD 1.8 Sentra '08 FWD 2.4 Camry LE
Fort Worth
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
lakota
Moderator Group
Nissan Frontier Forums Moderator
Joined: Feb 14 2005
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1815
Member's Gallery:
View Gallery
Location:
U.S. - Texas
|
| Posted: Dec 06 2019 at 3:36pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
..
Skelly Town
Skelly Town was on a short out and back branch line. It was north of the main line and west
of Pampa. Most of the switching done there was at a huge Carbon Black plant and every thing
looked like Pittsburgh Pa in the 1940’s. All the rail cars were heavily coated with carbon
black powder. It took several trips there but I finely learned how to stay almost clean while
climbing up and down setting and releasing handbrakes. On a hot sweaty summer day never
wipe your face or anything with your gloves on! Good thing is no one took a picture of me after
that first trip. I might have been accused of doing black-face!
The Pan-Tex Plant
I was called for a Pan-Tex local. This was not a regularly scheduled train. I had no idea where
it was. I went to the roundhouse in Amarillo, and located an Alco RSD 4-5 called for the job.
Soon I found the train in the proper yard track and hooked the Alco to it. I looked back at the
train, it was only a dozen freight cars but there was an old heavy weight passenger car just a
head of the caboose.
Just a little ways northeast of Amarillo we swung into a siding then switched to a track headed
into a strange looking building complex that was surrounded by several heavy duty chain-link
fences. The engineer stopped at a gate and I got on the ground and saw the gate was locked.
Suddenly I notice I am surrounded by the U. S. Army. These bad boys were pointing their
Thompson sub machineguns at anything that moved so I didn’t. The nearest one to me said who
are you? I, sounding like a Marine boot camp fledgling spouted out my whole name ending
up with “A Panhandle and Santa Fe railroad Brakeman,…Sir!” This seemed to please this
fine young gentleman and he lowered his Thompson.
Soon a man from inside the complex came and unlocked the gates and we took the train inside
the fences and the outer gate was locked. We saw a sign about Atomic radiation but there were
hundreds if not thousands of rabbits hopping all over the fenced in areas. The conductor said,
“Watch out for that radiation, it’ll make you as prolific as those rabbits.” My guess was the
fences kept the hungry coyotes out.
We switched cars around for four or five hours ever under the watchful eyes of the U. S. Army.
I think we could have blindfolded one of the Army guys and he could have squeezed off a
clip in his sub machine gun and killed enough rabbits to feed us all for a month.
Wait,… You’ve never had a cotton tail roasted over an open fire!
So the U. S. Army guarded us until we were locked outside of the gates. We
had began to feel as if the Army was protecting us from being physically harmed by
the ferocious hoard of rabbits. Remember Monty Python's attack rabbit...! The army
then hopped aboard their private car and we saw no more of them. So Amarillo had
an atomic munitions plant that many there had not heard about.
No I wasn't a Marine but I did go to a military academy and did the ROTC training.
I was raised as a military brat.. Don S..
__________________
PLEASE >>> A SIG similar to mine can be VERY HELPFUL to all the members!
'99 4x4 3.3 Frontier Se KC Auto, 48,000 miles
'76 4x4 401 Wagoneer QT
'04 FWD 1.8 Sentra '08 FWD 2.4 Camry LE
Fort Worth
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
lakota
Moderator Group
Nissan Frontier Forums Moderator
Joined: Feb 14 2005
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1815
Member's Gallery:
View Gallery
Location:
U.S. - Texas
|
| Posted: Dec 10 2019 at 2:07pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
..
While Laid Off the Santa Fe I Was Sent For a Job on the F. W. & D. >
In 1954 was sent for a job in the Ft. Worth & Denver’s Amarillo roundhouse by the railroad unemployment
commission. I worked there six weeks as a machinist helper learning to service steam locomotives. On my
second morning the shop foreman told me to go shovel sand. I had to shovel the special sand used in the
sand domes of the locomotives out of a boxcar. I said yes sir and started to go. He said” Wait, you better
take this”. He handed me an empty soda pop bottle. He continued by saying… “Fill this with water ‘cause
you ain’t coming back ’til the noon whistle blows!”. He sent me to shovel in the morning because in the
afternoon the heat in the boxcar would have fried me.
I had to package ante foaming powder to be stocked on the tenders. We had to do things few ever thought
of. One was unbolt the door on the front of the smoke box. The front compartment of the boiler got loaded
with sand turned black with carbon. I had to shovel up to two bushels of it out. I became the only black
man in the roundhouse that day.
I had go in the pit below the steam engine and inspect and lubricate all the axle journal babbitt bearings
and packing boxes. After that I had to do the sides the rods. These older locomotives did not have the roller
bearings. The rods and linkage had flat head grease zerks that all had to be lubricated with what
we called pin dope. The pin dope looked like one inch diameter rods of liquorish twelve inches long. I
would put the pin dope in water then put it in an air powered pump that would force the lube into
the grease zerk.
Also the automatic inverse oil boxes had to be refilled with thick oil. We had to oil or lubricate any
thing that rubbed anything
else. Air tanks had to be drained of water and the steam powered air pumps had to have new seals
installed on the piston rods.
 The Round House
The round house has large hoods mounted in the roof. Locomotives are parked where the smoke stack is under the hood. The
locomotives made great heaters for the round house. Un fortunately I worked in the round house during early summer. Did
I mention the locomotives leaked a lot of steam. This adds humidity to the mix. BTW... don't stumble into the pits while
texting.... I know,... I know! Because of that danger I still don't have a cell phone.
A hot time inside the firebox
In the cab there is a small door that opened into the firebox. While the locomotive would
be working under full power the fireman occasionally had to pour sand into the firebox to clean
the carbon build-up out of the flues. Some of the sand would fall to the floor of the firebox and the
silica in the sand would form glass clinkers. The sand and clinkers had to be shoveled into a
bucket and lifted out of the firebox.
Yes, dear hearts, I had to crawl into the hot firebox stand on the still hot firebricks with
about 150lbs of very hot steam pressure still in the boiler! The blower in the smoke box was turn on
so some of the cool 110 degree air in the shop could help cool me off. And while I was there in the
firebox I had to check the 100s of flues and stay bolts for water leaks. Did I mention I was smelling
the soles of my shoes smoldering on the hot fire bricks. In most cases the fire bricks could remain hot
enough for up to an hour to re ignite the properly atomized oil spray.
The bridge wash-out
The 409, a 2-8-2 Mikado always had a leaking flue… I reported the flue leak but I don’t believe they
ever did fix it! The railroads were all near the end of the steam era and some repairs were deemed
uneconomical.
In the old days many railroads would protect bridges from being washed away during floods by
adding a lot of weight on top of them. Locomotives are about the heaviest thing railroads have
readily available. During a flooding condition three locomotives were placed on the trestle over the
Pease River south of Childress. The flood washed away the trestle and the locos were buried in
the sand some for several years. I believe the 409 was one of these buried engines.
I had to learn how to how to build a fire in a cooled down steam locomotive that had very little steam
left in the boiler. Steam locomotive’s had a pipe that could blow a little steam out of the stack to create
a draft to get the heat from the firebox flowing through the flues. In the roundhouse they had an air
compressor and could connect it to the blower as needed.
The Ft. Worth and Denver at that time had only one diesel in Amarillo. I believe it was an EMD
SW-1500. My part of the monthly inspection was wiping everything under the hood including the
cylinder walls clean so the machinists could check if there were any cracks in the diesel. Many years later I
got to run a pair of EMD MP-1500 with an Alco slug in between in the Fort Worth Union Pacific
hump yard. The MP stood for Mega Potty. Yes it had a toilet and the SW-1500 I worked on in Amarillo did not!
Coming up soon ‘Becoming a Fireman’
My ‘hunt and peck typing devices’ went down.. Don S..
BTW… This stuff is originally typed on a 2002 Sony XP-MCE desk top.
It has been so good that Sony could not improve it so they quit manufacturing computers.
__________________
PLEASE >>> A SIG similar to mine can be VERY HELPFUL to all the members!
'99 4x4 3.3 Frontier Se KC Auto, 48,000 miles
'76 4x4 401 Wagoneer QT
'04 FWD 1.8 Sentra '08 FWD 2.4 Camry LE
Fort Worth
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
lakota
Moderator Group
Nissan Frontier Forums Moderator
Joined: Feb 14 2005
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1815
Member's Gallery:
View Gallery
Location:
U.S. - Texas
|
| Posted: Dec 17 2019 at 2:09pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
..
Becoming a locomotive fireman on the Denver
The “Denver” decided to add a few firemen to the sonority roster. I was a couple of days late
starting the student trips because I was still working in the roundhouse. The sooner a student
got to mark up the better his seniority would be. A person could take a whole week to do the
trips. I did it in two days and marked up first! I already knew a lot about the locomotives
and the ins and outs of railroading. But one never knows it all! Even a 19 year old kid.
My first student trip was to Texline Texas at the northeastern border with New Mexico. We
had the 751 four unit F-7 diesels. The engineer did not like the fact I was wearing ‘cowboy boots’
even though they had walking type heels. Maybe it was that the “Roach Killer Toes” were already
out of style… I don’t know! The crew and I caught a 2-8-2 Mikado going back to Amarillo. We
picked up and set out a few grain cars at elevators along the way and stopped in Channing Texas
to take on water. Then back to Amarillo. The engineer was satisfied with my performance
and signed my student letter.
The 409
Here the 409 has a blue flag on the pilot. The flag means people are working in that area and nothing is to
moved. It’s a great safety measure. Older steam locomotives love the TLC that enginemen and
roundhouse crews give them. A little oil here and there can keep the tight spots cool and operating
properly.
When I got back to Amarillo I found the 2-8-2 409 was called for a southbound with “Rabbit” Reed
as engineer. I did not know it that day but he went to the same church as my mother. Before
he got there I went over the loco with a fine toothed comb fixing what I could and noting the flaws.
Reed came and was dressed as one would believe an engineer should. Pin stripe bib overalls and
matching jumper, white dress shirt, red bandana around the neck and black sleeve protectors on
each arm. He also wore a tie and a dress hat. I fired for Engineer Reed the next 16 hours. The 409
was not a good steamer with the leaky flue but I clear stacked it all the way.
Some where
around 3 am we rolled into a receiving track at the Childress roundhouse.
Engineer Reed hopefully had been impressed with my ability and knew I needed to quickly finish
the trips and mark up. He talked to the engineer of a north bound way freight about me. I saw him
hand my student letter to the engineer about to leave for Amarillo. I got to
head straight back to Amarillo. After about five hours the engineer saw I was becoming very fatigued yet
doing a good job. He talked the conductor into bedding me down in the caboose for the rest of
the trip to Amarillo. I got to mark up first on the extra board in Amarillo. All the new hires
had to take the worst jobs. Because I marked up first on the extra board I got first choice. I choose
to be sent a long way of from home to the Childress extra board! No one wanted
to be on the Childress extra board. The money was good and the job was tough… what else could one ask for?
Clear Stacking on The Ft. Worth & Denver
The Ft. Worth & Denver was a railroad with a cash flow problem. If it wasn’t for the C.B.& Q. and
the C.& S. it would have floundered. If a fireman could Clear Stack a steam locomotive he
saved a fair amount of money by reducing fuel oil costs. The Ft. Worth & Denver installed a light
on the front of smoke stacks so we could see to clear stack at night! Having been a machinist helper
in a roundhouse working on and in the steam locomotives before becoming a fireman I had
a little extra knowledge. This helped make me shine as a student fireman. Clear stacking proved
to the engineers a fireman’s ability and dedication.
A year later while working as a Santa Fe Brakeman I relieved the fireman for a bit. Santa Fe firemen
all made excessive smoke. So being the smart ass that I was I clear stacked this huge Santa Fe 5011 class
2-10-4. I fired the engine most of the way up hill from Canadian to Pampa. The engineer a fellow
named Watson apparently noticed and called me over to find out how I learned to clear stack.
I told him. He knew the steamers on the Denver were piles of wired together junk. He told me steam
would be gone in a year or two. He wanted me to get to run a ’real locomotive’ before they were scrapped
and all gone.
This was absolutely outstanding! However the high light of this story is I had worked with Watson several
times in the years before. When Watson blew the whistle for highway crossings it was the neatest signature
crossing whistle style I ever heard. In many cases you could tell who the engineer was by hearing his
whistling style. I copied Watson's whistle style it when I got to run Denver locomotives. Watson was
amazed. And anyone hearing the train pass by and hear the whistle would assume Watson was still at the
throttle! I got to run a 5011 4500 horsepower steam locomotive from Pampa about 50 miles to the Amarillo
interlocker. Life was good!
I’d like to thank a web site that I’ve been a member of since 2002 for hosting many of the photos
used in this thread, Colorado 4X4 is a great group of people!!
Don S..
__________________
PLEASE >>> A SIG similar to mine can be VERY HELPFUL to all the members!
'99 4x4 3.3 Frontier Se KC Auto, 48,000 miles
'76 4x4 401 Wagoneer QT
'04 FWD 1.8 Sentra '08 FWD 2.4 Camry LE
Fort Worth
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
lakota
Moderator Group
Nissan Frontier Forums Moderator
Joined: Feb 14 2005
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1815
Member's Gallery:
View Gallery
Location:
U.S. - Texas
|
| Posted: Dec 26 2019 at 4:01pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
..
Getting a kick out of firing
First I’d like to add a little more information about the 2-8-2- 409
In 1959 the 409 was used to pull the F. W. & D. steam powered excursion train and saying
good bye to the steam locomotive era. I was not with the F. W. & D. at the time and didn’t
know it was happening. Also there was another version of the 409 being stuck in the mud for
a while. It seems the 409 ran off a bridge northwest of Childress and fell into the Red River!
The story I heard was from a F. W. & D. engineer.
Childress Yard
I spent many 15 hour and 59 minute days firing the two working 2-8-0 Consolidations
in the Childress yard. Being a good fireman especially important when firing the 2-8-0 310 class
consolidations. In the Childress yard it was quite a trick. You weren’t allowed to sand the flues
within (which helps make steam) the yard limits and thousands of women had their freshly washed
clothes hanging outside on the clothesline. Making even a little smoke was not the thing to do.
The 2-8-0 310 class Consolidations were used in the yard as switch engines while I was assigned
to and working the Childress extra board. These pre-WW-I built locomotives had the typical
narrow fireboxes of the era. These locomotives were similar to some of the 2-8-0’s used on the
C & S in Colorado. The Ft. Worth and Denver City made many modifications to these 2-8-0s after
WW-I. The engines weight was a little over 300,000 lbs with a tractive effort of a little over 40,000 lbs
When kicking or dropping a cut of cars the engineers had to virtually rip the throttle wide
open for a few moments then slam it shut. The fireman had to coordinate this release of
massive amounts of steam with a quick injection of properly atomized and heated oil into the
firebox. The sudden discharge of steam through the stack caused a large incoming draft of cold
oxygen into the firebox. If the fireman had the oil ready and injected at the right instant the
oxygen would burn the oil nice and hot making some up for some of the steam lost. If the oil
was not delivered at the right moment the oil wouldn’t burn properly and a lot of dark
foul smoke would be belched out of the locomotive! And occasionally some of this foul smoke
could blast into the cab through vents in the firebox door. To complicate matters the fireman had
the problem if a couple of kicks or drops were made in quick succession larger amount of
cold water had to be injected into the boiler. Over the road the steamers could make steam faster
than it was needed but while switching in the yard,… not so much!
Triple Time!
One day in the Childress yard while busy firing a 310 class switch engine I was called to work
the second shift and would be firing the other 310 class yard switch engine. But wait! A hot-
shot train arrived to town, and needed to have some switching done and leave town in a hurry.
They decided that me and the first shift crew would work the hot-shot train while the other crew
waited for me to come be their fireman. So here I am now earning time and a half working the
first shift but also earning time and a half on the second shift job. Strangely the second shift
crewmen were only earning straight time because it was their regular 8 hour shift.
One Sweet Lady
One day working in Childress I caught the flu pretty bad. The lady I rented a room from fed
and took good care of me as I was bed ridden. The Ft. Worth & Denver engineers extra board
was very short of fireman and begged me every day to mark back up. Finely after about four
days I told them if they could push me up into the cab I thought I’d be able to fire the locomotive.
They came, took me to the roundhouse and pushed me up into a 2-8-0 and I worked an 8 hour shift.
The sad part of my whole railroading career I was laid off more than I got to work.
Learning the ups and downs of the road.
The first and most important lesson a fireman needs to know is keep the crown sheet of the
boiler well covered with water. Otherwise the crown sheet will melt creating an explosion
and most of the upper part of the locomotive will be in some ones back yard several hundred
yards away. Also the head end crew will part ways and will be parts of themselves.
To be a good fireman he must see or anticipate the ups and downs of the railroad grades. He
must have
a good water level and good head of steam pressure before the engineer begins to increase
power to climb a hill. Cold water impedes the ability of making steam and many engines
did not have good feed water heaters. The engineer has his own water injector incase the
fireman become lax in his duties.
A coating of carbon will build up and insulate the heating flues in the boiler. While making full
power and with maximum draft in the firebox it is a good time to sand the flues. The fireman
will slowly pour a couple of scoops of sand in the firebox door. The sand blasts the carbon collected
on the flues that insulates the heat from making steam. Some sand falls into the firebox. Silica
in the sand can form glass clinkers in the heat of the fire.
Please excuse some of the redundancy in my writing. My proof reader is has been nodding his head side to side!
Is that bad? Don S..
Wait~…he just fell asleep!
__________________
PLEASE >>> A SIG similar to mine can be VERY HELPFUL to all the members!
'99 4x4 3.3 Frontier Se KC Auto, 48,000 miles
'76 4x4 401 Wagoneer QT
'04 FWD 1.8 Sentra '08 FWD 2.4 Camry LE
Fort Worth
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
lakota
Moderator Group
Nissan Frontier Forums Moderator
Joined: Feb 14 2005
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1815
Member's Gallery:
View Gallery
Location:
U.S. - Texas
|
| Posted: Jan 05 2020 at 3:07pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
..
The Light at the End of the Tunnel Was Me…
I am one of the few people still alive to have driven a train though 2 tunnels in
the state
of Texas. I got a call on the Childress engineers extra board to be the fireman on a train that
went north to Estelline then west on the branch line to switch in Lubbock for a week before
returning. In order to become an engineer in the old days engineers let the firemen run the
trains to learn how.
Thus as a fireman I happened to be running the train as we went through the tunnels. That
train was powered by a new SD-7 diesel. These engines were dual control. At the flip of a switch
the control of the locomotive could be sent from the engineer to the fireman. The SD-7 was my
favorite diesel. The SD-7s were used by the F. W.& D. rather than the GP-7s because the
two six wheel power trucks spread the weight of the locomotive over a wider area than the two
four wheel power trucks of the GP-7s. This supposedly helped the weaker bridges and track
work to survive. It was easy to run, great seats, good walkways and steps, and in the winter super
great heating system.
So back then there were two tunnels on that route. The tunnels were near Quitaque Texas.
A couple of years later the track was removed and one tunnel was day-lighted. Both are now part of
a Caprock Canyon State Park and now a hiking trail.
I Liked the SD-7s and SD-9s In this photo look at the nearest steps to get onboard. In the light
color stripe Notice a round circle and faintly to the left a Capital F. We called the GP-7s and
the SD-7s ‘Hood Units’ Some railroads ran the long hood end to the front. Others Like the
‘Denver’ and Santa Fe ran the short end to the front. The Capital F told us which end was
the front.
The round dimple was known as a poling pocket. It was used when switching and pushing cars
was done from an adjacent track. Each freight car had a poling pocket at each corner. I
was never required to pole cars while switching. I did see a early 1900s movie of it being done.
By the way the diesels back then had a ’revering lever’. This was a three position switch for
forward, neutral and reverse. The early levers were cast in brass and quite heavy. The later
ones were molded out of plastic. When an engineer had to leave the diesel he put the lever in
the neutral position then pulled the lever out and stick it in his pocket. Thus the lever effectively
became a key. The diesel could not be powered without the key. I still have a brass lever in my
collection.
Switching Lubbock was interesting. The first day there we got the SD-7 on the ground. It
was a very tight S curve into an industry. We were barely creeping along and the front truck
just popped off the track. It took the track crew several hours to fix the track and put the loco
back on it.
In south Lubbock a group of industries were located on the paved roads with the track laid
right in the street. Cars and trucks were zooming around us while we were doing the switching.
There was also a bar near by with a loud speaker that was loudly playing Fats Domino’s
records. Life was good. In those days we had Buddy Holly and the Crickets… You could understand
every word they sang. And there was this new kid, a couple of months younger than me and they
started calling him ’The King’. What else could one ask for!
I spent my nights while in Lubbock in the caboose to save money while the other crew members
were in rented rooms. The caboose ended up in a rail museum in Galveston for a while but I
couldn’t find it on their roster lately. There were some good cafes near by and by the jukebox
music you would think Buddy Holly lived near by.~ I know,~ I know… Also there was still
some country westerns like ‘ Don’t let the stars get in your eyes, don’t let the moon break your
heart. Love blooms at night, in daylight it dies, don’t let the stars get in your eyes’…
I believe it was Skeets Mc Donald.
Wait,… I gotta go tune up one of my guitars.. Don S..
__________________
PLEASE >>> A SIG similar to mine can be VERY HELPFUL to all the members!
'99 4x4 3.3 Frontier Se KC Auto, 48,000 miles
'76 4x4 401 Wagoneer QT
'04 FWD 1.8 Sentra '08 FWD 2.4 Camry LE
Fort Worth
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
lakota
Moderator Group
Nissan Frontier Forums Moderator
Joined: Feb 14 2005
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1815
Member's Gallery:
View Gallery
Location:
U.S. - Texas
|
| Posted: Jan 09 2020 at 2:35pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
..
The Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific
I got to (had to) rock and roll on the Rock
For a while I was the night time car spotter in Amarillo for the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific I was the only
employee awake working at night in Amarillo. The last thing in the morning I had to wake and call the crews for
the first shift. One day they called me and said I was to be the baggage man on the Choctaw Rocket a combo RDC
car to Oklahoma City. This was bad. I was a qualified baggage man on the Santa Fe but the Rock Island paperwork
and procedures ain’t the same. For many miles of the route there was a 10 mph slow order and it was very rough
riding. Perhaps not quite as bad as riding out a typhoon in a Fletcher class destroyer in WW-II. It was a disaster
for both me and the “Rock”. Did I mention handling milk and cream shipping cans along the way was no fun either?
I don’t even remember the trip coming back to Amarillo!
The Budd RDC car above is a Railroad Post Office version. The “Choctaw Rocket” I rode was a
“Railroad Express Agency” version. The RDCs rode pretty good on good track but finding good
Rock Island track is like trying to find hens teeth.
Dynamic Brakes
There is a special optional braking system installed on many diesel locomotives. It is called the ‘Dynamic Brakes‘.
Basically the traction electric motors in the powered trucks become generators. And there is a strong blower cooled
resister used to burn off the power or resisting the power produced by the traction motors there by creating a ‘Dynamic
braking action’ in the axles and of the all the powered wheels of the locomotive.
The diesel locomotive’s diesel engine it’s self can be used to increase this dynamic braking action. All of the
system saves wear on the locomtive brake shoes and wheels plus reducing the need at times for the train brakes.
Every “over the road” diesel locomotive I was ever on with the Santa Fe and the Ft. Worth and Denver were equipped
with dynamic brakes. However the Rock Island only had one locomtive with dynamic brakes and it was disconnected!
A Rock Island engineer explained to me that the Rock Island officials did not think the Rock Island engineers
were smart enough to use dynamic brakes without wrecking the trains due the slack action in the process of brake
application.
An Aircraft Nearly Lands on a Railroad.
Here is a short piece of sad history. I forgot the date but it was about 1953. I was in the flagman’s stand
at ‘Flying Saucier Downs Dirt track‘. It was located slightly northwest of Amarillo Air Force Base. As I looked
to the north, into a mild north wind I saw a WW-II B-25 twin engine Mitchel bomber. It was the Military PX Payroll
express plane. Instantly I knew it was in trouble.
It was flying too low and one engine sounded horrible. The B-25 flew directly over the track and was less than
300 feet in the air. The B-25 was on the down wind leg, would have fly about two more miles then make 180 degree
turn to land at the air base. I knew it would not make it. Sure enough, half way through the left turn he lost speed
and crashed a very few inches from the Rock Island main line just south of Amarillo Air Force Base. The track
was on the fill about 10 or 12 feet high and the plane hit the embankment. The loss of the aircraft and men was
devastating. B-25’s were the first American aircraft to bomb Tokyo during WW-II.
I would have believed the Twin engine aircraft could have flown on one engine but there could have been other
factors involved.
I was never a pilot but did fly a Piper Cub J-3.. Don S..
BTW,... You may wonder how I knew it was the PX plane that crashed.
A couple of years earlier I worked at the PX service station at AAFB.
I watched that B-25 fly in and out of the base many times.
__________________
PLEASE >>> A SIG similar to mine can be VERY HELPFUL to all the members!
'99 4x4 3.3 Frontier Se KC Auto, 48,000 miles
'76 4x4 401 Wagoneer QT
'04 FWD 1.8 Sentra '08 FWD 2.4 Camry LE
Fort Worth
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Active Topics 
Memberlist 
Search 
Help 
Register 
Login
Nissan Frontier Forums : General (Non-Frontier)
Topic: My Hands on History of Trains
