Western Railroad Discussion > Rio Grande 5371's Cab Interior Photos

On Wednesday, I captured a few images of 5371's cab interior at Ogden Union Station. My intent for this thread it to spark conversation and receive feedback from railroaders and other experts as to what are the function(s) of the various gauges, lights, switches and other items on an EMD control stand from the mid 1970s. I also am curious as to how much of the existing equipment was likely to have been installed by EMD when 5371 was released from La Grange, Illinois in August of 1975. I numbered the images to help folks reference them with text information they may have to a particular photo. I'm hoping much of the equpment is original, however in one photo a plaque on the control stand reads "UP Salt Lake Component Rebuild" so perhaps much of it was exchanged from parts on hand at Roper shop in SLC in recent years.

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I highly appreciate any information or insights you might have to offer.

Thank You!
James

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pic 2and 3 are the 26L brake stand, pic 4 is air gauges, pic 5 is the load meter, and 6 is the board to turn of and on all the other stuff in the loco. The know in the middle is to place the loco in trail or to reset the traction relays. This can be done before or after the battery switch is in the on position. But the battery switch should be turned on before moving any of the switches. I have seen it done before the knife battery switch is turned on and all the bells go off before the power comes up.
Pic one is the spedo if that was what you were looking at.

Shannon

The round knob to the left of the "salt lake" plate was the dial to control the Power Reduction feature. I went to Colton with 7 midtrain and the hogger was messing with it. The leader had some issues and he was controling the amps to the lead motor with it. aka traction control.
The "alertness monitor" was not EMD issue:)

I don't remember the speedo being that high, but hoggers don't look at it anyhow:)

The rest pretty much as delivered, minus all the matching screws to hold it together.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/10/09 20:09 by SD45X.

Most of the equipment shown is not original to the unit when it left the manufacturer. There are scheduled change-outs or replacements of the equipment such as the gauges, speed recorders, load meters, air brake valves and most of the other stuff. The slide switches on the control stand usually wear out after a period of time so they have been very likely replaced since manufacture. Likewise the rotating switches for the isolation switch and the headlight control switch on the control panel door. The throttle and dynamic brake handle modules have very likely been replaced at least once if not more. The original seats were very likely the old toad-stool types, the engineer's and the left-rear seats with backs and arms and the left front seat without either. The ones shown are not original.

Air gauges are tested every three months and replaced if over 3 psi differential from the tester. The gauges are not rebuilt but are thrown away. Air brake equipment, above and below the cab floor is replaced every tri-annual inspection and sent out for complete rebuild as per Federal Law. The wiper motors are replaced on failure but can be serviced in place to maintain them in operating condition. The horn valve is to the left of the air gauges in one photo. This valve can be re-built in place, so it could be original to the unit.

The high-in-the-corner mounted speed repeater is for the conductor, or in the older days, the head end brakeman. The engineer has one mounted on the control stand, as you can see.



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 09/10/09 21:16 by SPGP9.

Wonderful shots--thanks for sharing, James. Remember seeing her at Helper over the years, and there's supposed to be a new book out by Danneman featuring these venerable units, too.

Whoever installed the handle for the dynamic brake installed it incorrectly. It's supposed to be more vertical than horizontal. That's how you tell if you're using dynamic or power if you're blind I assume. That's why the railroads went to this type of control stand (separate handles for power and dynamic) so there is a definite difference between the two.

As for a few other things, I never did like the reset button for the alertor. It shouldn't be flush with the control stand in my book as you'll be trying to find it in the dark.

One thing I think that every locomotive should have that works in grade territory is an air flow indicator. The SP had them for years and after getting on a D&RG unit I always felt kind of naked without one. I think they are a great tool for the engineer to use, if he/she understands what the gauge is telling him/her.

JDE



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/10/09 22:14 by Steamjocky.

Great shots James.

Photo #1 shows in the upper right corner the speedometer is the top box, and this would be the conductor's speedometer as it is angled to the left side of the cab. The smaller black bock mounted below it is the Crew Alerter alarm head, basically it is a warning device that flashes a red light at the crew at set intervals based on locomotive speed and the crew must press an acknowledge button on the control stand to reset the alarm or it will setup the train's brakes in a penalty brake application. (A more modern version of the old "Dead Man's Pedal", which the crew's seemed to find various ways to disable by placing a heavy object on the pedal to trick the system).

Steamjocky Wrote:
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> Whoever installed the handle for the dynamic brake
> installed it incorrectly. It's supposed to be
> more vertical than horizontal. That's how you
> tell if you're using dynamic or power if you're
> blind I assume. That's why the railroads went to
> this type of control stand (separate handles for
> power and dynamic) so there is a definite
> difference between the two.

Since SLC quit rebuilding controllers in the 90s (the shop closed in 98), it's probably safe to assume that its been floating around like that, from unit to unit, for quite awhile.

Photo #2 has a few more items to reference:

First off, the crew alerter alarm head in photo #1 was an add-on and that particular version would not have been delivered new from EMD on this unit.

Most of Photo #2 is all original to the unit from EMD, except for the "Alertness Monitor Rest", (this is the crew alerter acknowledge button, and the green push-button switch is also a replacement part from what the original alerter button would have been).

In the upper left of the photo is the horn lever. The two green dial gauges are the air brake gauges, which show your Main Reservoir air pressure, Brake Pipe air pressure, Equalizing air pressure, and the locomotive brake cylinder air pressure. These are original to the unit.

On the left side under the air horn lever, is the Lead Truck sand switch, and then the manual sand push button switch. (When originally built, the locomotive would have had a sand nozzle directed to the front and rear of each wheel. But many RR's simplified this and disabled the intermediate axle sanders and just went with sanders to the truck's outer axles, so #1, #3, #4, and #6. The lead truck sand switch turns on the sanders on all units MU'd in the consist to sand the forward facing sanders at each equipped wheel. The Manual sand push-button switch is just that, a manual application of sand as long as you hold in the button). Both of these were original to the unit.

To the right of the sander switches, is a warning light cluster. "Wheel Slip" lights up when a powered axle looses traction and starts to slip or spin on the rail. "PCS Open" stands for Pnuematic Control Switch, but essentially tells the crew there was a sudden loss of air pressure from the brake pipe which is the trainline air pipe supplying air pressure to all the cars brake systems. This PCS light has an electrical interlock in the locomotive's control system that prevents the unit from loading or moving if the PCS has tripped. So, if the light is on, the unit will not be able to be used for power until it is reset and the air pressure has been recovered. Next is the "Brake Warning", this is for Dynamic Brake only, and is a warning indicator that comes on when the Dynamic Brakes are actually over exciting, or too much voltage is being generated that the dynamic brake grids cannot handle. When this light comes on the dynamic brake function is automatically cutout on the unit. The "Sand" light comes on when sanders are turned on. "Pinion Slip" is a unique option that was part of the DRGW's wheel slip system option on this unit, and not all EMD's had this feature unless it was specified at time of sale. This light comes on when the pinion gear breaks free of the axle shaft on any traction motor. The pinion gear was a separate gear attached to the powered axle shaft and held in place by a large metal key. Under torque and at maximum tractive effort the traction motors could sheer this key and the pinion gear would then just spin free on the axle shaft and the traction motor was then rendered useless. New AC traction motors eliminated this problem when GE decided to machine the pinion gear as one piece with the axle shaft.

The two slide switches below this are the "Ground Light" switch and the "Step Lights" switch. The ground light is a bare bulb munted under the cab centered under the engineer's and conductor's side windows that do nothing but light the ground so the crew member can look out the window at night and see if the unit is moving. The step lights are lights illuminating each step well at each corner of the locomotive.

The large lever in the photo is the "Dynamic Brake" controller. This lever is nearly identical to the Throttle, and has numbered positions 1-8 like the throttle but is only used to control the operation of the dynamic braking. (Dynamic brakes are an ingenious way of controlling the train's speed through the use of the traction motors. Similar in principle to down shifting a transmission, but accomplished entirely different. The traction motors are used to power the train and are basically electrical motors receiving voltage from the main alternator/generator. If however, you change how the traction motors are electrically connected to the alternator/generator, and instead of using the alternator/generator's output to power the motors, you connect them so they become individual generators themselves, then the faster the motors are turning the more electricity is produced, but the more voltage you apply to the traction motors from the alternator/generator the harder it will be to physically turn the traction motors, so the speed of the train is reduced by the electromagnetic properties of each traction motor/generator trying to make the electricity. This electricity is actually wasted and sent to large resistor grids that change the electricity into heat that is dissipated by large cooling fans on the roof of the locomotive.

The "Salt Lake Component Rebuild" is just the RR's own in house rebuild tag, designating this part, (the Controller), has been remanufactured. It is the same controller that came from EMD for this unit, but has been rebuilt internally with new electrical switches and cam segments for the controller's operation.

Also in Photo #2 and #3 to the left of the controller is the large knob with "Power" and "Reduce" on the label. This is a feature and option not purchased by many RR's. It is called the "Creep Control", "Hump Control", or "Slow Speed" control as found on the newer AC's from both EMD and GE. This feature allows the engineer to maintain a set slow speed of the train but gives them the ability to control the load amps independent of the throttle position. They can dial up more or less tractive effort as the tonnage increases or decreases and still maintain a set 2-5 mph speed. The DRGW used this to load coal trains and could also be used to unload them too, where ever a set train speed must be maintained, but where the tonnage changes as the cars are loaded or unloaded. Other RR's also purchased this option for use on hump yard engines, like the C&NW's SD38-2's.

Photo #3 shows most of the Engineer's control stand. The primary controls being the Dynamic Brake controller, and the Throttle and Reverser below it. The reverser lever or "Key" is not installed, but would be a short stubby lever fitting into the slot centered below the Throttle. Below the reverser are two push button's, "Attendent Call" rings the unit's alarm bell in all locomotives that would be MU'd together. The crew could use this to signal their fellow crew members, or if you were riding in a trailing locomotive, you could push the attendent call button intermittently on any locomotive and frustrate the engineer who would think the engine had some sort of problem. Of course if he found out, you might find yourself walking instead of riding in the comfort of the cab.

The upper right side of the control stand have three slide switches which are critical for the operation of the unit, and operating a locomotive consist with multiple locomotives. The "Engine Run" switch, the "Generator Field" switch, and the "Control Fuel Pump" switch. Turning off the engine run will actually shut down the diesel engine and any other units MU'd in the consist. The generator field switch basically turns-on the main generator/alternator to allow the unit to "Load" or start making electricity to run the traction motors. The control/fuel pump turns on a control circuit and the fuel pump on the locomotive and any other units MU'd in the consist. If this control/fuel pump switch is turned off, the diesel engine will shutdown on this unit and any other units MU'd in the consist.

Just below the three slide switches would have been three more, but two have been blanked out, and this would have been a DRGW modification. The missing switches would have controlled the front headlight, and the rear headlight. The RR's adopted a better headlight control switch through the years and one that controlled more functions. The headlight control is now mounted below these slide switches on either side of the controller, and the right side controls the front headlight, with positions for dim, medium, bright, and bright/ditch, the same on the right side but for the rear headlight control and most road units are not equipped with rear facing ditch lights. The other switch on the upper right side of the controller is for "Dynamic Brake" and it is actually a circuit breaker and will turn off the dynamic brake operation on this unit and any units MU'd in the consist.

Just above the front headlight rotary control switch on the right side of the controller is the Auxillary Sidewall Heater control for the engineer's side sidewall strip heater. This is like a baseboard heater you might have in your home. It is an additional heating element that is about three to four feet long and is mounted on the side of the cab under the side window near the floor. The engineer's main cab heater is mounted in a box just under the front vertical cab window. This heater has a blower motor and is an electric forced air heating unit, (another one is mounted on the conductor's side of the cab, just under the conductor's side front window).

Photo #4,

The green dail gauges are the air brake gauges, these show the air pressures of the Main Reservoir, which is the locomotive's main air supply used for feeding the trainline and operating any air controlled devices like the sanders, the horn and crossing bell. The Brake Pipe air pressure gauge, which is also the trainline air line/pipe that runs through each car in the train. The Equalizing Air pressure gauge, this shows the amout of air that has been reduced in the trainline when the brakes are applied in relation to the Brake Pipe pressure. And the Brake Cylinder air pressure gauge which is showing just the air pressure applied to the locomotive's brake cylinders only, not the cars in the train.

The engineer's speedometer is the white faced dail gauge to the right of the air gauges. But, usually in this position on the control stand would be the Air Flow Indicator air gauge that SteamJocky commented about earlier.

Photo #5:

This is the Load Amp Meter. This gauge shows the actual amount of current, measured in amps, that is being used by the traction motors. On the right side of the dial would be the amps used in Power, and is in a scale of 100-amps. The colors are a bit faded, but the green section of the gauge shows load amps when in power from 0-1000 or 1100-amps, then the scale changes to a red color from 1000-1500 amps. This is approaching the traction motor's maximum current ratings and the additional scale below the gauge is what is called the "Short Time" rating that is allowed before the traction motors litterally burn up or melt down! This is one of the major drawbacks of any electric motor but more so in a DC traction motor verses an AC traction motor. Running a locomotive in the red, exceeding the short time rating, will burn up the traction motor leads, the rubber boots protecting the traction motor cable connections usually start melting and will catch on fire. The internal windings of the traction motor are held in place by solder and it will start to melt and has the wheel speed increases the centrifical force with throw the solder off the armature and the traction motor blower air will blow the solder out the side of the traction motor, along with the black tar like substance which is the melted/burnt varnish that coated the inside of the traction motor windings. Many an engineer knows what I am describing as they have had to 'cook' the traction motors to get over the hill. Unfortunately for the RR's this is a costly error as each DC motor runs about $50-60K. A quarter of a millon dollar cost to the mechanical department for one six axle locomotive!

The left side of the amp meter gauge is for the Dynamic Brake operation. This is where the traction motors are now working as individual generators and producing electricity that is being routed to the dynamic brake grids and heating up the brake grids. Just like on the power side, there is a red or short time rating here too. Around the 700-amp range the dail color changes from yellow, or orange to red. If the unit exceeds the maximum amperage in the red area the Dynamic Brake warning light will come on and the dynamic brakes will drop out defective.

Photo #6, is the locomotive Control Panel, and is on the back wall of the cab behind the engineer. This panel has more warning lights and switches to control other functions of the locomotive.

This panel is pretty much the same as when it was delivered new, except for the Dynamic Brake cutout slide switch which the DRGW has blanked out and went with a more functional dynamic brake control rotary switch with added positions.

The first indicator light in the upper left is the "Filter Blower Motor" light. If this light is ON, it indicates the Filter Blower Motor circuit breaker is turned off, or tripped, or that the Filter Blower Motor is not running. This blower is mounted on the roof of the main generator room behind the cab and is responsible for blowing dust and dirt out of the room, which is where the engine combustion air enters. It works to screen out the dust and dirt that would clog up the engine air filters. But if the light is on, the unit will not load!

The next light to the right is the "Test" light, which comes on if the electrical Module Circuit Test switch is set to the Test position, or if the unit is placed in Self-Load Test, basically for maintenance personnel use.

Next is the "HV/Ground Fault" light. This is an indicator light that will turn on when a high voltage ground is detected in the main alternator circuit, traction motor circuit, or in the dynamic brake circuit. If this light comes ON, the unit will stop loading and an alarm bell will sound. The Ground Reset push button under the reverser on the control stand will have to be pressed in order to reset the ground fault and get the unit to load again. This is essentially the same thing as your GFI push button protector on your outlets in your kitchen and bathroom at home. It protects the crews from any potentionaly harmful high voltage that should come in contact with the metal structure of the locomotive.

The "Turbo Aux Pump" light is an indicator light that turns ON any time the EMD engine is shutdown. Only used on EMD units, this light just indicates the Turbo Lube pump and motor are running and it stays on for twenty minutes due to a self timer. The turbo lube pump supplies engine lube oil to the turbo bearings when the diesel engine is NOT running to protect the turbocharger bearings from siezing up.

The "No Battery Charge/No Power" light will turn ON if the Companion Alternator does not start up. On EMD locomotives, the Auxiliary Alternator starts producing electricity whenever the diesel engine is running. The output of the Aux Alternator runs the cab heaters, and all the lights and anything that is connected to the batteries. But part of it's output is also used to start up the larger Companion Alternator. The Companion Alternator on the EMD's is used to power the radiator cooling fans, and the electric air compressor on unit's that have them, Part of the Companion Alternator is then used to start up the Main Generator or Traction Alternator which is what produces the high voltage for the traction motors only. When the Companion Alternator fails to start-up, it will light up the No Battery Charge/No Power light, and the unit will not load.

The "Hot Engine" light will come on when the radiator cooling water rises above normal operating temperature which is around 175-degrees. Hot Engine is about 190-degrees and above. The EMD units will drop load to a throttle-6 limit when this fault condition is present.

The "Governor Shutdown" light will turn ON when the governor button trips on the diesel engine governor. This will usually happen when the governor oil level drops too low, or if the governor oil level is over full. Anytime the governor button trips, or the Governor Shutdown light is ON, the diesel engine will shutdown and won't be able to be restarted until the governor button is reset.

Below the Indicator Lights are the slide switches which control the "Number Board" lights, the "Class Lights", (which the DGRW has blanked out). The "Engine Room" lights, and the "Platform Lights". Pretty much self-explanatory here.

The red "Emergency Fuel Cutoff and Engine Stop" push button. Does just what it says. Shuts off the fuel pump and shuts down the diesel engine, NOW.

To the right of this is the "Dynamic Brake" switch, this is used to cut out dynamic brakes in the event that there are numerous units MU'd in the consist and if all were used in dynamic braking too much braking effort would be applied, so the crew can cutout one units Dynamic Brake system but still use that unit in power only. And, the Dynamic Brake switch also has a position to cutout the dynamic brakes defective.

The "Isolation Switch" is used to isolate the unit if it is MU'd in a consist but the crew doesn't want to use the unit in power or in dynamic brakes, just turn to Isolate and unit will just remain idling and will not load.

The "Headlight Control" switch is used to setup the control of the headlights in a multiple unit consist with other locomotives MU'd together. This allows the engineer to turn on and operate the headlights at either end of the consist from the lead controlling unit's headlight switches on the control stand.

In photo 3, hiding behind the throttle handle at the far right is the side wall heater switch. This is not original. Sidewall heaters were an add on at a later date, probably during the rebuild.
This sidewall heater switch was probably the switch for the oscillating headlight. In addition to the usual headlight settings, i.e. Off-Dim-Bright, if I recall, there was a toggle switch that had two settings, "Inch and Run".

Bob Helling
PRose

Thanks, guys! Especially the detailed account by Diesel-Doctor. I feel compelled to head up a cosmetic restoration of this classic EMD at Ogden. I would like to maintain the paint job as best I can (it still has it's EMD factory applied paint) and touch up the pilot and right side number board pane where the aspen gold paint is gone. Most importantly, I would like to find a gyralite and place it in the nose. Also, I need four classification lights and put them back in. I need to research which horn type 5371 was built with, acquire it and place it on top of the cab as built. Other details would be to paint the trucks matte black (those gray SP or UP trucks aren't prototype!). Other minor details would be to replace the cab number boards with EMD style factory replacements with the large Helvetica font and remove the ditch lights. It would be a great labor of love for a machine that I spent untold hours driving around to photograph during it's last few years of service.

James

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James
Nice coverage. One question, I might have missed it, but is 5371 now part of the Ogden Depot collection?

David Hussey
Cannon and Company

dh30973 Wrote:
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> James
> Nice coverage. One question, I might have missed
> it, but is 5371 now part of the Ogden Depot
> collection?
>
> David Hussey
> Cannon and Company

Hi David,

UP donated 5371 to the Utah State Railroad Museum at Ogden Union Station early last month.

James

Just an observation and the pictures kinda evoke memories of wandering around a Milwaukee
F cab and that's that there still is a lot of dated looking and original controls in that cab. If
you contrast the 5371's cab with a desktop or maybe a better comparison the newer control
stand units there's a stark difference between them. Generations, I guess.