Nostalgia & History > Switcher Saturday: The best switch engine around!

About 6 weeks into my career in train/yard service for the Santa Fe I went to work on the 8 AM switcher in North Wichita (KS) Yard. This was the catch-all job that basically switched out cuts from inbound blocks of cars set out by the various locals between Newton & Arkansas City, and the occasional road extra. The reverse was also true; the job would put together blocks of cars for eventual pickup. So this was that visible job that every RR yard seems to have; the one "pounding the lead" all day long right in front of the yard office. Our switch engine for the day was GP 38 3538.

Little did I know, but I was in the early stages of an education that would culminate 12 years later in promotion to locomotive engineer (on another railroad). According to my timebook this was the 4th time in my young career I was on a switch job that had a GP 38 for the main switch engine. At close of work on this particular day I would furloughed from my Middle Division seniority district (#1), but would mark right up on the seniority district #2 switchman’s extra board out in Dodge City and go right to work. My first 3 switch jobs in Dodge just happened to have a GP 38 (3508) for the switch engine. But on my 4th shift the job had GP 39-2 #3659. My foreman that afternoon, whom I had worked with a couple of days earlier, took me aside at the beginning of the shift and asked me if I knew about these 3600s? Of course I had no idea what he was asking about. He took me over to the 3659 and pointed out that it had only ½ the number of engine driver (independent) brakes as our 3508 did from 2 days before. He knew we would be handling long cuts of loaded grain hoppers, so he commented: “It’s too bad we don’t have that 3508 anymore. With double the brakes it’s just about the best switch engine around!” So while making joints with heavy cuts of cars, he admonished me to try and take into consideration the reduced braking power of a 3600 compared to a 3500.

36 years ago it was an early lesson that followed me the rest of my career. It was also a very tiny head-start when I went into engineer training for MRL in the fall of 1989. After promotion one of the first things I would take into consideration when working a switch engine was the braking power I would have…

1. AT&SF 3538 is the switch engine for job #102, the 0800 lead job in Wichita, KS on July 24, 1978.
(Ektachrome slide)

2. “The best switch engine around”, AT&SF 3508 is waiting to go to work in Dodge City, KS on July 26, 1978. (36 years ago to the day!)

Thanks for the lesson!
Lance Garrels
santafe199



Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 07/20/22 21:34 by santafe199.

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Lance,

You'd be right at home here in Alaska. If you're on a yard job, you're on a Geep 38 dash two, or a two-thousand as we call 'em.

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NICE Pix of two great-looking yellow-bonnets, Lance,
and an interesting story. Must have been great getting
to use the proper locomotive for the job.

(Did the 3508 get scrapped? I hope not.)

He was kinda right, the 3500's had clasp type cast iron shoes until they got converted over to the single comp shoes, and higher brake cylinder pressure. At yard speeds, I always thought the cast iron shoes were a lot better than the comp shoes at stopping anything. Above ten mph or so, the opposite is true, the comp shoes work better at the higher speeds. All for the sake of uniformity I guess. The 3500's had a "kick" switch too, and would load and accelerate faster for yard work. The 3600's had motor driven relays too, and were slow to reverse the circuitry compared to the 3500's. When you threw the reverser with the 3500's it reversed instantly. With the 3600's you reversed it, waited a couple of seconds for the little motor to make all the connections, then when you moved the throttle to 1, you would hear the rest of the contacts chatter a little, and it would start to load. While all this is going on, the foreman is standing out there in the rain wondering why you're not taking his signals.

Where I work we have new locomotives used for switching. They were special ordered with double clasp Blomberg trucks with comp shoes.

The advantage of comp shoes is better wheel wear and almost no brake squeal which when on the ground if you do not have your hearing protection on is not a good thing. Also iron shoes create a lot of iron dust in the air around the locomotive and is breathed into the crews lungs.

If the railroad chooses to spend the money switching brake shoes can be purchased which cover the wheel face and the flange. This also prevents brake shoe over ride.