Canadian Railroads > Old Locotrol 1

a few images of perhaps some of the orignal Locotrol equipment way back in the 1970's. Locotrol eventually became Locotrol II and then the new fangled DPU. Sorry if these images are a repost, sort of stumbled across them this evening and did some scanning.  Doug
images:
l1 showing the lead unit console setup for locotrol operation. left to right, shows the "feed valve" on the remote is cutout (no air suplied from the remote), remote unit is in Idle and is isolated, will not respond to commands, selector switch for "isolate, idle and independent motoring throttle positions, PC is open and idependant brake (IBA) is applied and that the console power is "off". I think I may have taken this image on a shop track at the end of a trip.

l2 another view of the lead unit console

l3 brake valve "push buttons", bottom (orange) two are for engine brake apply & release, two green buttons are for atuomatic brake (train brake) apply and release. Push the top to apply the brake, push the bottom to release the train brake. Later on the "automatic release" button was modified with a metal ring around it and had to be pulled to release the automatice brake. This saved some finger confusion while setting or releasing the air, actually a good improvement and safety feature. The "big red" button is the emergency application button, a good slam with the fist for an application. Above is the flow meter, the yellow line is the "calibration" mark for air flow and the point that the air maintaining feature is at maximum leakage and will not maintain the trainline when applied. The bright red tear drop shape is the whislte cord.

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three more images. Perhaps his "eminence grise" will have some comments and good information to add to this post. It's all too along ago for me now, hurts the old brain to think of this stuff. Locotrol 1 is pretty old fashioned stuff compared to what the new breed of hogheads use. Thanks for looking,  Doug
images:
l4 on the left it says motoring, remote units are in power mode, Continuity although it is in override mode most likely in an area of "loss of communication" there was push button to lock the remotes into the last command,

l5 sand on the remotes and the "feed valve" is in and the remotes will supply air to the brake pipe as well as apply the brakes, TH8, throttle 8 and in motoring, otherwise it would show DB ( dynamic brake) or Idle

l6 view of the office, a BC Rail M630,  700 series unit

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Pushbuttons for the brake? Just like DCC!

CPR_4000 Wrote:
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> Pushbuttons for the brake? Just like DCC!

But the sound quality is much better!

CPR_4000 Wrote:
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> Pushbuttons for the brake? Just like DCC!

Yes Locotrol I and Locotrol II used push buttons for air brake operation.  The automatic brake valve handle was pinned in the release position when operating as Locotrol lead unit. If the brake valve handle was accidentally used, a "penalty brake application" would occur. The independent brake handle could be used on the lead consist, push button used to apply or release the engine brakes on the Remote consist as well as push button operation for the automatic (train) brake. The newer DPU's have "electronic brake" setup and the brake valve handles are used instead of push buttons.  Doug

There were differences between the Locotrol 1 used on CP, BC Rail and QNS&L.

CP removed the "remote sanders" feature. It was an ON-OFF feature, and engineers would forget to shut of the sanders draining the hoppers on the remotes.

Both CP and CN had issues with the sanders on lead units, claiming excessive use caused rapid wheel wear and also sand could clog up track circuitry.

CP also didn't have the "ground relay reset" feature on the remote console.

CP units of the day would reset ground relays automatically three times, after three the units was supposed to be isolated.

We spent alot of time in "independant motoring",  that is operating the remotes using the rotary switch on the Locotrol console.

The "Continuity" light on the console indicated that there was a strong radio signal between the head end and remotes.  Because Locotrol 1 and 2 were VHF radio signals, they got lost in tunnels and cuttings.

The air brake functions were another issue.  "Feed Valve In" meant the remote units were in radio contact and the automatic brake feed valve in the remote consist was operational. This allowed for much faster brake applications when operational with the mid train units contributing to the air brake applications and releases. However , missed air brake signals via radio could result in both unintended applications and releases.  Dialing out the remote feed valve could eliminate this problem but made the air brake system much slower.

There were a dedicated group of technicians employed both by the manufacturers (Harris Controls and NYAB) and by participating railways who greatly modified Locotrol to make it more reliable over the years. Finally GE bought the patents.

Today's DPU is much more reliable than the early Locotrol. Several US railroads used Locotrol , (Southern and BN) and many others tried it (UP,Milwaukee and others) It was used in Australia and New Zealand also.

Locotrol is a good example of the miniaturization allowed by modern computers. The first Locotrol was too big to fit in the short hood of many locomotives, so B units and box cars and even ore cars were used to carry the Locotrol equipment.

Westinghouse tested their own patent system called "REMU" (remote mu) on CP in the late 1960's. CP photographs show tuscan and grey SD40's, and "Robot 1", an express boxcar also in tuscan and grey. As far as I know, WABCO went no further on the project after testing.

I was the trainman on a freight following a Locotrol equipped coal train which ran away in Rogers Pass BC in 1977. Much was learned about Locotrol and its shortcomings in that event.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/23/15 09:46 by eminence_grise.

I got to work with Locotrol I on the MILW, Locotrol II on the BN and the current DPU on the MRL/BNSF. It works a lot better now than when it was Locotrol I in the mountains.

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According to what Rob_L has written on this site, Locotrol problems were major contributing factors in several MILW derailments which hastened that road's demise.