Railroaders' Nostalgia > Armed and Dangerous

As a young fireman on the SP you needed to establish a reputation of not being lazy or indifferent to your duties. The other firemen I worked
around and more importantly the engineers I worked with had a so-called 'jungle telegraph' among themselves that reported each
event, good or bad, among themselves. This data bank of information could make or break your reputation. If you were marked as
lazy or a sleeper the chances of an engineer turning over his train to you was slim. You wanted to be on the right hand side and
having a poor reputation didn't help matters.

One day in the summer of 1969 I was firing for Leroy, Andy Gump, Jones on a westbound out of Indio. As we crested the top of the
Beaumont grade, Andy transitioned out of power and initiated dynamic braking. We weren't fully on the down grade when I noticed
Andy's attention was drawn to the control stand. He transitioned back into power and again back into dynamic. I asked him if
everything was OK. "She won't give me any dynamic," said Andy.

Jumping to the challenge, I opened the electric cabinet doors and looked at the maze of wires and mechanical relays. (This was before Dash 2 technology.)
I really didn't have a clue at what I was looking at but, remembering that 'good firemen keep em' running' I put on my gloves and started randomly
trying various relays in an effort to get the dynamics to work. After a couple of tries I hit pay dirt. When I manually operated one suddenly the
dynamic came to life. I could hear the grid cooling fan begin to whirl, looked at Andy and he was giving me that big Andy Gump smile. "It's working", he said.
I don't want to spend the rest of the day holding this relay up so I spied the water cup holder. Pulling about 6 paper cups out I fold them into a wedge or
plug, slip them between the bottom of the relay and a oh so convenient bundle of wires that EMD provided just for this occasion. We've got dynamics,
Andy is happy, I'm a hero in his eyes. All is right with the world. We move on down the hill at track speed, 40 MPH.

Around Redlands suddenly the reassuring sound of the grid cooling fan goes from its usual whirl to that of a scream for a couple of seconds and returned
to its normal sound.  Andy looks at me. "What was that?, he yells. I dunno. He returns his attention to the train. We are approaching the Santa Ana River bridge
at Loma Linda and again the grid fan decides to start screaming. Wheeee, Wheeeeee it goes. Then we hear a loud grinding noise like metal on metal screaming.
I quickly look out of the rear window on my side and am treated to a view of the grid cooling fan covering becoming airborne and alighting in the dry riverbed downstream
about 100 feet from the train. Were still doing about 40. "Andy, I think we better stop", I offer. He sets more air and we come to a halt. I climb up the rear ladder and cross the
top to the DB blister. There I see the sorry state of things. All that is left of the fan is it's hub. A few of the vanes are scattered about. Oh oh, I mutter. Retiring to the cab
I report the sad tale to Andy. "I think you should take that plug out of there", he offers. Good idea. When I pull the paper cups out from under the relay I notice that the
bundle of wires has a nice shiny spot where the the cups had wiped the accumulated dust off. Hmm, I think; evidence of my mis-deed. That's not good. I quickly drop to the
ground where I find a patch of dry soil. Scooping some of the dirt, I rub some between my palms with a nice, fine result.  Bringing some back to the crime scene I gently
blow about a teaspoon full over the top of the wire bundle. Perfect. It looks good. Andy is watching closely then says: "Maybe you shouldn't get inside the electric cabinets". He was right.

I kept this little secret between Andy and myself for several years. Then one day I was called to deadhead back to Taylor Yard on a westbound from West Colton.
In the locomotive consist was an new EMD unit and a factory rep riding along. When there was a lull in his duties I confessed to him all the lurid details describing
what I had done that fateful day. He listen politely and then said that what I had done at Beaumont was OK, no harm done but that that breaker was supposed to
drop out later on in my crime. What I had done was to cause just what happened, the fan was put as it were into 'overdrive' with predictable, to ones in the know, results.
From this experience I resolved to never again try to get into the cabinets to make thinks better, at least not to this level of creativity.

As the old saying goes, I was armed with a little knowledge and enthusiasm to be helpful but I was also dangerous. Live and learn.

Charlie
 

I always poked the relays with a flag stick, I was never brave enough to stick my hand in there.

Charlie,
We never could get over the road back then without paper cups, train order string and flag sticks. At least you could get to the relays and the like. With the covered wagons you had to go back down behind the cab in the engine room with the motor usually in Run 8.

Those couple of years in the late 60s and mid 70s, the power was in such bad shape. As a fireman that's all you would do is going through the units trying to keep them running or loading. There was a long stretch where the fuel filters were getting plugged all the time and the engines would die. Finally figured out with the the engine dead we could open the filter case, dump them in the sump and put just the case back on. It got you home. 

In the early years with the drive shaft type Barco speedometer,  if the over speed was B/O you could cut it out right there  on the brake stand.. Then here comes the start of electronics and Atk power. There were a lot of cases of putting a SP freight unit on the point of a passenger train but the over speeds would trip up around 70 mph or before. I was showed by a RH Foreman how to by pass this if necessary. If the engine had a "ER" relay, (upper right area of the electrical panel doors towards the fireman's side) you would pull off the lower left hand brown wire. No more over speed. There was another wire on the ER relay that would cut out the engine speed in Run 5 in DB, down to idle. Now that could do some damage but some guys on long road or helper districts did this so the engine was quiet. It burned up the fans and grids.

A lot of the ATK engines would have the huge Barco speedometer and they would fail all the time. When we would take over No. 12 at SLO the over speed would be cut out. When you took over No. 13 in Santa Barb, the OS would be cut out.  Usually going west on #13 when the train stopped at Glendale, the fireman would be on the ground and open the air brake compartment door. The engine had to be stopped and the brakes applied. Then there was a certain order different valves and breakers had to be cut out and back in to turn off the OS.  This worked fine until one day a suit walked over and asked the fireman what he was doing. He told him so we don't need to go on about what happened.

With the big Barco's all you had to do was be stopped with the jam on. You would unscrew the big Cannon  Pin Connector from the bottom where you could see the female part of the pins. You would go over to the twisted bond wire on the traction motor cut out switch and borrow two strands. You would bend them to look like a topless "H". You would put one from the letter "G" to "H" and the other "E" to "F". Then hook the connector back up again and tighten the retaining ring. The over speed was now cut out.  Again, this was taught to me by an officer because of the way the OS were set.

This is now a dead subject because of all the changes being  made in new power and the new rules. But back then, if there was a will, there was a way..

The best and fastest way I knew before I retired, was to cut out the brake valve the moment the OS whistle started. It would not stop the PC from going in but it would not dump your brake pipe. Then you had some time to see why and correct the cause.  Beside speed of course, there were other  things that would trip it.  Believe it or not, sometimes a wheel slip would take off  and not stop, going to 70, tripping the OS. You took the lead unit off line, cut out the No. 2 axle (if that was where the read out was attached)  and put it back on line. Then you found your slack and kept going.

Another reason that comes to mind is the cab control signals on some UP power. The cab signals worked with cycles in the rail. The pick ups on the power would tell the engine what color the signal was. That's fine if its cut in the right way AND its on the UP track that had it installed.  The SP never used this type so we didn't care. Then we started to get pooled power and all their cut out valves and switches were sealed. The UP units could not be used on the point or controlling helper engines because they didn't have the DB holding feature like the SP power did. Well, they got all that changed down the road and did away with that rule. They forgot one little thing. The electric switch heaters. The got their juice from outside power and it was 60 cycle, AC.  Every winter in snow country you had to be ready with your hand on the cut out valve when you went over an electric powered switch heater. A lot of times the OS would go off so you cut out the valve, reset the PC and cut it back in again.

Oh, flag sticks?  Used to keep cooling fans and shutters open when the auto portion would fail. Also used to hold in the transition relay to get the engine to load at higher speeds when it would not make transition by itself and unload. And of course, who could forget about those "Wonderful" GEs. The only way to reset the low oil button was with a flag stick You had to lean across the engine from the catwalk on the engineers side over to the governor on the fireman side and push it in.  They never had a lay shaft on their engines but we were told the new models would have some good changes. No they never put in a lay shaft but they moved the low oil button off the governor to a new location where you could reach it. . Trouble was you had to have a ladder and the train had to be stopped.  They put this button on the fireman's side, under the floor. You had to open the outside access door and let it hang down. In order to do this, you had to pry the dogs loose with a packing hook from in the cab. Then you would go down and lower the door, letting it swing in the wind. Then back up into the cab, lean way out and use the flag stick to push the button.  One trip going west from SLO, we started to have power problems west of King City.  By the time we got to Salinas we only had the lead unit left and it died before we could get to the siding switch and this was before they put all the crossings under the tracks in subways. The locals were not on duty yet and No.12 was pulling into the depot. It would of made a great movie. The fireman is hanging out the window with the flag stick, resetting the low oil button. The head man has a air hose wrench on a bolt, on the lay shaft. The engine would die and I would take it off the line, run back to restart it and help the head man with the wrench. After the timeout feature would time out, the fireman would reset the button, I would run back up and put the engine on line and open the throttle. After about 10 cars, the engine would die again and then repeat. the show. The Mexicans were pissed because we had all the crossing blocked.

By the way. The only way I knew for one man to change a knuckle was to use train order string. What do they do now?


Nudge



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/31/16 15:48 by spnudge.

spnudge Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Charlie,
> We never would get over the road back then without
> paper cups, train order string and flag sticks. At
> least you could get to the relays  and the like.
> With the covered wagons you had to go back behind
> the cab in the engine room with the motor usually
> in Run 8.
>
> Those couple of years in the late 60s and mid 70s,
> the power was in such bad shape. As a fireman
> that's all you would do is going through the units
> trying to keep them running or loading. There was
> a long stretch where the fuel filters were getting
> plugged all the time and the engines would die.
> Finally figured out with the the engine dead we
> could open the filter case, dump them in the sump
> and put just the case back on. It got you home. 
>
> In the early years with the drive shaft type Barco
> speedometer,  if the over speed was B/O you could
> cut it out right there  on the brake stand.. Then
> here comes the start of electronics and Atk power.
> There were a lot of cases of putting a SP freight
> unit on the point of a passenger train but the
> over speeds would trip up around 70 mph or before.
> I was showed by a RH Foreman how to by pass this
> if necessary. If the engine had a "ER" relay,
> (upper left area of the electrical panel doors
> towards the fireman's side) you would pull off the
> lower left hand brown wire. No more over speed.
>
> A lot of the ATK engines would have the huge Barco
> speedometer and they would fail all the time. When
> we would take over No. 12 at SLO the over speed
> would be cut out. When you took over No. 13 in
> Santa Barb, the OS would be cut out.  Usually
> going west on #13 when the train stopped at
> Glendale the fireman would be on the ground and
> open the air brake compartment door. The engine
> had to be stopped and the brakes applied. Then
> there was a certain order different valves and
> breakers had to be cut out and back in to turn off
> the OS.  This worked fine until one day a suit
> walked over and asked the fireman what he was
> doing. He told him so we don't need to go on about
> what happened.
>
> With the big Barco's all you had to do was be
> stopped with the jam on. You would unscrew the big
> Cannon  Pin Connector from the bottom where you
> could see the female par of the pins. You would go
> over to the twisted bond wire on the traction
> motor cut out switch and borrow two strands. You
> would bend them to look like a topless "H". You
> would put one from the letter "G" to "H" and the
> other "E" to "F". Then hook the connector back up
> again and tighten the retaining ring. The over
> speed was now cut out.  Again, this was taught to
> me by an officer because of the way the OS were
> set.
>
> This is now a dead subject because of all the
> changes in made in new power and the new rules.
> But back then, if there was a will, there was a
> way..
>
> The best and fastest way I knew before I retired,
> was to cut out the brake valve the moment the OS
> whistle started. It would not stop the PC from
> going in put it would not dump your brake pipe.
> Then you had some time to see why and correct the
> cause.  Beside speed of course, there were other
>  things that would trip it.  Believe it or not,
> sometimes a wheel slip would take off  and not
> stop, going to 70, tripping the OS. You took the
> lead unit off line, cut out the No. 2 axle (if
> that was where the read out was attached)  and
> put it back on line. Then you find your slack and
> keep going.
>
> One other that comes to mind is the cab control
> signals on some UP power. The cab signals worked
> with cycles in the rail. The pick ups on the power
> would tell the engine what color the signal was.
> That's fine if its cut in the right way AND its on
> the UP track that had it installed.  The SP never
> used this type so we didn't care. Then we started
> to get pooled power. The UP units could not be
> used on the point or controlling helper engines.
> They didn't have the DB holding feature like the
> SP power did. Well, they got all that changed down
> the road and did away with that rule. They forgot
> one little thing. The electric switch heaters. The
> got their juice from outside power and it was 60
> cycle, AC.  Every winter in snow country you had
> to be ready with your hand on the cut out valve
> when you went over an electric powered switch
> heater. A lot of times the OS would go off so you
> cut out the valve, reset the PC and cut it back in
> again.
>
> By the way. The only way I knew for one man to
> change a knuckle was to use train order string.
> What do they do now?
>
>
> Nudge Well you need to carry a small tool kit bag with you. With the following: bungee cord, WD-40, pliers or channel lock pliers, vice grips,  and a chisel. Before you take the knuckle out, wrap one end of the bungee cord around the cut lever, and pull it tight and attach to a grab iron. You can then pull the knuckle pin out and let   and let whats left of the knuckle fall to the ground and pull whats left of the knuckle out of the coupler housing.  Hopefully the knuckle pin cotter pin won't be hard to get out, but that is what the vice grips and WD-40 are for .  Make sure the locking pin doesn't pop out and spay the inside of coupler with some WD-40 as it will make the knuckle slide in a lot easier, and make sure it locks, and then slide the knuckle pin back in and take the bungee cord off. Re couple train, and squirt some WD-40 on the air hose gaskets which is good to do in the winter  time so that the gaskets mesh better.  There are other scenarios involving changing a knuckle ,but I won't go into them here

Fusees used to work good when a engine would not make and stay in transision. Just jam it under the rely to hold it up. Or the big  head bandage from the first aid kit to wrap around the contacts.

Going East out of Seattle on day the lead "F" unit would not make and stay in transision so we did the old fusee trick and everything was fine till we went into dynamic brake. That was went things got noisy and Smokey.

Also remember engineer's used to take a fusee cap which had a wooden plug on the end of it,peel off all the paper and with a little knife work made himself an excellent plug for keeping the  independent brake released.

Some of the tricks to get over the road.

DHF

Nobody has mentioned fusees and our beloved SD-9's!  Sometimes the cooling shutters would fail to stay open
or would prematurely close resulting in that all to familiar hot-engine bell. So you would simply insert a fusee or fusees
into the shutters and the problem would be quickly resolved!

Oh yes, the versatile fusee, good for low water and crankcase overpressure buttons.  Then add the screwdriver to the toolkit in grade territory.  Used to force the independent brake valve cam over when you needed to hold the train while recharging the train brakes.  Sphogger