Steam & Excursion > 844 with E unit questions

I'm a little reluctant to raise these questions, but here goes. First I think the Es look terrific. I notice that more people are posting pictures with the diesels showing behind the 844.

1. Will the use of E units become "SOP" ?

2. Are the E units manned or simply MUed? Or MUed but a back up crew member in the cab? If they are manned, would that be by the steam crew or from the extra board?

My understanding was that the SD70 was simply MUed and not manned and that it made shutting down the SD70 difficult when the engine ran away.

Really really impressed by the effort of UP to continue the program.

Tom

First, the SD70 Heritage unit you referred to did NOT "run away"! Someone in the right hand seat of 844 didn't think to drop the generator field switch, after they placed the brake valve into emergency, and there is a 20 second delay designed in for PC switch activation.

Second, the trailing diesel units, either modern heritage units or the Executive E units, only need to be "maned" if the dynamic brake needs to be utilized as that function is NOT controlled from the MU Control Box in the cab of the steam locomotive.

I would assume--Uncle Pete being Uncle Pete--that someone got their wrist slapped because of the expensive error!

I watched the train depart Atchison, KS yesterday, and noticed the E's were idling and manned.

ddg Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
I watched the train depart Atchison, KS yesterday,
and noticed the E's were idling and manned.

You mean of course that there where people sitting in the cab seats, which is NOT unusual when the E's are behind either 844 or 3985. Everybody wants to ride in the E units, if they can't be in the cab of the steam locomotive.

About the not running away: What happened that would cause them to need to kill the field switch (or await PC valve power shutoff) in the first place?

Is it true that a non-engineer with only 5 years on the railroad was at the controls and if so why would he have been in a seat coveted by so many well qualified engineers? Or was that just some stupid rumor?

This is why I regret posting this question. If you want to discuss what happened in the cab, start your own post. I just want to know how UP is handling things now and in the future.

HotWater Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> ddg Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> I watched the train depart Atchison, KS
> yesterday,
> and noticed the E's were idling and manned.
>
> You mean of course that there where people sitting
> in the cab seats, which is NOT unusual when the
> E's are behind either 844 or 3985. Everybody wants
> to ride in the E units, if they can't be in the
> cab of the steam locomotive.


Yes. There were people occupying the cab of the E coupled to the tender. That might be a better way to say it. And, they were wearing safety vests. May or may not have been employees.

They may well have been employees and were riding back there just in case. I am not sure if they used dynamics on the backdown from the summit in Omaha today but not all employees want to ride the steam locomotive.

Bob Krieger
Cheyenne, WY

I personally heard radio communications between the engineer of 844 and the engineer on the leading E unit when the train pulled away from Alma, KS. It sure sounded like there was a qualified engineer in place on the diesel.

Tominde Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> 1. Will the use of E units become "SOP" ?
>
> 2. Are the E units manned or simply MUed? Or MUed
> but a back up crew member in the cab? If they
> are manned, would that be by the steam crew or
> from the extra board?
>
> My understanding was that the SD70 was simply MUed
> and not manned and that it made shutting down the
> SD70 difficult when the engine ran away.

Tom, I'm in no way connected with either UP or the steam program, so that probably makes me as qualified as most to answer your questions. Which is to say, having no qualifications at all! :-)

That said, here goes:

1. I suspect the answer is "maybe." Or maybe better, "who knows?" Or probably most accurately, "sometimes, if they are handy, and management remembers that people liked them more than a random freight engine." Remember, the Suits probably would like to keep the E's for running their officer's specials. I'd bet if a special and a steam run are scheduled for the same time, the E's will be elsewhere. On the other hand, if it is some big corporate-wide PR blitz like the current thing, I'd bet there is a good chance they would be scheduled in preference to a borrowed Warbonnet.

2. My understanding or belief is that in the past they have sometimes been manned and sometimes not. I'm sure at the moment there is a bit of paronoia to overcome about unmanned helpers, so I suspect for the rest of this show they will be manned. I'd bet that will last for another few trips or a year or two, and then reality will reassert itself, and sometimes they will be manned and sometimes not.

3. Knowing no more than rumors, I'm guessing the MU throttle control didn't work as expected, a small amount of confusion set in, this resulted in doing some things in the wrong order; with the minor but unfortunate result of skid marks on the track. This is a not too unusual occurance when an unexpected condition comes up that you haven't specifically trained for and rehearsed. Having the helpers not shut down when you told them to would be an unusual occurance. Note, the preceeding is A COMPLTE GUESS ON MY PART, so don't go rumoring it around as truth without first claiming it as your own idea!

filmteknik Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
>
> Is it true that a non-engineer with only 5 years
> on the railroad was at the controls and if so why
> would he have been in a seat coveted by so many
> well qualified engineers? Or was that just some
> stupid rumor?

That is all it is. A stupid rumor. Nobody occupies 844 or 3985's engineer seats who is not a licensed UP locomotive engineer.

Good because that is the one rumor I would like to see laid to rest ASAP.

Realist Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

That is all it is. A stupid rumor. Nobody
occupies 844 or 3985's engineer seats who is not a
licensed UP locomotive engineer.

Well, yes and no. Engineer Ted Schulte, out of the Denver Engineer pool, was officially transferred to the Steam Crew back in 2010, as a Fireman. Ted received his initial "Fireman Training trips" during the 844 run to Oregon for the 100th anniversary of the Pendleton Roundup, during September 2010.

Although being an FRA certified Engineer, Ted has been "learning" how to run 844, from time to time. Such was the case down in Texas (Mt. Pleasant, TX). It is certainly NOT easy learning the fine points of operating a modern, high horsepower 4-8-4, let alone controlling the diesel unit MU'ed behind. In actuality, the Engineer of the 844, 4449, 765, and any other steam locomotive equipped & using a diesel MU Control Box, is REALLY operating two different locomotives AT THE SAME TIME!

IT AIN'T EASY! You have to concentrate on lots of things at once. Could have been tough for the "new guy".

I notice the same fireman in both of these photos. The top one was taken the other day at Atchison, KS. The bottom photo was taken in Topeka in Oct of 2010. Is this Ted Schulte? We hear Ed Dickens name mentiond quite often, but I've never heard who the Fireman is.

---

---

Yes, that is Mr. Shulte.