Steam & Excursion > AFT Confidential 30- New Orleans

21 New Orleans LA May 3-9, 1976

On to New Orleans!
At this time Amtrak's Chicago-New Orleans train was still called The Panama Limited. (It would change to CofNO in 5yrs) Steve Goodman's “City of New Orleans” ballad was very popular at the time, so someone made up a nicely done sign for the Crew Car. I thought it was very cool, but no one watching our morning arrival seemed to give it any notice... sigh.

New Orleans was another of the rare 7 day stops, so perfect timing for the 4449's quarterly servicing. I guess because of the extra time (the last quarterly was done in 3 day Tucson), it was decided the servicing could be thorough enough to include Samantha, Laurie & Doyle's St Bernard. Good Job!

BTW: I got back to New Orleans a few times in the late 70's & 80's, and was always been amused to see the black stain on the otherwise white crushed shell ballast left from the dregs of 4449's smokebox. But I suppose it's probably faded away by now?

In 1976 The Southern Crescent was still the pride of the Southern Railway (Amtrak would take over in about 3yrs). The green E's were very impressive! The Crescent was a three day a week service and I made sure I was trackside for it's comings and goings every other day. They'd come in, the E's would quickly be cut off, and disappear to I don't know where- you had to be there at train time to see them.
But '76 was a year of changes too.. my New Orleans slides also include a (very) clean F-40- it was the first F-40 I'd ever seen in service!
SR Bush
Dutch Flat

Photos 1&2. Our arrival in New Orleans with the home Made “City of NO” sign on the Tool Car.
Photo 3. After arriving, the E's were quickly removed from the Southern Crescent and run to where ever it was they went.

Photos 4-6. Local Locos in NOUPT. The F40 was the first I'd ever seen in revenue service.

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Photos 7-9. 4449's Quarterly. That's Craig topping the drawbars with Andy looking on.

Photo 10. Actual workers & pretenders. Front row: Tom, Andy, and Craig. Rear: Bobby, Dave, & Myself. Dave and I had just jumped in for a photo-op.
Photo 11. Doyle & Sam in the wash (t)rack.
Photo 12. Jack, at EMD (Hotwater here on TO), had these plates made up to go along with the 49's MU Control Box. They caught up to the train in New Orleans. The smaller one was added to the box itself- I never saw the larger one again.

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SR, We could have used a little help from the two of you! Dirty job it was cleaning out that smokebox. The city of New Orleans sign
was fabricated by some local volunteers one of which is hanging out of the crew car door in one of your pictures. They also shuttled
us around a bit in New Orleans when we actually had a moment off. The picture of Doyle washing Samantha is priceless, saw it
a number of times with Sam not always showing much enthusiasm. Now that I think about it, I am surprised you didn't take a high
pressure hose to us after the smokebox cleaning Chief.

No- but I was quick to shower after the photo!
SR

BoilingMan Wrote:
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> Photo 12. Jack, at EMD (Hotwater here on TO), had
> these plates made up to go along with the 49's MU
> Control Box. They caught up to the train in New
> Orleans. The smaller one was added to the box
> itself- I never saw the larger one again.

I can't remember for sure, but I may have had two of those full-size builder plates made; one for Doyle and one for myself. Doyle's plate may be hung on the wall of his office at home, while my plate is locked-up in my tool cabinet in the garage (I just double checked, and it is still as good as new). 

Now, on the other hand, if my memory is bad, Doyle just may have given his (the only one ever made) back to me, and THAT is the one locked-up in my tool cabinet. I'll have to ask him next time we talk.

Sorry I'm late to the party. And at New Orleans of all places. Sheesh.

With New Orleans being such a long stop, AFT engineman Craig managed to get a lot of film exposed. Here starts a slough of his photos.

1. New Amtrak F40PH 221 moves around with a couple of Pooches.
2. New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal SW8 1 goes about its business as well.
3. The Southern was around as well, and what a class act they were.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/04/21 14:14 by ble692.

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4-6. More of the Southern. That's one of their Road Foreman of Engines cleaning the windshields prior to departure.

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7-9. The "Best Friend of Charleston" photos have been removed here and will reappear shortly in the Columbus, GA post.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/04/21 19:17 by ble692.

10-12. All was not play though. The long stop allowed for some not so glamorous servicing of the 4449.

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13-15. The work continues.

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16-18. Time for beans.

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19-21. Some not so dirty people shots...

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22-24. Throw more...

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25. Hey this isn't a PA!

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26. They didn't mention this in the brochure.
27. Our intrepid photographer contemplating life's choices. 
28. So long New Orleans!

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I remember taking pictures 4-6 and talking to a Southern Railroad employee that happened to be onsight when I was taking the pictures.
I asked him about the train being mostly or all heavyweights at the time. He explained it was some sort of High School special that was
getting ready to go back to Kentucky or Tennessee with said students. The thing was immaculate and that guy finishing off the Window
of the lead E8 was a Road Foreman of Engines who I suppose was going out on the special. The Southern Railway was a class act!

ble692 Wrote:
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> 10-12. All was not play though. The long stop
> allowed for some not so glamorous servicing of the
> 4449.

Just curious,,,,,,,,why were they pulling superheater units?

White-washing the drawbars & pins is a classic crack-detection technique.

Step 1, Once removed, the items to be checked are first thoroughly scraped,
and washed with a solvent to clean the steel.

Step 2.   Once the solvent has dried, paint all the surfaces with whitewash & water.
               Allow the 'paint' to thoroughly dry. --- ( relax, take a break!)...

Step 3.  Hammer, soundly, all over the surfaces....you make the steel ring loudly.

Step 4. Is to examine the surfaces for cracks as evidenced by the oil-bearing solvent
             staining the white-wash --- revealing microscopic cracks.   

Magnetic particle detection is more sensitive, and reliable crack detection system.
DC current is passed through colis of wire wrapped around the iron-bearing item
to be tested.

On an oil bath table, oil carrying iron dust is used, the DC current induces a magnetic 
field in the iron-bearing steels.   Any cracks will set up a distinct N-S polarity at the
crack, the fine iron particles collect, and the ultraviolet light makes the cracks distinct.

White washing is preferred by inspectors because it proves that the drawbars were
actually removed.  However, any attempt to "fake" the removal of the drawbars is defeated
by the steel frame pockets that enclose the drawbar ends.

lt is virtually impossible to paint whitewash on the drawbar ends ---- without
slopping some white paint on the surrounding steel of the frames ......  
Once the inspector finds that he's being deceived, he'll revert  to a more rigorous
exam of the rest of the loco---- and will invariably find other 'violations'

If an inspector sees that you've attempted to cheat .... he'll FAIL the locomotive...and the tender
must be separated, and the bars & pins inspected.  

It's an important step to properly perform....  he'll be looking for the pocket walls surrounding the
drawbar ends to be stained with slopped-on whitewash, --- not so much is concerned with the
actual drawbars ...  also, the absence of hammer marks on the bars on the ends in the pockets,
and between the bars ---- is another way to ascertain that the bars were not actually removed.

Its a "quarterly" requirement...90 service-days ..

​W.

( Picture #15... Note guy with yellow hard hat has the hammer in his hand... it's a decent weight hammer.
that's good !  Making the rods 'sing" is what you want... The vibrations in the steel will 'pump' any crack to make the
solvents stain the dried whitewash.  Also, note the 'freckles' from the hammer blows --- on both draw bars..  )...



 



Edited 6 time(s). Last edit at 05/05/21 02:21 by wcamp1472.