Railroaders' Nostalgia > Leaky air hose (BP)

OK guys you have found a leak on your train line. You can hear it blowing from 8 cars away. When you get uo to the leak and find that one of the gaskets is missing you know there is no
problem here, I'll just take one off my switch key holder. oops "I'm out of extra gaslets". Well since I'm a good car handler, I'll apply the trick some old head Car-Toad/Conducter taught me.
Take out the one remaining gasket and reverse on the two glad-hands and you have a decent seal!
One the west cosat one yard required 10 handbrakes. Ring a bell?
On another one 8 handbrakes were required. Can you guess?



happy New year

Take the gasket off the front of the engine.

!00 hundred cars back?

On the SP, that trick was called "wabashing' the gasket.  Sometimes it worked so well that when the cars were subsequently cut apart during switching, it would tear off one of the air hoses.

Michael Sarratt
Rainier, WA

With the new style gaskets, its a 100% chance of ripping a hose off now. 
Searat Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> On the SP, that trick was called "wabashing' the
> gasket.  Sometimes it worked so well that when
> the cars were subsequently cut apart during
> switching, it would tear off one of the air hoses.

It wasn't a missing gasket, at least that's what I heard.  Back in the good old days of the Willamette & Pacific, the night switch crew flat switched cars with the air bled off and built the outbound Westside along with a couple other trains.  Doulbe or triple it together, lace up hoses, and air test it for the Westsider crew.  The inbound train came in, dropped off cars and then got on their outbound and departed.  At Corvallis Junction, the train brakes mysteriously set themselves and the train stopped.  Conductor walked back and found the hoses between two long cars were not quite put together and the junction's sharp curve caused them to stretch enough that it drew off the air and the train stopped.  Honest, I was not working the switcher - I don't even remember the date but it was in my early days, pretty sure.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

ApproachCircuit Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> !00 hundred cars back?

You said you could hear it 8 cars away. If you're 100 cars back then you're closer to the rear, so take that one...

roustabout Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It wasn't a missing gasket, at least that's what I
> heard.  Back in the good old days of the
> Willamette & Pacific, the night switch crew flat
> switched cars with the air bled off and built the
> outbound Westside along with a couple other
> trains.  Doulbe or triple it together, lace up
> hoses, and air test it for the Westsider crew.
>  The inbound train came in, dropped off cars and
> then got on their outbound and departed.  At
> Corvallis Junction, the train brakes mysteriously
> set themselves and the train stopped.  Conductor
> walked back and found the hoses between two long
> cars were not quite put together and the
> junction's sharp curve caused them to stretch
> enough that it drew off the air and the train
> stopped.  Honest, I was not working the switcher
> - I don't even remember the date but it was in my
> early days, pretty sure.  That's my story and I'm
> sticking to it.

I believe it. I know of other instances of the same thing.

TAW

If you have two gaskets but there's a leak, sometimes a little spit on the gaskets does the trick.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/02/23 15:46 by trainjunkie.

I have had cushion underframe cars pull me down before. When slacks is out it leaks, slack in it doesn't.

Sam

Trainhand Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I have had cushion underframe cars pull me down
> before. When slacks is out it leaks, slack in it
> doesn't.
>
> Sam

Yep. Or the opposite. Pretty common on auto racks in the cold.

Regards

Posted from iPhone

ApproachCircuit wrote:

> One(sic) the west cosat(sic) one yard required 10 handbrakes(sic).  Ring a bell?

Through freight trains left standing without crew at Mojave had to have 10 hand brakes set on the east end of trains and 10 hand brakes set on the west end of trains.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/03/23 02:33 by johnsweetser.