Railroaders' Nostalgia > Cast Iron Brake shoes vs Composition

Something long forgotten by most but there was a big transition from one to the other. It all seemed to happen overnight too.
I would pity the guy that had a cast iron train and then, lets say, took an entended leave of absence , and then his first train back
was 100 cars of Composition!  Hang on. It took some getting used to and radical adjustment could happen. Remember 15 pounds
reduction and you would squat down rather quickly but with Composition it was another story. I wonder how many of us got by
"Spot" a few times!  Well you could always "Wipe the Clock".

I really missed those cast iron shoes on the engine when switching without air.
Steve

ApproachCircuit Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Something long forgotten by most but there was a
> big transition from one to the other. It all
> seemed to happen overnight too.
> I would pity the guy that had a cast iron train
> and then, lets say, took an entended leave of
> absence , and then his first train back
> was 100 cars of Composition!  Hang on. It took
> some getting used to and radical adjustment could
> happen. Remember 15 pounds
> reduction and you would squat down rather quickly
> but with Composition it was another story. I
> wonder how many of us got by
> "Spot" a few times!  Well you could always "Wipe
> the Clock".

I worked with an engineer, a real crackerjack ace, whose last trip was with composition shoes on the cars (very short local) in his train. Aggravating that was a little frost on the rail and the shoes. He got by a red control point signal and derailed on the switch that hadn't completely thrown. He retired on the spot - got off the engine and walked off.

TAW

In SP’s commute service, composition shoes were the standard. When on occasion SD9s 4450 and/or 4451 (Huff and Puff), with cast iron shoes, were assigned to a train, the stopping was great, but good train handling became more of a chore.

Posted from iPhone

I miss the pinwheel shows from the westbounds descending Cajon.

Comp shoes work better at high seeds than cast iron, but fade out fast below 10 mph. Cast iron shoes don't work as well at speed, but are a lot better under 10 mph. Switch engines with cast iron shoes are a lot easier to stop. Switch engines with comp shoes take some getting to, having longer stopping distances.

Posted from Android

I was hostling some engines around once, engines I had recently run. Got on one and moved it up towards the enginehouse and went for the independent and ...... almost nothing !
I thought I was going to end up going through the doors. Seems they had just completed the conversion from cast to comp, and boy was there a difference !!!
Also it seems they didn't get something right with the independent brake pressure relative to the new shoes but I do not recall what.

train1275 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I was hostling some engines around once, engines I
> had recently run. Got on one and moved it up
> towards the enginehouse and went for the
> independent and ...... almost nothing !
> I thought I was going to end up going through the
> doors. Seems they had just completed the
> conversion from cast to comp, and boy was there a
> difference !!!
> Also it seems they didn't get something right with
> the independent brake pressure relative to the new
> shoes but I do not recall what.

they didn't put a higher pressure J relay valve in probably...

One thing I found switching without air when the engine had composition shoes, after applying the independant,  if you went to full service with the automatic gave you another 10 lbs which really helped stop a cut.

Steve

ln844south Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> One thing I found switching without air when the
> engine had composition shoes, after applying the
> independant,  if you went to full service with
> the automatic gave you another 10 lbs which really
> helped stop a cut.
>
> Steve

Yep. And if I’m switching a big/heavy cut I ask the Snakes to cut in 3-4 cars for extra brakes.

Regards

Posted from iPhone