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Railroaders' Nostalgia > what a trip!


Date: 10/23/24 03:26
what a trip!
Author: atsfer

Dug around in my old time books and came across a trip I wish I could remember, getting on a hot shot at Wellington, Ks on October 10,1997.  Four units, @15,700 horsepower, 4201 tons means 3.7 tons per horsepower...that's very good.   Units were ATSF 564,528, 121 and LMX 8505.  Note the time out at 2300 and the arrival at KC of 0320...four hours 20 minutes to go about 220 miles comes out for an average speed of @ 55 mph.  Total time on duty was less than 5 hours.   But, the trackage between Wellington and KC was not a straight line, lots of curves and a train length restriction of 30mph through Emporia, Ks.  I was at Wellington for 20'45" for a code 30 of 77 miles held away from home terminal penalty.  ZLACWSP9 is Los Angeles to Willow Springs and the 9 symbol  meant high priority train. (as well as the Z) Conductor was JP (John) Sawka.  Other codes were 07 meaning claimed two meals, code 09 was productivity pay?
Not all trips were like this one needless to say, but they were coveted believe me.  I am sure there are similar stories probably better than this one, but any trip under 5 hours was notable for me.




Date: 10/23/24 08:46
Re: what a trip!
Author: santafe199

From personal experience, I know a trip like that can take the sting out of several other bad ones. I was already in Montana when they eliminated Emporia as a crew change change point. It would’ve been cool to make that run between Kansas City and Wellington on a hotshot… 😎

Posted from iPhone



Date: 10/23/24 16:44
Re: what a trip!
Author: 3rdswitch

I can identify. I remember most of the worst trips and all of the best trips but few in between.
JB



Date: 10/24/24 04:09
Re: what a trip!
Author: trainjunkie

Any trip on a 500 would test my patience.



Date: 10/24/24 04:13
Re: what a trip!
Author: atsfer

Yeah the -840b's were rough riders especially toward the end of their use...you could easily get a back ache working on one of those if you sped along at 70 mph..the lateral especially could be bad.



Date: 10/24/24 12:16
Re: what a trip!
Author: LocoPilot750

The trips I enjoyed/hated the most were when you got out of Wellington with plenty power and not much train, ran all the way to Holliday on green signals, then sit at Morris for two or three hours because there was one Kansas City setout in your train, and both fast tracks had trains setting out bad orders.



Date: 10/24/24 16:09
Re: what a trip!
Author: atsfer

Yeah that hurts the most, sitting at Morris as long as it took you to get there from Wellington.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/25/24 02:09 by atsfer.



Date: 10/24/24 16:33
Re: what a trip!
Author: steeplecab

I note they're all four axle units. Would the ATSF 121 have had a better ride? I understand the GP60s were designed for speed, so were they that much better riding than the GEs?

steeplecab



Date: 10/25/24 18:29
Re: what a trip!
Author: Habu

steeplecab Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Would the ATSF 121 have had a better ride? I understand the
> GP60s were designed for speed, so were they that much
> better riding than the GEs?

In my experience, the 100-class GP60Ms and 500-class 8-40BWs ride was about the same: terrible. Both classes were very rough riding and prone to excessive lateral sway.

Posted from iPhone



Date: 10/27/24 10:57
Re: what a trip!
Author: mapboy

LocoPilot750 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The trips I enjoyed/hated the most were when you
> got out of Wellington with plenty power and not
> much train, ran all the way to Holliday on green
> signals, then sit at Morris for two or three hours
> because there was one Kansas City setout in your
> train, and both fast tracks had trains setting out
> bad orders.

On the 168-mile BNSF Needles Sub in California, it's similar to Wellington-K.C.  When a crew reaches Daggett, they are 10 miles away from the Barstow crew change.  As the crews say, "When you reach Daggett, you're halfway there!"

mapboy



Date: 10/28/24 14:36
Re: what a trip!
Author: LocoPilot750

When the 100 class were new, nobody cared for them, the control stand was laid out all wrong, the angle of the gauges made them hard to read, later they installed them facing slightly to the engineer so you could see them, the seat had a big rubber bellows thing built around the base. It was a springy contraption, that would bounce you up and down like a pogo stick, and sometimes stick in the upright position and wouldn't go back down, until it sometimes would, all at once, instantly bottoming out on the floor and stay there so you couldn't hardly see out. They had a big orange foot pedal that blew the loudest grade crossing sequence you ever heard if you accidently laid your foot on it, most everybody used the botton on the desk, The desk itself was angled so that anything you set on it would end up on your lap or on the floor. I think they were universaly hated by anybody that ever ran one. I liked the 500's, better seats, better desk, and they were quiet. I think they rode better with the longer wheelbase too, but compared to the 6 axle GE's the cab was a little cramped.



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