Mountain type 4-8-2 #3743 and Northern 4-8-4 #3783 at the Lamy Station in Lamy, New Mexico circa 1950. Ed Olsen photo.
Nice photo, r_i_straw! Now, I have a dumb question, so please forgive my ignorance here. I grew up in the diesel era, and I understand how MU'ed diesel locomotives work. When steam locomotives were doubleheaded, how did the crews coordinate tractive effort and braking? You wouldn't want one locomotive pushing "too much", or fighting against slowing down, I would think. Whistle signals? Visual cues?
Whistle signals predominately. I was on the Roanoke, VA station platform in 1957. An eastbound coal drag approached at about 10 MPH. As the lead engine passed, the engineer blew two short whistles, "proceeding/accelerating forward". That was immediately followed by the second engine's engineer blowing two short whistles. Five or ten seconds later, I heard two short whistles from way in the distance. The train was going about twenty-five MPH when the pushing engine passed the station.
As Hytec said whistle signals. In addition the Engineers are operating over the same territory segments trip after trip after trip. They are QUALIFIED on the territory, both from running it and from having operated helpers themselves before they could hold the 'high paying' road jobs. Secondly operating trains over a specific territory makes the operation relatively 'formulaic'. Starting the train depends on tonnage and terrain at the start location. Permanent Speed Restrictions are at the same place every trip and track speed is the same every trip. Engineers KNOW where they have to add throttle to maintain their desired speed and where they have to reduce throttle - depending on the individual train those location may change a few car lengths depending on how THIS train is handling and rolling. Signals, where used, are spaced to allow routine service braking of all trains so that STOP signals do not get overrun. In my experience, Passenger Trains got their helpers on the head end. Freight trains could get trains on either end, with most going on the rear. Present day the location of helpers or DPU is governed by how much 'trailing tonnage' is behind the various locomotive consists. With all the above - mistakes still happen. https://planeandtrainwrecks.com/Doc...select+10+(byhits+(general+(phrase+helper))))
I was going to say, in addition to signals, knowledge, skill, and experience were necessary. The enginemen got to know the "feel" of a train and what to do in different circumstances and I bet that still is a factor in these modern times. Doug
Both. Engine crews learned to have a feel for their machines, for slack action and they really knew their territories. They could plan for what was coming, simply from years doing the job.
Had never seen a truck like that one. Google is your friend. https://www.thedrive.com/news/34242...semi-truck-with-windshields-on-the-floorboard
He doesn't tell why. International just jacked their conventional cab way up. Those holes were cut in the firewall. That's why the windshield isn't bigger. It had to fit above a conventional hood. They started building the little tilt cab under license from Diamond T about then, which had a nice, big windshield. So they jacked that up high to create the Emeryville, and the oddball Sightliner quickly and quietly disappeared.
