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The experience and judgment of the helper engineer has a lot to do with successful operation of a train up and over a steep grade. Engine crews become intimately familiar with the railroads over which they work, so they will be able to anticipate the grades and curves which they will be facing (often in darkness or inclement weather). Also, crews will be advised of the numbers of loaded and empty cars in their trains and of the gross tonnage, and can make good estimates about train handling based on that information. <br /> <br />Steam engines provided information to their crews as to how hard they were working by the sounds of their exhausts; diesels and electrics were more subtle in terms of sounds--but were equipped with ammeters to show how hard they were working. <br /> <br />The comment from Australia about the Locotrol system brought back memories. Milwaukee Road also use Locotrol in its mountainous helper districts, beginning in the late 1960s. A number of Milwaukee trains went on the ground when tunnels interfered with Locotrol radio signals.
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