Can engineers drive one engine or another with out training like a EMD 70 to a GE?
Generally speaking, engineers, once fully qualified, are expected to run whatever power is given to them. There are no special certifications based on loco manufacturer or model. What they HAVE to be qualified on is the territory over which they run.
This different than airlines, where pilots get certified on a specific model of aircraft, but can fly them most anywhere (though some especially challenging airports require special certification)
Rambo2Can engineers drive one engine or another with out training like a EMD 70 to a GE?
Controls on all brands of locomotives are largely standardized. There are detail differences between the different manufacturers as well as detail differences between different models from the same manufacturer. There are detail differences between the same model of locomotives's that were built in different years.
It is pretty much like a driver renting a car - you get what you get and you deal with it.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
As Balt notes - the controls are pretty standard. Four handles pretty much run everything. There will either be an "AAR" control stand, or desktop controls. You can look them up.
The challenge we face on our railroad is that we are running vintage equipment. I've run RS3's with manual transition (like driving a stick shift!), F's, ALCO C series, RS18u's, GP9s.
If there's something that will confound an engineer in our case, it's that things like switches and breakers will be in different locations on the various locomotives. Where the heck is the switch for the ditch lights, again?
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
Why is the territory so important? Is it to do with hills and mountains grades for climb and braking?
RS3 with manual transition what would that mean sir ? I think i have a good idea but i would like to hear more. Thanks.
The electrical connection of the four traction motors on an RS3 can be done so that all four are in series, or both motors in a truck in series but the two trucks in parallel (series-parallel in the literature), or all four motors in parallel. These connections are switched 'on the fly' depending on road speed and load to optimize the way the electrical 'transmission' delivers power.
There is also a 'back transition' where the connections are essentially 'shifted down'.
The switching was originally done via relay control, actuated by a control in the cab. The engineer would watch his ammeter and "shift" at the correct times, decreasing engine power/generator excitation as needed to keep the contactors in reasonable shape. Naturally this was something that could be automated, and reasonably early on was... in forward transition. Even some fairly late-in-the-game passenger designs, the early E8s among them, did not automate the back transition automatically (as they were higher-speed locomotives) and this caused some rather agonizing issues in the early Fifties as PRR developed higher-speed TrucTrains that could use passenger-locomotive speed from the fleet being increasingly idled by the growing failure of American passenger-train patronage. Freight engineers who were accustomed to automatic back transition on their power might be inattentive when decelerating the train, and cause distressing flashovers as a result. (David Klepper, a frequent poster here, was associated with early developments in effective automatic back transition, and his observations here should be very useful to you.)
Rambo2 Why is the territory so important? Is it to do with hills and mountains grades for climb and braking?
Backshop Rambo2 Why is the territory so important? Is it to do with hills and mountains grades for climb and braking? Along with signal locations, permanent slow orders, etc.
Along with signal locations, permanent slow orders, etc.
There are also effects from wind and other weather conditions.
When I am conductor (tourist line), I often joke with the passengers (especially kids) that I have to know the territory (which I do). I then point out a passing tree and say that it's name is "Steve..."
As noted, knowing one's territory aids in efficient train handling by allowing the engineer to plan ahead. Downgrade ahead? Get ready for appropriate braking. And so on. Some of our crossings are out of sight around curves - knowing where those are allows us to sound the appropriate warning, and to be alert of possible incursions.
All of our locomotives, except the RS3, have automatic transition up, and down. Once you learn about what point the locomotive will transition, you can expect the clicking of the relays and the power meter to fluctuate when you hit that speed.
I think automatic transition was available when the Central's RS3's were built, but the railroad opted for manual...
Thankyou sir and everyone for the great information I learned something new.
'I've reported on this years ago, but here I go again,
On Boston & Maine GP-7 1567 or 1568 testing the advanced and simpler generator exitation control system for the in-design GP-9 that I helped with at EMD Sommer 1952, December 1952 Portsmouth NH - Boston Sommerville Yard freight, late evening.
"Dave, you've watched us often enough, want to try a hand a running?"
"You bet!"
Topping the grade, and with years of streetcar operation behind me, without thinking I moved the throttle handle from run-8 to idle; where-upon the engineer put his hand over mine and moved it back to run-8. saying: "We are going downhill, but most of the train is still going uphill."
daveklepperopping the grade, and with years of streetcar operation behind me, without thinking I moved the throttle handle from run-8 to idle; where-upon the engineer put his hand over mine and moved it back to run-8. saying: "We are going downhill, but most of the train is still going uphill."
I had that chance during a cab ride, before I started volunteering.
Top of the grade, and there was a soft spot that they always slowed for. I throttled back, which would have been OK, but that particular locomotive had a tendency to shut down in that circumstance, which it did...
The engineer stepped in and got the brakes set and the loco restarted so we could finish the trip.
Think of the locomotive as the truck of the railroads. The only thing that might be different is the placement of some minor controls that on a normal basis a road crew will not have to deal with that much.
Or in normal person speaking it's like driving a GM or Ford one day the next is switched.
Shadow the Cats ownerOr in normal person speaking it's like driving a GM or Ford one day the next is switched.
Where the heck is the dimmer???
tree68 Shadow the Cats owner Or in normal person speaking it's like driving a GM or Ford one day the next is switched. Where the heck is the dimmer???
Shadow the Cats owner Or in normal person speaking it's like driving a GM or Ford one day the next is switched.
In going from the 50's to the 21st Century - lots of changes - Where is the gas filler? Where is the dimmer switch? Where is the window switch? Where are the door locks and how do you operate them? and on and on
The arrangement of the switches on the control stand is also somewhat of an option, the same units from different railroads can have the headlight switches and some other stuff in different places.
Some switches are labelled in writing, others have little icons. The headlight switches on newer EMDs kind of look like some jellyfish attacking the engine (I think Zug came up with that line on here).
There is also a cute little sticker down in the nose that warns you to avoid tripping on the bottom of the door frame. Same idea as the cartoon on centrebeam flats where an unevenly loaded car is falling over onto a stick figure. If you draw in a stick and speech bubble it changes into a hockey player tripping over the puck.
Greetings from Alberta
-an Articulate Malcontent
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