Air Hoses

[Supermicha]

Why has a normal engine 6 or 8 airhoses? For what are they all used, i thought normally they need just one for braking?

[wabash1]

The extra air hoses are for engine braking also. you have the big air hose for the brake pipe which supplies the air for the train brakes then you have 6 smaller air hoses (3 on each side of the knuckle) these are for the engine operation when MUed. they are main resivior this is for supplying air to the main tanks on al engines in the consist even the dead in tow engines so brake operations are possible. the next hose is actuating or act for short. this is a hose so if the automatic brake is applyed that the engines can be bailed ( released ) then ther is the apply and release hose this hose works the independant brakes only.( engine brakes)

Now to answer a question for you of if i apply the automatic brake to set the brakes on the train why bail off the engines. The reason is if i am pulling to a stop to keep slack out i dont want the engine traction motors to overcome thier own brakes just the train. and besides this would cause the amprage to go higher also the other reason is if i put the train in emergency the air can build so high on a engine it will slide the wheels and cause flat spots . this is why we bail off the engines.

the engines have these hoses 3 on each side of the knuckle in case you burst one. or if the glad hand is bad you have a spare. we dont carry spare mu hoses. this is the reason for this now. but in the past it may have been differant.

[Rodney Beck]

Extra air hoses are a wonderful thing when they blow out in the middle of nowhere. As a conductor that is one of the first things I look for before we leave the terminal. Rodney Beck conductor BNSF

[mudchicken]

Wabash:

Add to that that the gladhands are different and do not mate with regular brakeline hoses....Us track guys used to carry compromise fittings with us for air dumps and rail trains so we could tap the main air reservoir at 110 psi and avoid looping the air line around the brake lines (90 psi) so that we did not unintentionally dump the air and bighole the train while filling air dump hoses or operating pneumatic tools that leaked like a sieve......also get micha to think about the locomotives in terms of train line and independent brakinking, not wanting to have one unit do all the pumping and braking and instead working as a team with an additional few failsafes cut in...

[banghead][banghead][banghead]

[UPTRAIN]

6 or 8 of those are MU hoses so more than 1 unit can be controlled from one control stand.

[Anonymous]

One other bit of info for clarity...You only need to use the 3 smaller hoses on one side, not the other. They are duplicates of each other. On BNSF, we only connect both sides when the weather gets cold, to provide redundancy if a hose should freeze up.

[mvlandsw]

There are two sets on each end of the locomotive to allow them to match up when the units are facing in different directions.

[UPTRAIN]

Thank you, you two for that bit of info also.

[wabash1]

QUOTE: Originally posted by mudchicken

Wabash:

Add to that that the gladhands are different and do not mate with regular brakeline hoses....Us track guys used to carry compromise fittings with us for air dumps and rail trains so we could tap the main air reservoir at 110 psi and avoid looping the air line around the brake lines (90 psi) so that we did not unintentionally dump the air and bighole the train while filling air dump hoses or operating pneumatic tools that leaked like a sieve......also get micha to think about the locomotives in terms of train line and independent brakinking, not wanting to have one unit do all the pumping and braking and instead working as a team with an additional few failsafes cut in...

[banghead][banghead][banghead]

You are right ...but i didnt want to get into that so i wouldnt confuse anyone. ran many of train at 1-2 mph dumping ballast . the worst ones are the ones in the winter time after the ballast gets to you and the snow is covering the ballast on top. its frozen all the way thru. and then most of the dumps need repair and the cussing over the radio about this one not dumping or this one not working but nobody bad orders them they just send them back for loading and let it be someone elses problem .