Really interesting reading! Thanks for taking the time to write it up.
Continuing on from where I left off . . .
I think that the yard jobs I liked working best, both as a switchman, and then as an engineer, were the pullout jobs at Northtown Yard. They were fast-paced so the time went quickly, had some challenge, had good breaks, and got a nice quit besides. It also seemed as though we were really accomplishing something in making up a train, some of which I would later see departing.
Compared with other jobs, the pullouts required an engineer to have a good understanding of the capabilities of the locomotive being used, especially its braking power. The geography of Northtown had much to do with this; the yard was located in the same urban location as Northern Pacific’s old Northtown Yard and had significant design challenges. Hemmed in on one side by the main line (immovable with industries next to it) and on the other by a 50-foot high bluff (although the BN did remove a large area of this bluff to make room for the bowl tracks) the overall width was constrained. The available overall length was fixed by an Interstate highway crossing on the west end and street crossings on the east end. Since I have a civil engineering degree and did track design work on the CNW I spent much time studying the track layout at Northtown (there is a lot of sitting and looking out the window for engineers on yard jobs); I found where a minor change or two could have been made but on the whole the engineers had done a really good job designing the yard given the available space.
One major headache was the Soo Line’s bridge that crossed over the BN just east of our 35th Avenue Yard Office at the east end of the bowl (the pullout jobs worked out of 35th along with a yardmaster and switchtender). This Soo bridge was a long multi-span through-plate-girder affair with numerous piers to get in the way of our tracks. Worse, it had poor overhead clearance and the BN had had to lower the tracks under the bridge to get sufficient clearance for auto racks and double stacks.
Lowering the BN tracks created a real dip under the bridge; from the east end of the bowl the lead tracks sloped down and the engineer had be careful to maintain control in case the switchtender didn’t have all the switches lined correctly. Once past the bridge the pullback tracks went uphill on a grade that gave the SD9 a bit of a workout but wasn’t enough to cause any problems. When working afternoons this uphill pull was my chance to smoke out a hapless railfan who liked to stand over our pullback tracks while watching trains from the St. Anthony Boulevard bridge (the bridge was just east of, and parallel with, the Soo Line bridge). I would ease down out of the bowl with minimum throttle, then throttle out to notch eight when going under the St. Anthony bridge. The resulting eruption of exhaust was something akin to standing over a volcano, especially if the loco had been idling a while (some of the SD9s were better “smokers” than others). I don’t think this fellow was the brightest as he never caught on and stood somewhere else on the bridge.
Going the other direction was another matter though, as the whole cut was now on a downgrade and we had to shove down this grade toward the departure tracks while being able to stop and make a joint with the cars already in the departure track. I found that simply releasing the engine brakes was usually enough to get the cut moving, if not, I moved the throttle to the first notch for a bit. Once moving I let the speed increase to four or five MPH, then used the engine brakes to maintain that speed, and no more. As we approached the joint I would apply more braking to reduce speed and make a smooth coupling. It helped some that the lead cars on our cut were now on the other side of the dip and started bunching up and slowing down a bit.
The whole operation took patience as you were creeping along at barely walking speed; not all engineers had this patience, or they just didn’t understand what was involved. One in particular was especially noted for making hard joints: a radio transmission of “Stand back, I can’t stop” was the prelude to a tremendous crash and the standing cars being propelled into sudden motion.
As I mentioned previously, many of the pullout engineers (yours truly included) had definite preferences on the locomotive they wanted to use and this was not always appreciated by some at 35th. When not in use we would tie up two of the SD9s in the New Lead Pocket; this track was directly across from the yard office and could be accessed from both ends. This was the preferred location for tie up as a job making its last shove just came east off of the departure track and then headed west right into the NLP; the crew then had to only walk across three tracks to reach the yard office. The other locos were tied up on tracks Transfer 6 or 7; getting there involved some sashays back and forth through the crossovers in front of the yard office and then east into T-6 or T-7. These tracks were east of the Soo Line bridge, up near the infamous St. Anthony Bridge, and the engineer had a bit of a walk to reach the yard office. I didn’t care about the walk, but many engineers did; I have often thought that a lot of engineers went into engine service from train or yard service simply because they disliked walking.
At the beginning of the shift the first engineer on duty (the 2:30 p.m. job on afternoons) had pick of the locos available. Some engineers simply took the west loco on the NLP; here the job could go directly from the Pocket into Group One (class tracks 1-7), or go ahead out of the pocket then back through a crossover to the other leads. If the engineer wanted the east loco it was a simple matter of going out the east end of the pocket and then west to where ever they were supposed to go. If the engineer was fussy and selected a loco from T-6 or T-7 both SD9s sat in the pocket until the next jobs went to work. The process repeated itself when both 3:00 p.m. jobs (the regular pullout and the Zone job) went to work, and again with the 3:30 p.m. job.
At times a loco would continue to be passed over and languished in the Pocket when engineers selected their power. This always irritated the switchtender as it tied up one of the lead tracks that were available for jobs to use when pulling out from the group tracks; snide comments were occasionally heard over the radio about “prima donna engineers.” When the 4:00 p.m. pullout job went to work the situation resolved itself as there was usually only the one SD9 left and the job had to take it; if there happened to be a spare SD9 the yardmaster simply ordered the job to take the loco in the pocket, or if the engineer was adamant about not wanting to use that loco, to move the offending loco over to T-6 or T-7 out of the way before taking a preferred loco.
With up to five jobs working on the same radio channel, move assignments from the 35th Yardmaster (no switch lists were used), and requests to the 35th Switchtender for lineups there was a great deal of radio traffic. We kept transmissions as brief and succinct as possible; since all the SD9 numbers were in the 6100s we only used the last two digits for identification. A switchman making a joint would say (after listening to make sure some other job wasn’t doing the same thing), “20 west one” (BN 6120 come ahead one carlength; they liked to use east and west instead of the normal “come ahead” or “back up” commands); “20 west easy” (when getting close to the joint; not all switchmen said this); “20 stop-and-stretch” (self explanatory); “20 that’ll do” (after seeing that there was another joint farther along the track).
One job I held for a while was the 11:00 p.m. “Q pullout” which job got its name because the BN merger agreement allocated some jobs to former CB&Q switchmen. Eventually enough Q switchmen retired so that openings on the jobs were filled by the other Northtown switchmen. This job normally switched hot intermodal trains 3 and 13; cars brought over from Midway Intermodal Terminal in St. Paul were spliced into each train. Usually the trains had just arrived when we went to work, or we might have to wait a bit for them. These trains each pulled into one of the the long departure tracks on the north side of the yard (D-7 to D-9), stopped after clearing the east end, cut off the power, and ran it to the North Runner Pocket for service by the fuel truck.
Once we knew the road crew had cut away from the train we coupled on, cut in the air, and started pulling east. The switch foreman and helper would be be watching for the cut (here we did have a switch list) and would stop me when they spotted it. After making the cut we then pulled out and doubled to the adder cars, cut the air in again, and pulled east again to the cut on the adders, stopped, made a cut, and doubled back to the train. We may have pulled the train east again to the next cut; here I don’t remember after so many years and I never was really sure what we were doing anyway with all the stopping, starting, and back-and forth moves. By the time we had made our last double the engine was usually well east of the Soo Line bridge (sometimes even east of the St. Anthony bridge) and sometimes the yardmaster would have to relay as I couldn’t hear the switchman’s radio.
Now came the fun part for me: our foreman would say “20 shove west for air” (this meant we were going to spot the rear car at the yard air connection a few carlengths in on the track). I would first carefully bunch the slack (especially when east of the Soo bridge as there was a sharp curve under the bridge) and then start working power. This was a workout for our SD9 as I had at least a mile of train to get moving on a slight upgrade. In throttle eight it didn’t take too long to get the train up to track speed (all of 10 MPH) and I would back off the throttle to maintain a steady speed. As we started to approach our spot I would set some air on the train (while “bailing off” the engine brakes) and continue working power; this started bunching up the train as it slowed. Just before the spot I reduced power some, maybe set more air, then reduced power again to throttle one. This brought the train to a nice stop right at the air and with the slack bunched so the switchman could get the pin to uncouple our loco. We then did the same operation on the other train if needed and then headed to 35th for coffee. The rest of the shift wasn’t as exciting as we just did normal pullout work.
Many of the Northtown engineers would just use the engine brakes when working these trains but I had acquired the “air habit” from working in Superior. This was no terminal for an engineer who didn’t know how to really use air brakes as we had some healthy grades to contend with, both in the yard and on the road. In addition, most of our road trains still used cabooses; using air to keep the train stretched when slowing or stopping gave the rear end crew a smoother ride.
That’s enough for now; next time I’ll tell about the SD9 we burned up in Superior.
Kurt Hayek
I agree. Kurt, that was an exceptional post.
This is why I love trains and the people who make them go.
Thank You
Kurt
Thanks for sharing your memories. This has to be one of my favorite post! I am looking forward to the next one.
Ralph
One of my favorite locomotives is EMD's SD9. I've always liked the looks of them—those big three-axle Flexicoil trucks squeezed in under a loco that isn't much longer that a Geep make them look "all power." By comparison, the Geeps (or any four-axle loco) looked more like powered boxcars than real locomotives. The SD's higher walkway and built-out radiators also added to the brawny look.
After I hired out on the BN as a switchman at Northtown (Minneapolis) in 1989 I spent plenty of time on SD9s as the BN used a number of them in yard service there. There were three hump sets with a SD9 one each end spliced by a GP9B: BN 6101, 602, 6123 (the "123" set); 6110, 600, 6117 (the "007" set); and 6118, 601, 6119 (the bad set); the 6118 set was normally used on transfer runs to the CNW and Soo Line as it did not work as well on the hump (it had a tendency to gain speed rather than hold the speed selected by the hump foreman). The hump sets had some ballast added so they were good pullers, and like all SD9s, rode well, not that we ever attained any speed with them in yard service.
As a new-hire switchman on the extra board I ended up on a lot of hump jobs, especially on nights. Since the Northtown switchmen had a daily markup system the senior employees picked the best jobs first and and the extra board filled what was left over (pulling pins on the hump was not considered a primo job). At that time we had three switchmen on the hump jobs: the foreman went upstairs in the hump tower and operated the hump console (lining switches, blocking tracks for carmen and pullout jobs, operating the loco while humping, etc.) and the two helpers doubled the tracks together, shoved the drag to the hump, pulled pins, and trimmed the bowl after each hump (sometimes cars didn't roll all the way into a track so we had to give them a boost to get them in the clear and make room for the next hump).
We normally did three shoves on a shift with the junior switchman (usually yours truly) pulling pins on the first and third shove. On the second shove I went with the hump power to the west end of the receiving yard where we would gather up cars from various tracks as directed by the hump yardmaster. Once our drag was all doubled together and stretched I turned the train over to the other helper on the east end and headed for the rear SD9. When working nights I would be tired by then and ready for a break. We had a nice padded cushion from a caboose bunk that we normally kept stashed in the short hood. I got out the cushion and took a siesta while we humped that drag; I always wore ear protection so the engine noise didn't bother me (when humping the locos were in the fourth or fifth notch so it was on the loud side).
After a while I got a little more seniority and could get a pullout job instead; these jobs worked at the other end of the yard gathering the cars from the bowl and placing them on the departure tracks to make up an outbound train. Pullout jobs were preferred as they normally got a two hour quit (a one hour quit on the hump was considered to be doing well); with a full three person crew (many times the BN ran a short crew if there weren't enough protected switchmen available) one person gathered cars, one rode the engine to get switches if needed, and the third sat in the yard office (usually with the switchtender on the third floor of the yard office); with the shift divided into thirds everyone got an equal break.
We used single SD9s on the pullout jobs; these (and the hump units) were ex-Great Northern locos set up for long hood forward operation. The long hood end faced west so it was coupled to the cars giving the engineer better visibility when pulling out of a track. Having the locomotive set up this way was an advantage in hot weather as the engineer could leave the rear door open and get a good breeze.
Compared with other EMD locomotives the SD9s did have one disadvantage: the side steps were steeper, especially on the BN's SD9s as they had added an extra step. Working as a switchman and engineer I cracked my shin on those steps many times. I finally learned to not place my feet perpendicular to the step but instead at an angle; this gave enough room so I didn't hit my shins.
After I was promoted to engineer in 1991 I got forced to Superior, Wisc. as I didn't have enough seniority to work at Northtown. Here things were different as most of the yard power was EMD switchers or Geeps. We did have one or two SD9s used for flat switching; on afternoons this was the power for the 3:00 p.m. "heavy pounders" job working the top end of 28th Street Yard. A pair of SW1000s or SW1500s would outpull or outstop a single SD9 but the SDs still were good power for the job. They rode much better than a switch engine also!
After a few years I got enough seniority so that I could sometimes hold decent yard jobs at Northtown; I would go there and work for a few months, then switch back to Superior; it was good to get some variety and I always did like working at Northtown. By now there was new power on the hump jobs and the old hump sets had been broken up with the SD9s moved to the pullout jobs; some of the previous pullout locos had been retired or reassigned (I would get one in Superior at times).
These SD9s all had their own quirks and when I worked as a pullout engineer there usually was some maneuvering by engineers to get "their" loco and avoid getting stuck with a "dud." Woe to the unlucky engineer on the 4:00 p.m. pullout as four other jobs had selected locos already, leaving only one SD9 to use. Sometimes the last job to go to work did luck out if a "preferred" loco had been buried by other locos and couldn't be selected by an earlier job.
Some engineers didn't care for BN 6102 or 6113 as they had the early "drum style" control stand; this was harder to reach when running backwards (which was most of the time on the pullouts). A favorite of mine (and of several other engineers) was BN 6120; this ex-hump loco loaded well, didn't slip, pulled well, and had really good brakes. Brakes were very important as we horsed around some heavy cuts without air so we needed stopping power. It also had the best paint of the bunch and I managed to get some nice photos of it one time when I had it on the "Zone Job" (a job that worked some industries next to the yard). BN 6121 was (if I remember correctly) a good runner but had wimpy brakes. BN 6117, 6118, and 6119 were OK but not as good as the "20," the brakes might not have been as good, or they didn't load as well, or didn't pull as well. I looked at all these SD9s and never did see any reason for the difference in braking power between locos; they all weighed the same, had the same trucks, brake cylinder pressure, and type of brake shoe. Northtown Diesel Shop usually did a good job of replacing brake shoes and adjusting brake piston travel (I think we actually had less travel than we were supposed to have; less travel means a higher effective brake pressure); I also did more than a few brake adjustments on locomotives that had long pistion travel to pep up the brakes.
In 1994 the engineer on the 3:00 p.m. job at Superior retired and I got the bid on the job. By now the power on this job was always a SD9 so I saw plenty of them. Once again, some were better than others. The BN had also inherited SD9s from the CB&Q and one of those clunkers would sometimes end up in Superior. No offense to Q partisans but those locos were no comparison to the ex-GN locos. The Q had purchased their SDs for service on light rail branch lines so they were much lighter; when kicking cars one would get lots of wheel slip; they weren't the best pullers either.
These ex-Q SD9s didn't stop very well either, perhaps from the light weight; one unit was so notorious for bad brakes the mechanical forces finally managed to get it sent somewhere else.
In addition, the ex-Q locos had dual control stands (by then usually only one worked) making for a crowded cab, and the primitive 6BLC brake valve made train control more difficult when using air brakes (ex-GN SD9s had 24RL brakes, a more sophisticated brake valve).
We also had a couple of DMIR SD9s leased at times; the Missabe had really ballasted their locos and those SD9s were real pullers. We once pulled a long drag of grain loadouts uphill from the elevator at Connor's Point and we never came close to stalling; only second generation power could have done as well.
I have some other favorites but that's for another time.
Jack R. zugmann Wizlish Loads when you ask it to, not when some camel programmed by a bunch of wannabee automotive engineers decides the EPA would let it. I've had enough older engines not want to load as well. I just like how the older engines feel, if you will. You seem more connected to them for lack of better description. You know. Like running a GP9 in the yard for 8 hours or more. All that beautiful whining engine sounds and stuff going on makes you feel alive, but get out on the main line with a Gevo and you feel like there is no substance to the whole thing.
zugmann Wizlish Loads when you ask it to, not when some camel programmed by a bunch of wannabee automotive engineers decides the EPA would let it. I've had enough older engines not want to load as well. I just like how the older engines feel, if you will. You seem more connected to them for lack of better description.
Wizlish Loads when you ask it to, not when some camel programmed by a bunch of wannabee automotive engineers decides the EPA would let it.
Loads when you ask it to, not when some camel programmed by a bunch of wannabee automotive engineers decides the EPA would let it.
I've had enough older engines not want to load as well. I just like how the older engines feel, if you will. You seem more connected to them for lack of better description.
You know. Like running a GP9 in the yard for 8 hours or more. All that beautiful whining engine sounds and stuff going on makes you feel alive, but get out on the main line with a Gevo and you feel like there is no substance to the whole thing.
I'd rather be on the GE, or EMD, working on the road rather than switching in the yard any day.
Jeff
I agree with your analysis. Especially the word.....connected. With all this technology today, the engineer likely feels like a part of the affair versus the man in charge.
I love technology. Especially anything that can save lives and keep railroads safe, but there is a fine line between that of safety......for example.....and real honest to goodness railroading.
junior yardmaster Back in the days when steam engines rode the rails, I heard that hogheads had "favorite" engines which they enjoyed being assigned to; they thought that a particular engine had more pep, or was easier to control, or whatever else they thought about how the specific engine performed. I'm wondering if engineers of today have favorite diesel units, or think they're all the same. Junior Yardmaster
Back in the days when steam engines rode the rails, I heard that hogheads had "favorite" engines which they enjoyed being assigned to; they thought that a particular engine had more pep, or was easier to control, or whatever else they thought about how the specific engine performed. I'm wondering if engineers of today have favorite diesel units, or think they're all the same.
Junior Yardmaster
I think all engineers have a particular favorite type. They likely base part of that on the fact that they can rely on a particular locomotive.
During the steam Era, personally, I would have chosen a K27. Just partial to them and from what I have read, they were loved by the engineers that ran them.
As far as diesels. I just like the DD40AX. I know it's not the most efficient locomotive or even the most practical, but by God she is truly amazing to see running out west. Whether it was a favorite among Union Pacific engineers, I cannot attest to, but something tells me, they were indeed very popular among the men who shared time on them. Just a big, beautiful powerful diesel locomotive.
On Class 1 carriers - only those enginemen that work locals and/or yard jobs normally have the opportunity to work with the same locomotive for more than a trip. Enginemen will normally like a class of engine, not necessarily a particular example. However, some may develop a liking for a particular engine number.
While all engines of a class may be constructed to the same standards, many have their own 'personality'.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
All of our locomotives are antiques - some moreso than others...
I do kinda like driving our "stick shift" from time to time (RS3 - manual transition).
I'd be like a kid with a new toy in something modern...
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...
It's been fun. But it isn't much fun anymore. Signing off for now.
The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.t fun any
Murphy Siding Why pre-computer?
Why pre-computer?
I like analog gauges. Also having a computer screen shining in your eyes all night gets tiring.
zugmann I like anything pre-computer screens. As for modern engines - any widebody -9 or Gevo will do.
I like anything pre-computer screens. As for modern engines - any widebody -9 or Gevo will do.
Thanks to Chris / CopCarSS for my avatar.
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