Immediate Roadside Assistance or maybe to ease the load and wear/tear on the steamer?
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There are many different reasons for having a diesel along with a Steam excursion, protection power, Hotel power, Dynamic braking, and various train control system requirements on certain track routes.
Union Pacific, for example, has Complete Faith in their 4-8-4 #844 and 4-6-6-4 #3985, and they will often pull sizeable trains unassisted. When the 844 and 3985 visited the Pacific North west in 2007 and 2005, there were times that a diseasel(pun intended) was along for dynamic braking in the Blue Mountains of Eastern Oregon. They covered many,many miles in sole charge of their trains.
Other railroads may have their own requirements/restrictions for Steam operating on their tracks.
Doug
May your flanges always stay BETWEEN the rails
My understanding is that it can be for a number of reasons, and not necessarily any one of them at a time. Firstly, the host railroad, the one owning the tracks, may impose a diesel for security/insurance purposes, and perhaps the insurers of the actual excursion event headed by the steamer may require it. Also, the diesels can offer tractive effort support on particularly steep grades, whether retrograde or prograde. This happened on the second excursion of the BC Heritage Railway's Royal Hudson, on which I rode with She and a friend, this spring. The previous day, it had rained and they had a dickens of a time getting up the escarpment into Richmond. On our ride, a GP-9 was included. Finally, the diesel can also provide more 'head-end' power for the entire consist, but in terms of usable electricity for running compressors, air-conditioners, and so on.
There is sure to be a number of responses that will add more, or that correct my misapprehensions.
-Crandell
Alot of times it is the insurance company that wants the diesel. When I was helping set up excursions for 1522. The railroad was ok with the engine running by its self. But when we contacted the insurance company they would not underwite the trip unless a diesel was in the consist.
One more consideration not yet discussed is that on long distance runs, especially ferry trips, using the diesel to help power the train reduces the amount of water used. No longer can you find a water tank every 60 miles, pause for 5 minutes and refill the tender. The auxiliary canteens help solve the problem, but it can be tight to cover 2 subdivisions, especially if there are hills to climb. It is a cardinal sin to run out of water for the boiler.
John
Good point, John, and I would add that it is unpardonable, and virtually always lethal for at least one crewmember.
I do know, getting back to the host road's requirements, that CN precluded the use of their rails by the Royal Hudson for about a year after the engine was rebuilt. I don't recall an official reason, but it comes to mind something about needing a host railroad diesel to lead the steamer over the route.
Well, sorta yes and sorta no. For reasons unclear to me, on both excursions this spring, the host roads, two of them to accommodate the excursion route, imposed none of their own diesels. There was only the Heritage Railway's own F unit on the first day, and that was to run backwards on the return route...no turning facility, and I don't know what restrictions were in place for running tender first to the departure point.
The next day, after a slippery rainy first day, they added the GP9, but that was Rail Link, and not the CN or Southern hosts.
Now I'm confused.
IIRC, the Clinchfield painted an F B-unit in their passenger car scheme and mounted a controller in the cab of their 10-wheeler to run it. I don't recall if HEP or steam was involved, too, but the Diesel was definitely there to provide a helping hand with getting over the road.
I'm pretty sure the steamer is preserved somewhere. I almost think I've seen it, but I don't remember where.
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...
I can tell you from bitter experience why diesels are included in the consist. Back in the "Seventies I rode on two steam excursions where the steamer had a road failure and laid out the railroad. One was a High Iron doubleheader over Horshoe Curve where Cayahuga Valle's 2-8-2 wrung off her radius rod and stalled the train in the middle of the grade, The emergency stop broke the train into three parts and we were delayed for over two hours until Conrail diesels took over the train and delivered it back to Pittsburgh. The other was when Ross Rowlands Greenbriar 4-8-4 quit while piloting a Safety Express excursion at Jessop Maryland. It seems a piece of slate got stuck in the stoker screw and there was no way the crew could hand fire and keep going. CSX diesels rescued us after a two hour delay and, even though the stoker was cleared by the time they got there, the railroad insisted on having the diesels tow us the rest of the way to Baltimore. Personally, I enjoyed those departures from the routine but there were a lot of unhappy faces on those trains and even more in the railroad's home offices!
Dakguy201 The UP has special cars, which are generally toward the front of the consist, that contain a diesel generator. They are visually different as they contain numerous air vents along one side and it you walk the length of the train the noise of the diesel is quite noticable. I'm not certain just how many of these cars the UP has.
The UP has special cars, which are generally toward the front of the consist, that contain a diesel generator. They are visually different as they contain numerous air vents along one side and it you walk the length of the train the noise of the diesel is quite noticable. I'm not certain just how many of these cars the UP has.
UP has three HEP Power Cars in their Heritage Fleet. See the following link to the UP web site:
http://www.uprr.com/aboutup/history/histequip/power.shtml
Mike
In June, last year, when 3751 ran to San Diego, a P42 was along to provide HEP. They even let the steamer pull the 10 car train up Miramar hill ( 2.5 %) unassisted.
This is a picture of one of the UP's HEP cars:
I understood it had something to do with signaling and electronics needed by a train to occupy the mainline.
Thanks to Chris / CopCarSS for my avatar.
Murphy Siding I understood it had something to do with signaling and electronics needed by a train to occupy the mainline.
Not at all. For example, UP 844 & 3985 have all the required cab signalling apparatus to operate anywhere in the UP system all by themselves (and they frequently do). However there are occasions when even the UP includes diesel locomotive(s) in the consist either for additional tractive effort or, more frequently, for dynamic braking.
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