Hello all. I'd like a link, or website with some detailed info. about yard slugs, as I have limited knowledge on them. I'd like to make my own for HO scale for my yards. All I know is they have no engine and no control cab, and get their power from the 'mother'. Also, they are used in yards at slow speeds. I noticed recently CN has what looks like a GP7 MUed to a slug, working in the local yard. (That was the first time I saw these things for real.) I need a digital camera!!!
All slugs have engines. Their purpose is to add pulling power. Some even have cabs, but not all.
Bob
Don't Ever Give Up
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
The all have electric motors to turn the drivers, but no engine to turn an electric generator. They are pure electric locomotives. Instead of receiving power from a third rail or an overhead wire, the electricity comes from another locomotive having an engine and generator.
Mark
zugmannIf a slug had an engine, it wouldn't be a slug
I stand corrected
Thanks,
prairieboy2765 I noticed recently CN has what looks like a GP7 MUed to a slug, working in the local yard. (That was the first time I saw these things for real.) I need a digital camera!!!
CN has a number of rebuilt GP9s (not GP7s) that are set up as slug mothers in the 7200 series. These GP9Rm-Slug sets are pretty common around larger CN yards. My hometown of Sarnia ON has a rather large yard that usually has at least 4-5 of those sets kicking around at any one time.
Chris van der Heide
My Algoma Central Railway Modeling Blog
It's amazing what you can find if you just learn to use the Google search engine. For instance, by typing the simple phrase 'yard slug' I immediately found this site, among others:
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/locoList.aspx?mid=48
When did slugs first appear please?
... and why did they replace cow-calf combinations... or, maybe I should ask, what happened to cow calfs?
Thanks
David
Dave-the-Train ... and why did they replace cow-calf combinations... or, maybe I should ask, what happened to cow calfs?
They wore out and weren't replaced. Ultimately, railroads disdained cabless locomotives. The lower cost did not offset the reduced flexibility in use.
One like this shouldn't be too hard to model.
All you'd need to do is take any regular GP38, remove the radiators and (I think) rooftop fans, and you have your very own slug.
You could make it a dummy, or leave it powered. Since our diesel locomotives don't work the same way the real ones do, you can't just take power from one unit and put it into the traction motors of another. If you wanted to make it so that it actually did add more power, then I'd leave it powered if I were you.
Some others would be harder to model because the hoods are shorter, so you'd have to make them unpowered.
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Does a slug with a cab still have a control stand?
ns3010 One like this shouldn't be too hard to model. All you'd need to do is take any regular GP38, remove the radiators and (I think) rooftop fans, and you have your very own slug.
Note that in addition to the radiator, exhaust stacks, etc. all being removed, most of the hood doors have been replaced with sheet metal since there's no engine in there to access anymore, just ballast for weight. (often a big block of concrete) So you'd have to remove and scratchbuild the sides of the engine as well.
Dave-the-Train Does a slug with a cab still have a control stand?
It would, but a road slug is a different animal for a different purpose than a yard slug, which would not have a cab, and has a very low profile for visibility. The road slugs rebuilt from a full GP38, or GP35 or GP30 or whatever (CSX has various examples of the latter) are used on road trains and could wind up being the lead "engine" from which the movement is controlled.
In the late 1980s/early 1990s CP Rail had a somewhat similar concept with a small fleet of control cabs. These were not slugs, but were old GP35, C424 and RS18u engines that were used only for the control cab. Some of them actually still had their engine blocks in place, although taken out of service, while at least a few had them replaced with concrete ballast. They were used on certain trains that didn't really have much power requirement, but ran on a route that required the power to come back in the opposite direction with no turning facilities, so the control cabs were used with another regular engine so that rather than driving backwards, with the long hood leading and engineer's controls facing the wrong way, that the control cab could lead. AFAIK there was absolutely no provision to actually use any of the traction motors on the control cab, they were simply used to have a useable cab in the right direction.
Hey Chris
I've seen a couple of those yard slugs working the refinery sidings from the Port Huron side of the river. I've watched them from the Vantage Point Marine Center through my field glasses. I always wondered why CN used them in Sarnia, but not in the CN/GTW Tappan yard on our side? Gerry S.
Many years ago MR had an article by Tom Dressler on bashing the N&W RP-F6 slugs like the ones shown is some of these pictures:
http://nwry.railfan.net/roster/nw1135.html
The Virginia Museum of Transportation (VMT) has a RP-F6 in its collection, as well as N&W Alco C630 1135.
The RP-F6 slugs were made from Fairbanks-Morse Trainmaster locomotives, and two were often used with a modified C630 or SD40 to flat switch whole loaded coal trains, which typically had five or more SD45 locomotives on the road.
Here is the most recent roster of CN slugs I could find:
200-209 YBU-4m yard booster unit, class GY-00b, built new 1980
211-214 GP9 slug, class GY-00c , converted from GP9s in 1986
215-232 GP9 slug, class GY-00d , converted from GP9s in 1986
233-241 GP9 slug, class GY-00e , converted from GP9s in 1987-1988
242-263 GP9 slug, class GY-00f , converted from GP9s in 1990
264-270 S-3 slug, class GY-00m, converted from retired MLW S-3 switchers*
271-280 GP9 slug, class GY-00g, converted from GP9s in 1993
260-282 HBU-4 hump booster unit, class GY-00a, built new in 1978
*15 MLW S-3 switchers (same as Alco S-3) were converted to slugs in 1964-1966. The last S-3 slug was retired in 1997.
Photo by Bob Bufkin, Hagerstown 1977.
WM was an early slugger, building two for use in the Hagerstown Yards in the early 1960's. Above is the prototype 139-T (designated a "Trailer") and below is my N scale model of 138-T.
138-T was built on a VO-660 frame (I used an Atlas VO-1000) and the shell is cut down from a Bachmann H-16-44.
138T and her mother, BL-2 81, now reside as static displays at the B&O Museum in Baltimore. When they were retired from Hagerstown in 1983, they were used as part of the power for a scheduled freight, and came into the museum under their own power. Sadly, the stacks were left open, which led to serious water damage to the prime move. (81's sister, BL-2 82 still works in revenue service out of Belington, West Virginia for the West Virginia Central)
CSX has converted many of its older 4 axle diesels into road slugs. GP 30, 35, and 40 models have been stripped of their prime movers, radiators and fans, and left with only traction motors and dynamic brakes. The rest of the carbody and fuel tank is filled with concrete for extra weight.
These units do have control stands, and are semi permanently tethered to a "mother" engine, usually a GP40-2 or GP50. They continue to be repainted into the new "Dark Future" scheme, so it looks like they will continue in service for some time.
Lee
Route of the Alpha Jets www.wmrywesternlines.net
chpthrls Hey Chris I've seen a couple of those yard slugs working the refinery sidings from the Port Huron side of the river. I've watched them from the Vantage Point Marine Center through my field glasses. I always wondered why CN used them in Sarnia, but not in the CN/GTW Tappan yard on our side? Gerry S.
Tappan Yard is tiny compared to Sarnia. Sarnia has a massively huge sprawling yard (I read somewhere it's actually one of CN's top 10 biggest) which supports the massive amount of industry in Sarnia & along the river south of Sarnia, and traffic being reclassified before heading into the US (or after arriving from the US). And since CSX does no interchange in Chatham anymore with CP, all of that traffic also come through CN Sarnia yard.
Take a look on the satelite views on Google Maps or google earth. Tappan is maybe less than 1/5 the size of Sarnia yard.
found another one...
Not sure of its origins, but probably a GP9 platform judging by the air tanks under the belly. Circa 1990 or so at Penn Mary yard in Baltimore.
Dave-the-TrainWhen did slugs first appear please? ... and why did they replace cow-calf combinations... or, maybe I should ask, what happened to cow calfs? Thanks David
The cow-calf combinations were a pair (or trio) of low power switchers, say 2x1000hp = 2000hp total. They were slightly cheaper to buy since a cab was not required on the calf, but the downside was the calf was useless by itself.
The early slugs in Canada were used in conjunction with one or two 1000hp switchers in hump service, where tractive effort was needed but speed was always slow. Horsepower provides speed, weight and powered axles give you tractive effort. CPR had 4 slugs, CN about a dozen.
The modern slugs usually use a higher horsepower locomotive as the master, such as a GP38. This gives the same tractive effort and horsepower(2000hp) as the old cow-calf combination, with only one diesel engine to maintain. The slug is typically made from an older road locomotive.
Another Canadian road that used slugs in yard service was the British Columbia Railway. The slugs were made from retired RS-3s, and the masters were RS-18s.
John