Re: (erielack) MU's, was: EL fantrips

["Gary R. Kazin" <gkazin_@_yahoo.com>]

- --- Charles_Walsh_@_Berlex.com wrote:
> I remember the MU trip well with the "romantic" aspect of travelling
> through the Bergen Tunnels without lights on the return trip to Hoboken.

Of course; the M&E ALCos couldn't provide power for lighting!

> Interestingly, the fastest speed on that trip was attained by the 8-car
> consist west of Bernardsville on the Gladstone Branch.

ISTR, as I wrote below, doing 70 (at least that's what Ben Friedland told
me later) trough Mountain Lakes and Boonton - and he was driving.

> BTW, although the MUs were rated by GE as having a top speed of 63 mph
> on level track, according to Taber they would, on suitable downgrades,
> reach or exceed 70 mph

I can believe that for an express run from Summit to Newark...

> (he states that he was in the cab of an MU that he clocked hitting 75
> mph westbound through Maplewood).  Granted, this was rare and required
> the engineer to run his train as fast as he could through the 50 mph
> curve at Orange.

Wow!  Uphill all the way through Highland Avenue, Mountain Station, and
South Orange, and still making that kind of speed.  Then again, with two
power cars and only one trailer I imagine it could be done.

> Again according to Taber, unless there were only two power cars and a
> trailer car in the train (probably never happened) it was impossible
> for MUs to reach, much less exceed, the 50 mph speed limit going
> westbound through Orange.

After a stop, yes.  On an express run from Newark, much easier.  To this
day, most engineers ease off the power too much when approaching Orange
and hit the curve well below that speed.  They then lose a minute or two
to South Orange.

In the later days (late 70's to 1984) that I saw, the MU's were always
coupled in pairs, one power car and one trailer alternating down the
train.  I've seen an overhead photo of one train of -THIRTEEN- cars with
seven power and six trailers.

There was also a 1983 trip the M&E did for Roseland Borough's 75th
Anniversary on its own line, using borrowed MU trailers ONLY - Ben went to
Dover and had to switch out the trailers for the day, then switch them
back afterward.  I have some photos of that train, among the first train
slides I took.

One of the 'fun' things I experienced was riding the front car home late
one night from Hoboken to Denville.  Usually, off-hour trains with
Gladstone sections had eight cars - four at the east for Gladstone and
four at the west for Dover, splitting at Summit.  The crew made sure you
were in the right part of the train when they got your tickets...  On this
night, there were only four cars, so we had the trailer leading and then
the power car pushing out of Summit, which was where the fun began.  The
motor car started moving before the trailer...  With the couplers and
draft gear those cars had, we got a solid WHAM when the slack ran in,
repeated at every stop.  Normally you had more cars and the one behind the
motor slowed it down...

> I quoted, then added:
> > August 19, 1984-M&E # 16 AND 17-"Farewell to the MU's" - Hoboken to
> > Dover including the Gladstone and old Montclair Branch. The consist
> > was madeup of E-L MU's being retired.
> 
> The DL&W Edison MU's ran under their own power on the Montclair and
> Gladstone Branches, then to Dover.  The M&E ALCos were waiting at Baker
> and followed to Dover, then hooked on to what had been the rear of the
> train.  Reason: we went back to Hoboken over the Boonton Line!  We had
> to stop near Lincoln Park to let wheel bearings cool - Ben Friedland
> had them up to 70 mph, a speed they never reached in service.

Gary R. Kazin
DL&W Milepost R35.7
Rockaway, New Jersey

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