[Date Prev][Date Next] [Chronological] [Thread] [Top]

RE: (erielack) Re: West-end helpers?

What is probably striking some as odd is that I have heard it stated that this was the worst grade on the entire EL, and that a lesser grade like Deposit had assigned helpers and this one didn't is just plain weird.
 
> I have discussed this topic with Mike, but thought I would share with the 
> rest of you. Nothing I have ever read, nor have any conversations with men 
> who worked the area around Wadsworth/Silver Creek Hill, indicated "assigned" 
> pushers in that area.
> 
> I have had some discussions with Keith Robbins regarding this. According to 
> Keith, when an EB needed a push over the hill, the preferred method was to 
> pull a WB into the siding at either Silver Creek or Sterling, cut their 
> power, cross them over and use them to push the EB. They could then cut 
> back through the manual trailing-point crossover at Sterling to head WB to 
> get back to the head end of their train.
> 
> Without a ready set of WB power, they could also double the hill. They 
> would cut the train and take the head end up and over the crest of the hill 
> on the #2 track (main), run around it through the (short) EB siding, pull 
> the tail end to just short of crest, run back through the EB siding to the 
> head end, then shove back to reassemble the train. Half the train is now 
> over the hill, and away you go.
> 
> Keith also stated that if a train was suspected of possibly stalling on the 
> hill, and a higher priority EB was behind it, they would likely hold the 
> slower EB at Polk or Sterling to allow the hotter train by. He stated that 
> sometimes they would split an EB at Sterling, with the back half on the EB 
> siding, and the front half crossed over to the WB siding, split in the 
> middle to clear the interlocking.
> 
> As shown in the piece I wrote for The Diamond years ago, I witnessed an EB 
> CR freight that stalled before even reaching Wadsworth get a push from an 
> ex-EL RS3 that was switching Rittman. I don't know that this was the 
> steepest part of the hill, but the sharp S-curve by the brickyard probably 
> added enough drag to bring a struggling train to its knees.
> 
> Joe Mayer
> ELHS 702 		 	   		  

	The Erie Lackawanna Mailing List
	http://EL-List.railfan.net/
	To Unsubscribe: http://Lists.Railfan.net/erielackunsub.html

------------------------------