Just started engineer training and i seem to have trouble telling on a short hill if its up or down , and some of these hills are steep, lose speed fast. any ideas would be a huge help!!! Thanks John
The eye can be easily fooled by the lay of the land leading one to missinterpret slope.
Hang a weighted pendulum in the cab someplace (out of the wind) and watch which way it is hanging. It will move due to acceleration/deceleration, but will settle when the speed evens out. Then maybe you can tell whether you are tipped up or down. Maybe get one of those magnet-base protractors with the pendulum inside and stick it on the wall of the cab.
Look over at your conductor…
If he’s slumped forward, you’re going downhill. Backward, you’re going uphill. [swg]
Nick
listen to the engineer your training under… they know the territory and how to run a train on it… as far as going up hill or down… if you have to add power…your going up hill… and if you have to reduce power to keep the speed…your going down hill… and you can feel in your butt through the seat what the train is doing behind you… you will be able to feel the slack action as your butt gets more fine tuned to being in the seat…
You have just discovered why it is important for a train engineer to become familiar with his territory. Steep grades will often be fairly obvious, but for lesser grades the only reliable clue is how the train is behaving. Remember that, and now you will be prepared on the next trip. Without wanting to reopen the “foggy” thread, grades and their effect on train performance are also one of the factors that experienced engineers use to keep track of where they are.
John
On our little railroad, the employee timetable now includes track profiles. You’re allowed to consult these, if you have time. But a little study will show you the lay of the land fairly well.
I’m not an engineer (yet), but I do take notice of our profile, which includes some 1% on our local runs, and a couple of areas of 2% elsewhere. If you’re in the middle of a curvy 2% grade several miles long, your eye can be fooled into thinking you’re running on the level. Your train will tell you otherwise of course.
We’ve got one section that’s level, but that I would swear is on a grade.
Learn your profile through whatever tools you have available. I’ve got ours, which also has curvatures - which are a little easier to judge on the ground.
Another reason not to rely on your eye is because you often need to be set up for an upcoming situation before you can see it.
Sound like the best advice so far is: A.) Listen to your Training engineer
B.) Study whatever you can, in advance, timetable, or profile view, to
have and idea of the track profile sequence (if available).
C.) The pendulum idea sounds pretty good. The local ‘big Box’ may
stock a magnetic, right angle square, it has an inclineometer in it,
it could work when attached to a metal surface.
D.) Of course, if it was a steam engine, the handle on the whistle cord
might be useful! [:-,]
E.) Pay attention to your trainer, he’s getting paid to see if you succeed.
All the rest may be suspect.
Remember there are many out there who have as a seconf profession , make that avocation,
that of Joker.[}:)]
And Best of Luck![bow]
P.S. There are plenty of us out h**ere who are envious, and lacking the opportunity!
If you wait that long to see if the weighted pendulum will swing one direction or another its already to late and you will already know if you have started up hill… and if you wait to see if your going down hill you will know that to and then get another gift from the train and Mr.Newton… ROFLOL,
That little gift Wabash speaks of may have you ROF, but you probably won’t LOL!
[(-D][(-D]
The conductor might LOL.
But then again, he might be really upset because you woke him up by knocking him out of his seat, and possibly making him carry some iron…
My advice is to really get to know your track charts.
When I started, I had the same problem as you. Once I was acquired track charts, my operating problems went away. Like wabash1 said, once you feel the train slowing or accelerating, it is already too late.
Carl, if your railroad is little, what railroad is big?[:)]
Johnny, there’s a whole bunch of 'em that are just as wide in the gauge as we are!
Howdy stranger. ’ Haven’t seen you in a while ’ round these parts.
Would a guy be able to tell, by watching his speedometer? Speeding up means going downhill, slowing down means going uphill, and constant speed means it’s probably more complicated than I imagine?
It depends entirely on the profile. The locomotive could be slowing down going downhill, if the train is draped over the top of a hill.
Good point. But doesn’t that mean that whether you’re going uphill or downhill is somewhat irrelevant? Knowing the territory, and knowing where your train is at on that territory at the moment seems like it would be much more important than your uphill / downhill orientation?
Bingo!
The track profile is the best source but there are two others: 1. Google Earth. Click on your track and the ground elevation shows up on the bottom of the image. You can find minimum and maximum that way and determine which parts of the track are up and down. 2. A GPS. Just set it to record the track and use the elevation measurements in Excel or some other program to build your own track profile. We have a fairly accurate track profile for about 50% of our line and the other 50% is not accurate enough to drive. I just recorded the track on GPS and built a far more accurate profile. BTW every locomotive should be equipped with a GPS speedometer. Far more accurate and easier to maintain than a wheel mounted speedometer. The wheel-mounted speedometer just collects shrubs and the wire breaks.