On a recent cross-country trip we observed many freight trains with helper power, sometimes at the rear, and sometimes in the middle of the consist. What are the guidelines for placement of these engines - at the rear, or in the middle?
Welcome to the forum.
It depends on the individual railroads rules. It also depends on the train makeup. You don’t want a set of helpers pushing on a bunch of empties cause they can push them right off the tracks. On the other hand you don’t want to cut in mid train helpers if you don’t have to because it’s much more time consumeing. Also they might not be manned helpers, rather distributed power units (DPUs). These are remote units controlled by the lead engine. The purpose is for better weight & power distribution and thus better train controll (the DPU sets can be controlled individually). DPU sets will typicaly stay with the train for its entire run and not just be added on the grades.
I was going to make an attempt to answer this, but it was easier to just knoodge Chad and have him do it. He spaketh better than I. [8D]
Welcome to the forums - (that I can do!)
Mookie
Me thinks Chad answered this very well.
GOOD JOB, CHAD![tup]
CANADIANPACIFIC2816
“There was a time in this fair land when the railroad did not run, when the wild majestic mountains stood alone against the sun, long before the white man and long before the wheel, when the green, dark forest was too silent to be real.” Gordon Lightfoot