How does the engineer on the front end control them? Like say he drops down in notches from #8 to #5 how does the rear end ones or the ones in the middle also decrease from notch 8 to notch 5? [:D][:D]
Radio control.
Dave H.
Thank U. How does the engineer know that middle or rear engines respond to the order? Also what happens if they did not repond? [;)]
They have a monitor, for lack of a better way of saying it, where the head end engineer can monitor the entire train.
I’m not sure what the head end can do if there’s not responce. On this point, I tend to be old school. I would rather see the head end engineer handle the head end power and a helper engineer handle the helper set. I have seen multiple helper sets on trains around the Southern California area, so for each helper set, I’d rather see a crew for each set of power. It may not happen again. This way each of the crews can handle each set of power and be in radio contact with the other crews on the train.
Thanks the reason I asked the question is that I was watching my 03 rail fanning tape & saw a UPRR at Hesperia hill with rear engines but nobody in the cab of either engine that was pushing. Then as the tape move on I saw a BNSF @ Daggett with 3 locos cut into the middle & again no live person in those locos. I really wonder what would occur if the engineer apply the brakes & the middle or rear ones did not respond. [:D][:)]
Engines in helper service, either cut into the train or at the rear…manned or unmanned, are required to be coupled into the trains air train line. The helper engines brakes will respond like any other car as the ‘train brake’ is used by the controling engineer.
I would expect that the controlling engineer would have the ability to ‘bail off’ the brakes on the helper locomotives in unmanned service when the ‘train brake’ is being used in conjunction with Dynamic Braking in order to prevent excessive braking on the helper engines and sliding wheels on the unmanned helpers.
Spbed,
I noticed the lack of manned helpers on my trip to Cajon last weekend. When I used to go to Cajon I would see helpers going up and down (depending on need) all day long. I only saw one engine move this time. And I’m not shure it was helpers. It’s a real bummer. I remember for a while back in the early 90’s they were using back to back FP45’s and FP45/GP30 sets and I thought that was cool.
I hired out on the Kansas Okla. & Gulf railway Dec. 1946 in muskogee,Okla.
the helper engineer moniters the speed of the train… .and the air gagues… the head end actuly controlls the train… the helper runs his engin by what the head end of the train is doing… if your in a 40mph speed zone…and your see that the train is starting speed up…you cut back on your power to keep the speed at 40 just as the head end is doing… good helper and head end engineers will radio to each other what is going on…the head end will radio the signal indications to the helper so they know what is going on…as well as where any slow orders are at so the helper engineer can reduse power to help bring the train down to what ever the speed restriction might be… and the helper engineer will radio the head end when they are out of a tempery speed restricion or a slower speed zone so the head end can begin to increse speed… helper engineer watchs his air gagues…he can see when the head end makes a brake pipe reduction and can bail off the brakes on the helper locomotives…
its all about communication… actual verbal communications…or communications through the equipment with air gagues…but the key is communication…
now keep in mind…this is on a maned helper… i have no persoanl experince on DPUs…so someone else can fill in that information…
csx engineer
Thanks for informing us csx! IMO it’s all about safety. We have alot of rail action here in Southern California, as well as population.
the other engines are remote operated what i do on the head end the rear does . how do you know what is going on it is called train handeling you feel it . if the rear unit does looses communication with the master unit it shut down to idle and waits for imput from master unit. and how would i know if it loses communication you feel it set down with no power to help you go slower.
A question… someone who knows how the circuitry really works… it would seem to me to be rather simple to incorporate either a fail safe or fail operational circuit in the controls for the DPUs, so that if the train line pressure is reduced but the throttle for the DPU doesn’t, either the throttle automatically goes to idle and stays there (fail safe)(and, hopefully, tells the folks in the front office about it) or goes to idle and stays there until the train line comes up again (which would be a fail operational mode)… seems to me that one could also have it go to idle on a loss of communication, etc.
Does it work that way? Anyone know?