I just read a thread on another forum where the gentleman stated he is working on two slugs for his layout. That got me wondering. Are slugs limited to yards, or do they sometimes venture out onto maillines?
Tom
They do get onto main lines, but not often; they were used in situations where one had a very slow drag but needed lots of tractive effort – such as long coal trains up a ruling grade…
CSX uses slugs in the Chicago area. I see them coming out of Barr yard on occasion.
I see them in Lincoln once in a great while. Someone want to tackle what they are and how they differ - if at all - from power units?
Generally speaking a slug has no prime mover (Diesel engine). It’s usually replaced with a comparable weight (concrete). It’s conceivable that a slug could still have an OOS prime mover, but if it’s worth anything, it’s been pulled and used elsewhere.
Yard slugs usually have a cut-down superstructure - they become quite obvious at that point. Road slugs may appear much like a regular unit, but could have windows blanked out, etc.
Both types are mated with a specially configured “regular” locomotive, set up so the “mother” can provide power to the trucks on the slug.
Essentially what you have (we’ll assume 4 axle units) is eight powered axles all drawing their amps from one prime mover. Works great for low-speed work. Horsepower is needed for speed. Given the gearing, et al, you could move a pretty big cut of cars with a Briggs & Stratton lawn mower engine - just not very fast.
Lots of pictures out there - I’ll let you do the searching.
Here are some links to Rock Island slugs.
http://faculty.simpson.edu/RITS/www/equipment/EhniSlides/ROCK298.jpg Road slug set.
http://faculty.simpson.edu/RITS/www/equipment/EhniSlides/ROCK53.jpg A better look at a road slug.
http://faculty.simpson.edu/RITS/www/equipment/EhniSlides/ROCK940.jpg Yard slug set.
http://faculty.simpson.edu/RITS/www/equipment/EhniSlides/ROCK998.jpg A better look at a yard slug.
Jeff
The Indiana Southern use’s an old alco slug for their longer heavier coal trains . It is generally matched with 2 GP 40’s .
Expanding on what tree68 stated, they can be in both yard and road applications. Two examples of RR’s that used road slugs are MILW and CNW, typically drawing power from F’s and GP35’s, respectively.
Since slugs are not useful at higher speeds, one potential application for road slugs is where the track is not of sufficient quality to allow for high-speed running: you might as while use a slug out there since you can’t go that fast anyway.
On CSX, two types of slugs exist. Road Slugs and Yard Slugs. Yard slugs are primarily designed to stay within the jurisdiction of the railroad yard it is assigned to. The only time it may leave is for repairs or 90-day-inspection. These units are usually paired with an SD40-2, GP38-2, GP39 or GP40-2. Road Slugs are designed to provide more fuel capacity and tractive effort on smaller freight trains - such as locals. CSX Road Slug units can be seen throughout the system on local trains running less than 200 miles from origination to destination. All Road Slugs are paired up with either GP38-2 or GP40-2 units. Road Slugs move around the system more often.
The CSX Yard Slug series is numbered in the low 1000’s. At Willard Yard in Willard, OH - you have 1043 assigned with 4290. 4290 is a GP39. The CSX Road Slug series is numbered 2200-2350, with only a couple units off roster. The Road Slug units wear GP30 or GP35 carbodies. Most all of the entire slug series on CSX is in the latest YN3 (Dark Future) paint.
I believe those are road slugs used for the long locals to LaSalle, IL. They were using them for a while in the 90’s. they were seeing if they could replace the 6-7 or more GP15’s on one local with two “ABA” sets of mother-slug-mother. GP15’s or GP38’s mated to old GP30/35 slug’s, IIRC. They also used “AB” sets on the B&OCT transfers. Anybody know if CSX still uses the “ABA” U-boat road sets in Florida (U23B/U18B’s mated to old U28B/U30B/U25B? slugs)? Last I heard they were experimenting replacing them with EMD or GE steerable trucked 6-axles.
I occasionally see the road slugs running between Hagerstown, Md and York, PA. They have to go over the Cotocktin mountains through Blue Ridge Summit. The grade is over 2% and they run some long trains. I have seen as many as 5 SD50’s pulling trains, just to give you and idea as to how much power they need to get over the mountains.
Stumbled on this shot of a CSX Road Slug…
As can be seen in the picture…some of the CSX Road Slugs use GP30 carbodies.
Would the slug get power from both end units, or typically from just one of the set?
One posted mentioned increased fuel…does that mean in addition to one or more power cables, there would be a fuel line connecting the slug’s tank to the main unit tank?
Snag, I believe that CSX, or possibly even a predecessor, retired its GE MATEs (road slugs built as such–Motors for Additional Tractive Effort).
As for fuel, CSX’s road slugs were built with the capability of transferring fuel from the slug’s tank to that of the mother unit. I understand that such transfer is no longer done, for whatever reason. Also, it should be noted that those slugs were designed to cut out above a specified speed. (Most were GP30s and 35s, but at least one was rebuilt from a GP40.)
SP’s yard slugs
http://espee.railfan.net/sp4xslug.html
SP’s road slugs (called Tractive Effort Booster Units)
http://espee.railfan.net/sptebu.html
KCS rebuilt several F-units into slugs in the early '80’s for use on a coal train operating in NE Texas–both A and B units IIRC.
Six-motor slugs are relatively rare and are usually found on hump pushers. BRC has five six-motor slugs which were cut down from SD40/SD40-2’s and are paired with de-rated SD40’s. They can be found pushing cuts over Clearing’s bi-directional hump.
I know the ROCK used them out on the road too - I’ve seen photos of them on road freights in Texas in the “Bankruptcy Blue” scheme (my favorite ROCK scheme).
I’d like to see that done.[swg]