I had the opportunity to work in this town (on the wind farms - not the railroad) in 1984. I remember, seeing with amazement, 6 locomotives pulling the huge SantaFe/SP freights in and out of this town, only to be further amazed to see 6 more locomotives in the middle of the train!
Was I seeing things, or did this actually occur?
Sure, why not? If it’s heavy enough, there’s every reason to have that much power on one train especially since there’s heavy grade there. (Climbing in elevation) You need power to climb and dynamic brakes going downhill, so Helper Units are added-either pushers at the end, midtrain helpers cut in the middle, or just helpers at the head end, depending on length of the train, distibution of heavier cars, railroad preference in that area, etc etc. All over the country there are “Helper Districts” where pairs or more of locomotives wait on a siding to hook up or cut in to trains coming through just to help them get up and down steep grades.
Anyone who knows more, please fill in my spotty information.-TANK-
As I recall back in the 1980’s it was not uncommon to see a total of 11 units on an eastbound train, perhaps 4 - 5 up front, 3 mid- train, and 3 on the rear. However, some of the units were detached at Tehachapi and sent back to Bakersfield.
Plus the SP had such crappy power that they needed 5 units to do the work of three. When they had that runaway Cajon pass, only three of the six units had functioning dynamic brakes (plus the train was about 3000 tons overloaded for six units!)
I have seen as many as 15 locomotives on the now defunct “Oil Cans” train.
Don Bowen
Exeter, CA
I had the opportunity to work in this town (on the wind farms - not the railroad) in 1984. I remember, seeing with amazement, 6 locomotives pulling the huge SantaFe/SP freights in and out of this town, only to be further amazed to see 6 more locomotives in the middle of the train!
Was I seeing things, or did this actually occur?
Sure, why not? If it’s heavy enough, there’s every reason to have that much power on one train especially since there’s heavy grade there. (Climbing in elevation) You need power to climb and dynamic brakes going downhill, so Helper Units are added-either pushers at the end, midtrain helpers cut in the middle, or just helpers at the head end, depending on length of the train, distibution of heavier cars, railroad preference in that area, etc etc. All over the country there are “Helper Districts” where pairs or more of locomotives wait on a siding to hook up or cut in to trains coming through just to help them get up and down steep grades.
Anyone who knows more, please fill in my spotty information.-TANK-
As I recall back in the 1980’s it was not uncommon to see a total of 11 units on an eastbound train, perhaps 4 - 5 up front, 3 mid- train, and 3 on the rear. However, some of the units were detached at Tehachapi and sent back to Bakersfield.
Plus the SP had such crappy power that they needed 5 units to do the work of three. When they had that runaway Cajon pass, only three of the six units had functioning dynamic brakes (plus the train was about 3000 tons overloaded for six units!)
I have seen as many as 15 locomotives on the now defunct “Oil Cans” train.
Don Bowen
Exeter, CA