On my layout, eventually there will be a 3% grade (this is HO btw) and will need to attach a helper to my intermodal train. My question is, where should I attach the helper? Should I install a spur before the grade where it would attach (coming from a single engine house) or would I attach it before it left the yard (about 15-20’ away from the grade)? Thanks!
General practice with adding helpers is to do it on the main track. At helper terminals I’ve worked at the helper waits on a siding while the train pulls by, then gets authority from the dispatcher to enter the main track (if this is not in yard limits), and comes up behind the train. The idea is to not delay the train any more than possible (so do not take it into the yard), and add the helper wherever it’s convenient. The helper doesn’t have to be added right at the base of the grade, and railroads I’ve worked for have at times added the helper up to 120 miles before the grade begins if that’s the convenient place to do it.
The enginehouse is a nice-to-have but few railroads use them anymore. Even if you have an enginehouse the helper crew often leaves the power outside because it’s more convenient for them, rather than fool around opening and closing doors. Besides, in cold climates, you can’t shut off the power during cold weather, and enginehouses aren’t heated enough to matter (too expensive, you lose the heat when you open the doors, etc.)
Even if you’re orginating the train at the same terminal the helper starts at, the general practice it pull the train out of the yard and add the helper to the rear after the train is on the main track, or if you have a departure yard, the train pulls down and the helper cuts on in the departure yard. Few yard classification tracks are long enough to originate a train out of these days.
KCS at Neosho, Kansas, had a little pocket track for helpers right off the main track. But it was double-ended as I recall. Single-ended tracks are a lot of bother and very slow in practice.
S. Hadid
Enginehouses are still common, but because of mergers and colnsolidations, only the big yard facilities have 'em, and though they’re huge, there are only really a few yards left.