I’ve have a few deseils that I somethime lash up. I’ve even gone as far as to wire the motors in one of them backwards so that it would always run backwards in convention mode. When I was asked why it is you sometimes see an engine running backwards, I didn’t have an answer. I just know that sometime you do see it in real life.
So why is it that sometime you see an engine hooked up backwards when there are 2 or 3 or more of them lashed up? Is there some mechanical reason? Or is it just sometimes easier to do it that way instead of turning the engine around while it’s in the yard?
Also, when you see a lash up, are all engines always being used to full power; or can an engine sometimes be in tow?
Usually the first engine and the last are backwards from each other and any in the middle really normally don’t matter. From what I understand the reason is whan they get to where they need to come back they don’t need to find an area to get engine turned around they just make last engine the front engine now and the front the rear engine. Thus they have basicly been able to do away with turntables and special switch sets some had to turn an engine around
rtrain was right about the not having to turn the power consist to leave in the opposite direction.
when there are multiple Locomotives in a power consist ( LASH UP, is strictly a MODELER’S term NOT used by the RRs in my understanding) any particular Locomotive may be shut down, or “Isolated” in the consist and still control, or pass control signals to other units it is consisted with. When having more power than needed, the engineer may Isolate the Lead Locomotive to not have the noise, especially in older less sound proofed cabs, of the prime mover right behind him, thus getting a quieter ride.
More units on train than needed to power could be for many reasons, such as power balancing moving power from a location with an over abundance of power to somewhere else that is power short. Locomotives needing repair at a distant shop can be moved dead in tow just like a freight car, but will usually be placed with the working units. They could also be units being delivered to another railroad, either new, used or leased from a location off the receiving railroads system. In this case they would often be powered up and working if the two railroads have power sharing agreement, often referred to as “Power by the Hour”, where they pool locomotives and track HORSEPOWER HOURS, and try to balance the use of each others motive power, and if necessary, but avoided if possible actually paying for HP/HRs used if not able to balance within a certain time period.
Is everyone aware that Diesel-electric and electric locomotives work fully as well in either direction? The only consideration is whether the controls are convenient for the engineer.
Many steam locomotives also work well either way. The SP “cab forward” is basically a Yellowstone with the controls set up to run backwards. The PRR S2 steam turbine was one exception. It had one turbine for running forward and a much smaller one for running backward. You can see the difference by comparing the left and right sides of a Lionel 671, 681, or 682.
Gosh. I always thought they ran one forward and one backwards so that the doors on the rear of the engines would match up… [:P] How else could you go from one engine to the other?
I do alot of trainwatching here in Houston. North of Houston in Spring to be exact. Here UP has a yard just south of town with a wye in town. Nearly once a day, a consist of locomotives gets turned around in the wye. This even applies if there is an engine facing each direction. This has always seemed odd to me as I have thought the above scenario of easy reversal of direction to be the reason to run engines facing opposite directions. Apparently this isn’t always true. I saw a trio of engines last week that entered the wye to be turned. Midway through the crew got out of the soon to be trailing engine and relocated to the newly leading engine. All engines were running. I’d never seen this before. The only thing that I can think of is that there are just certain engines that they’d rather be in. Typically when these get turned like this, it appears that the newer engines are the ones they’d like to see leading. That may only be a coincedence though. I also see many trains go by that have multiple engines together but all facing the same direction so they aren’t always opposed.
This question may get a more in depth answer elsewhere on the forum.
There is no rule stating that they must have engines on opposite ends facing opposite directions. There are also reasons to turn power sets with opposite facing end units. It could be as Fred mentioned that the crew prefers to use a newer unit for lead Locomotive, or it could be that one of the end units is not lead qualified. There are many reasons that a unit may be disqualified from being lead unit, such as inoperable heating/cooling equipment, out of service radio, or even as silly as it sounds (and easily fixed) NOT HAVING ENOUGH TOILET PAPER on board. Laugh hard until YOU are the one reaching out to an EMPTY roll [swg].
This is interesting. I know there are other rules about showing ditch lights and I remember on parts of the C&NW, engines equipped for ATC had to lead.
In the earlier diesel days some RR’s chose to run their lead units “Long hood forward” (not “backward”) due to the natural transition for the road crews coming out of steamers with the cab in the rear. Some RR’s purposly ordered their diesels with control stands facing down the long hood. This way of running offers better crash protection for the crew too.
At one time (and maybe still) NS locomotives used camper toilets with plastic bags rather than flush toilets with holding tanks. Their ex-Conrail locos had the flush toilets. So which would you prefer to spend 8 hours in?
There seems to be a lot of folks with a lot of theories, and all are basically correct. After having worked for both CN & CP here in the Toronto area I have seen some weird and wonderful “Lash-Ups”. Even today you can see very new high HP locos in lead with a lowly switcher or an older Geep in tow. When the consist reaches the destination for the “switch-out-cars”, that is cars in a block that are to be switched out to industries along the main line, the switcher is set out with it’s block of cars and the main consist carries on to its destination. In this day and age it is not feasible in most cases to keep a switcher stationed at a small industrial area. It is much easier to utilize the consist that is going to be passing through the area to drop off this block and on a return trip another mainline train will pick up the switcher and a new block of cars and take them back to the main sorting yard. This saves the units from being in areas where they may be vandilized when unattended and still gives these industries the service they need.
Also since any unit can be downpowered at any time, that particular train may need that extra power during its trip and this way they can power up the unit(s) when needed rather than depending on another unit being sent out separately to give extra power and then being returned. Then there is always the power transfer, just redistributing motive power possibly back to a home base. Almost any current locomotives are equipped to properly actuate all signals and conform to any work related or safety issues, or they would not be used at all.
We also see that almost without exception the “Home Road” loco is the one leading be it on a freight or passenger consist. The lead engines are almost always the shiniest and best kept whether on CN or CP or even on Via, our equivalent of Amtrak. The VIA units lead all the Amtrak trains out of Toronto and the specially painted ones, Home Hardware, Kool-Aid and CBC wrapped units are