“16 amps of #9 coal” lights up the 1938 NYC 20th Century Limited as it is pulled up the grade by double-headed Dreyfus Hudsons.
The Golden Gate Depot 12 car set of New York Central 1938 blue pinstriped 20th Century Limited were delivered in 2009. In the 3-rail version, they were offered with a matching powered E-7A unit and an unpowered E-7B unit. Each car weighs just under 4 lbs., and the 12 car set can be pulled on a level route with the drawbar pull of one powered E unit with traction tires. However on a steep grade running through S-curves, it takes 4 times the tractive effort (about 6.5 lbs. of force) to keep these cars moving. Even two powered E-7A units are insufficient; in fact, a single Dreyfus Hudson 4-6-4 spun its wheels on the curves and couldn’t make it over the grade. Furthermore, these cars were produced before LEDs were common, and they draw a collective 6 amps of current at 18 volts. So the cars went into storage for 6 1/2 years.
This past summer, two changes occurred that put this iconic 1938 train back into service. An additional Dreyfus with Box Pox drivers was doubled headed with the Dreyfus with Scullen drivers. **Also, the power was boosted with the addition of three passive (power supplied on the output side of TIU) ZW-Ls that were parallel wired with the existing 6 active (power supplied to input of TIU) MTH Z-4000s to provide up to 20 amps on all 12 blocks on the layout. In operation, the max transient draw on the grade with both locos on maximum smoke setting was 9 amps on the ZW-L and 7 amps on the Z-4000 for the total of the 16 amps mentioned in the title. At the end of the video, we’ll move forward from 1938 for a quick glimpse at the then new sleek silver 1941 version of the red carpet Empire State Express.
The lead into the video: “16 amps of #9 coal lights the 1938 NYC 20th Century Limited as it is pulled up the grade by double headed Dreyfus Hudsons” is long, but if one remembers the song verse “16 tons of #9 coal”, the songwriter indicates it was actually mined in Illinois and one can imagine it went to Chicago to power Hudson steam engines. The #9 of the coal has nothing to do with type of coal, but rather the depth from which the seam was mined. Furthermore, there was no consistency between states regarding depth; so #9 in Illinois might have been #5 in West Virginia. Maybe it was the correct type of coal, or maybe not. In any case, coal represents steam and electric power, and we certainly needed a load of amps on this haul.
** I’ve actually been parallel wiring the 6 MTH Z-4000s since 2004, without burning down the village, torching my house, or electrocuting myself. I never put more than 10 amps through the TIUs. All additional power is applied passively. Electrical experts will consider such a high amperage as unwise and possibly dangerous and have spoken out effectively on the forum, but I have consulted with wiring experts and taken various precautions including rewiring the house electrical panel. I’ve have not made any claims for warranty service because of this boosted track amperage. I have however paid for the repairs on some TIUs, but problems with these TIUs have been reported on other layouts with no additional amperage, and thus may be unrelated to my wiring.
I just hope they do the cars with the correct window and floor plans like GGD did. 