3 quick questions

1) yes

2) no, and note that The FEF has 63,610 lb f of traction effort at a speed that is much higher than the Big Boy max traction effort is at 10 mph 133,375 lb f

3) and no...

Thanks guys... I've only seen the big boy at Steam town, (neat spot)

I did notice the rail it was sitting on was something like 225 lbs. I've never seen rail that big before..

I believe you are mistaken. The rail MIGHT have been 125 LB per yard, but NOT 225 lb per yard, since I don't believe rail THAT heavy even exists. 

Yeah I could be , I'm familiar with 132  but this seemed larger. Thanks

So you just made up a number that seemed "right?"

As to your last question, yes.  I was once at the bottom of the Fireman's Extra Board (Santa Fe, San Bernardino, 1070, no steam) and you take what you are called for with whatever engine and Engineer is on the job.  To me, the equipment or the type of service or the district was never as daunting as some of the cranky old Engineers.  Until I got to know many of them, I could not tell if I was going to have a friendly guy who would try to help me learn or a grouch that would not even speak to me.

Tom

When you were in the latter part of your service how did you treat new employees?

I never understood an engineer or senior conductor treating a new guy like crap.  Seems it would be safer if all that negative energy expended went in to helping the new guy ramp up his learning curve. It' like a "rite of passage" not unique to railroaders.

My belief is that some people enjoy tormenting the new guys. Says alot about their character. (or lack thereof)

Paul

Hi Tom, Thanks for the reply,   I know exactly what you're talking about, there always seems to be one or   two that wants to make things  difficult. The scary part is.... I may be coming one of the old grouches is my senior years....   nah!

Railroad question on braking.....Do engineers  still power brake  going  down  long grades with full tonnage trains.... Minimum brake reduction   just before downgrade  and use the throttle to ease off   of or actually pull the train.... None of the engines I worked on had dynamic brakes.  I guess steamers would let'em drift down hill to save steam.

Is a good pass hogger coming out of the brakes  or applying brakes at a station stop. Just the last few seconds before actually stopping ?  This is for anyone not only Tom.  

Paul, I always tried my best to be pleasant to work with, even when some old grouch was trying to make me miserable, and, after becoming an Engineer, when a Fireman was running the engine for me and was driving me nuts with the way he was doing it.  I never subscribed to the idea that I ought to inflict misery on others because I had to endure some of it.  And that continued when I became an Official.  I tried to coach a team to excellence instead of bossing individuals to work harder or differently.  You get better results when you set an example instead of giving orders.  I learned that in the Army.  A platoon will follow an officer into danger, but is more reluctant when the officer is behind them.

Twice, I ripped somebody a new one.  One of those times was because the Head Brakeman would not quit reading the newspaper after I asked him to stop twice, and the other was because the Forman ("Yard Conductor") was switching the same cars over and over to kill time to get back at the Yardmaster for giving him another list to switch.

Well, when dynamic braking is available, all the big railroads require it to be the primary method of slowing a train.  On descending grades, I never knew of an Engineer who would not use it, as it is much less work that doing it all with air braking.  These days, event recorders download by radio into a database that scans each of them and prints a list of exceptions.  Deep brake pipe reductions are exceptions, so the Road Foreman has to examine the data and investigate whether the Engineer was grandstanding or just had to stop quickly for other reasons.  Stretch braking is also an exception, though roads such as CN that have a number of non-DB equipped engines may treat that differently.  If you have no dynamic brake on the engine, you should stretch brake in most cases.  Drifting is risky if there is undulation and you have a long train.  Also, too much use of engine brakes has been found to cause thermal wheel cracks, so it is best to plan ahead and only minimally use engine brakes.

In passenger service, as you are aware, the brakes can be graduated off, partially or completely, as opposed to freight service where any increase in brake pipe pressure releases all brakes.  When stopping the brakes should be gradually released so that, at the moment of stop, braking is minimal and the stop is smooth.  However, once the train stops, a 15 psi reduction should then be made at once to be sure the brakes remain applied during the stop.  I always kept the throttle in Run-1 to gently tug as the train stopped.  With the F7's and F3's, you did not go below Run-1 when reducing throttle coming into a station.  You wanted the engine to remain in parallel.  It would shift back to series if you shut off and then advanced the throttle, or if you pulled too hard it would make automatic backward transition.  (E-units would not make automatic backward transition, but F-units would, so the throttle handling could be done differently with E-units.)

Finesse is better than brutality in passenger train handling.  On freight, yes, it is advisable to be making a brake pipe reduction as the train is coming to a stop.  On passenger, no.

Thank you  for the reply.....I can't imagine going back  to work now with 2 man crews and everything being  recorded.(and no caboose) I actually had fun  most days and worked with  some great hoggers and conductors. Some  had worked with steam and had been over seas during the war, (great stories)  Never worked a job with out a caboose but spent a lot of time   as the head end brakeman,, I did get to work with many different engineers and some seemed to be able to get you over the road better than others. I've run a few freights but never a passenger train....I was just curious about the pass train stop because I've seen so many jerky stops and coaches moving   after stopping, then there's the passengers standing in the coach waiting to get off and  their feet automatically make one step ahead after a rough stop.A great hogger eliminates all this.Anyway thanks for the reply....You're hired!!