I was watching Alaska Railroad the other night & was wondering how the engineer controls a 4 or 5 engine train. Is there an engineer in each engine or are they somehow connected?? I never really understood how they work.
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Originally Posted by Spence:
I was watching Alaska Railroad the other night & was wondering how the engineer controls a 4 or 5 engine train. Is there an engineer in each engine or are they somehow connected?? I never really understood how they work.
Yes, all the units in the "lead consist" are electrically and air brake "MUed" together. That is what that huge, rubber covered MU Jumper cable is between each unit (27 wires in each MU Cable).
Thank you. I never really understood how it worked. If there are a couple of pusher engines at the rear of the consist are they connected the same way.
Originally Posted by Spence:
Thank you. I never really understood how it worked. If there are a couple of pusher engines at the rear of the consist are they connected the same way.
No. Helpers/pushers on the rear of the freight train are either maned (operating crew on board), or controlled by radio-control, if so equipped. There is no way to run a 27 wire MU system throughout a whole freight train. That is done, however with push-pull commuter passenger operations.
Thank you very much for helping me understand how this works.
Good question and good reply. Thanks for the info.
Hot Water - Is it safe to assume that the helpers/pushers in the same place in the train are MU'ed together?
Originally Posted by Matt A:
Hot Water - Is it safe to assume that the helpers/pushers in the same place in the train are MU'ed together?
If more than a single unit, yes all the units within the helper consist would generally be MUed together, even if they were radio controlled DPU sets. The lead unit of the radio controlled DPU set would be the "controlling unit" since it would be equipped with all the radio control system.
